[NAGDU] Forwarded Article: This able-bodied dog lover makes a great case against faking service dogs

Tracy Carcione carcione at access.net
Thu Sep 28 14:36:24 UTC 2017


That was interesting, though I wish he had mentioned that a business has
the right to demand the removal of any dog behaving badly, whether or not
it's a service dog.
Tracy

> Nice little post I thought I would share with everyone. TAGDU’s board
> would like to express that our thoughts and prayers are with all
> federationists and guide dog users dealing with the traumatic aftermath of
> the recent hurricanes and earthquake.
> Now, to the article:
>
> James Alan Boehm
> Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
> Human Developmental Counseling/Clinical Counseling: M. ED.
>
> Contact Information:
> Phone: 901-483-1515
> Personal Email: jimmydagerman80 at gmail.com
> Graduate Email: James.A.Boehm at Vanderbilt.edu
> NFB Email: secretary at nfb-tn.org
> Kustom Cane: kustomcane at gmail.com
>
> Embrace challenges for personal growth! Remember! Circumstances do not
> mean sentences!
>
>
>>
>> This able-bodied dog lover makes a great case against faking
>> service dogs
>> <http://bethfinke.com/blog/2017/09/28/this-just-in-having-a-disability-is-so-cool-that-average-folks-are-faking-it/>by
>> Beth <http://bethfinke.com/?author=1>
>>  <http://bethfinke.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/whitneyportrait.jpg>
>>
>> Whitney, upon graduation from The Seeing Eye.
>>
>> I’m blind, my Seeing Eye dog Whitney guides me safely wherever I need
>> to go, and in the past I’ve been pretty clear here on how I feel about
>> people in America who pose as someone with a disability to get their dog
>> in <http://bethfinke.com/blog/2013/09/14/really/> where pets aren’t
>> allowed. Most blog posts chastising dog owners who do this are written
>> by someone like me, who has a disability. So it was refreshing to read
>> this compassionate article called Stop Faking Service Dogs
>> <https://www.outsideonline.com/2236871/stop-faking-service-dogs?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebookpost>
>> by a dog lover who writes for Outsideonline magazine. Reporter Wes Siler
>> doesn’t have a disability himself, and in his article he questions why
>> others like him think it’s okay to fake it:
>>
>> "Look, I get the desire to bring your pet along with you everywhere you
>> go. My dogs are as important to me as my friends and family. The first
>> criteria my girlfriend and I apply to where we eat, drink, and travel is
>> whether our dogs can enjoy it with us. But out of respect for the needs
>> of disabled people, for the incredible work that real service dogs
>> perform, and for the people managing and patronizing these businesses,
>> we will not lie. We do not take our pets places where they’re not
>> welcome. We never want to compromise the ability of a service dog to
>> perform its essential duties.
>>
>> Siler describes what qualifies a dog as a service animal in a way an
>> average person can understand. He explains that the Americans with
>> Disabilities Act limits the definition of a service animal to one that
>> is trained to perform work or a task that helps a person who has a
>> disability, and dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or
>> emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. "So,
>> while a dog that is trained to calm a person suffering an anxiety attack
>> due to post-traumatic stress disorder is considered a service dog,"
>> Siler writes. "A dog whose mere presence calms a person is not."
>>
>> Still, people claim their therapy and emotional support dogs qualify. In
>> his article, Siler quotes a man named Randy Pierce describing a flight
>> he went on once with his guide dog Autumn. The airplane also had an
>> unruly emotional support dog on board who barked incessantly during the
>> entire trip. “My dog was not barking back, but the barking was
>> changing her behavior, and that makes it harder for her to do her job,
>> she loses her focus," Pierce said, noting that he is over six feet tall.
>> "If she loses focus, I'm more likely to hit my head on an exit sign or a
>> doorway or, if we’re on a street, maybe even step out into traffic.”
>> Again, from the article:
>>
>> "Pierce's dog, Autumn, completely ignores other dogs, doesn't beg for
>> food, sits quietly for the duration of long flights, and generally
>> minimizes her impact. That's the result of lots of money—service dogs
>> cost upwards of $20,000—and thousands of hours of training. Pierce,
>> for example, has developed a routine with Autumn that involves the dog
>> communicating when she needs to go to the bathroom, and then doing so in
>> a specific orientation to Pierce that enables him to easily find it and
>> collect it in a baggie. A true service dog is essential to its human
>> partner's well being, as well as a huge financial investment that other
>> untrained dogs in public places put at risk."
>>
>> It should be noted here that for the most part, the financial burden to
>> train a majority of the dogs who help people with visual impairments
>> here in the USA lands on the non-profit organizations that train the
>> dogs, thanks to the generous donors who support them. The cost to train
>> some service dogs to help people with other disabilities can fall
>> directly on the person with the disability, though.
>>
>> The article refers to a study conducted at the University of California
>> at Davis that says between the years 2002 and 2012 the number of
>> “therapy dogs” or “emotional support animals” registered by
>> animal control facilities in the state of California increased by 1000
>> percent, and that the increasing presence of emotional support dogs on
>> flights and at businesses is creating a backlash that impacts true
>> service dogs (Pierce said on his flight with guide dog Autumn he
>> overheard a flight attendant telling her colleague that she “wished
>> they wouldn't allow service dogs”).
>>
>> I hope you’ll read the entire article
>> <https://www.outsideonline.com/2236871/stop-faking-service-dogs?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebookpost>.
>> Journalist Wes Siler puts a lot more oomph into the story than I can fit
>> into this short blog post, and it’s gratifying to hear the argument
>> against faking coming from an average dog lover’s point of view.
>>
>> Beth <http://bethfinke.com/?author=1> | September 28, 2017 at 7:17 am |
>> Tags: ADA <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=ada>, Americans
>> with Disabilities
>> <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=americans-with-disabilities>,
>> faking disability to bring dog in
>> <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=faking-disability-to-bring-dog-in>,
>> rules about service dogs on planes
>> <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=rules-about-service-dogs-on-planes>,
>> service dogs
>> <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=service-dogs>| Categories:
>> Whitney <http://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=category&term=whitney> | URL:
>> http://wp.me/p8qdst-365 <http://wp.me/p8qdst-365>
>> Comment
>> <http://bethfinke.com/blog/2017/09/28/this-just-in-having-a-disability-is-so-cool-that-average-folks-are-faking-it/#respond>
>>   See all comments
>> <http://bethfinke.com/blog/2017/09/28/this-just-in-having-a-disability-is-so-cool-that-average-folks-are-faking-it/#comments>
>>
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>> http://bethfinke.com/blog/2017/09/28/this-just-in-having-a-disability-is-so-cool-that-average-folks-are-faking-it/
>> <http://bethfinke.com/blog/2017/09/28/this-just-in-having-a-disability-is-so-cool-that-average-folks-are-faking-it/>
>>
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