[NFBF-Tampa] ASAP Comments on Department of Transportation NPRM

[marion.gwizdala at verizon.net]

Dear Advocates & Supporters,

                Advocates for Service Animal Partners has commented on the Department of Transportation’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning the DOT’s “Service Animal Air Transportation form” and the “Service Animal Relief Attestation Form”. Please find our comments below.

 

With warm regards,

Marion Gwizdala, President/CEO

(He/His/Him)

Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc. (ASAP)

Office: 386-ASAP411 (386-272-7411)

Hotline: 855-ASAP211 (855-272-7211)

 <mailto:Advocacy411 at gmail.com> Advocacy411 at gmail.com

ServiceAnimals.info

Facebook.com/asap411/

“Forward together!”

 

Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc.

1003 Papaya Drive

Tampa, Florida 33619

 

January 12, 2024

 

The Honorable Pete Buttigieg

Secretary

United States Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC  20590

 

RE: Docket No.: DOT-OST-2018-0068

 

Dear Secretary Buttigieg,

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc. (ASAP) is the only organization in the United States whose sole mission is to secure, protect, and advance the civil rights of disabled individuals who use service dogs. ASAP operates a 24-hour hotline to assist service dog handlers and the businesses we patronize resolve access issues related to the use of a service dog. A large number of these calls involve challenges to access on airlines, including an autistic traveler whose dog happily chased down a dropped water bottle to return it to its handler and was denied access to her flight because the dog “lunged” to a businessman from Miami who was stranded in Puerto Rico for four days with his wife and two young sons because the airline would not accept him as an owner-trainer while their luggage went to Miami. And what about the blind woman who was told she could not take her guide dog on the plane because the airline could not find her paperwork even though the regulations allow the form to be completed at the gate. 

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners strongly objects to the renewal of the Department’s Service Animal Air Transportation form” and the “Service Animal Relief Attestation Form”. WE find it ironic that the implementing regulations of a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel contains provisions that are themselves discriminatory! We contend that the same information can be obtained through credible verbal assurance without burdening a disabled passenger with forms that seem to be meaningless unless an issue arises with the passenger and the animal. There are numerous opportunities to observe a dog and its behavior, and possibly its training well before a passenger boards the aircraft. 

 

If an attestation form is to be used, airlines and their contractors must be made fully aware that no other forms can be required. ASAP is aware that some airlines use a third-party contractor – Open Doors Organization – to vet these forms and, we are told, have an additional form they require. This is directly contradictory to the current implementing regulations and its reaffirmation within this NPRM.

 

Furthermore, if the Department continues to authorize such an attestation form, it should collect as little information as necessary to provide credible assurance of the dog’s disability-related task training. This form would collect only basic identifying information and an attestation statement that the dog has been trained to perform tasks or do work to assist a person with a disability. 

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners strongly objects to requiring that service animal handlers list the names of the trainers who have trained the dog. We feel this is an invasion of our privacy. Coupling our privacy concerns with the reality that most trainers can only attest to the behavior of that dog at the last point of contact, how would that be relevant to someone who has not had contact with their dog’s trainer in several years? Control and reinforcement of a dog’s training is the responsibility of the handler and most service dog trainers have little contact with their customers after training is completed. 

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners vehemently objects to airlines or their contractors contacting training programs to inquire about the training of a passenger’s dog. ASAP feels this is a paternalistic, custodial overreach and a violation of our right to privacy. Such a practice seems unethical without an official authorization to release such information and should be used only in certain specified circumstances, not as a matter of practice. 

 

            We would like to make a technical observation about the footnote you propose allowing an individual who trained their own dog to list themselves as the trainer. In the footnote the term “self-train” is used. The accepted term within the service animal community is “owner-trainer”, since the owner trains the dog; the dog does not train itself!

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners would like to propose a “Known Service Animal Handler Number”, similar to the transportation Security Administration’s “Known Traveler Number  (KTN)”. This pass would collect the information once and provide an identification number through which all airlines could access the information. Such a program would ease the decision-making process for the airlines, reduce the number of times service animal handlers must submit the information, and avoid the problems cited above. At the same time, those travelers without such privileges should not be additionally burdened otherwise. 

 

            It is the experience of those of us staffing our hotline that airline personnel are poorly trained about service animals and how to apply the regulations of the Air Carrier Access Act. We realize the issues we face today are the result of more permissive regulations in the past that were rife with abuse. We also realize there are those who will continue to attempt to game the system with dogs that are obviously untrained. WE feel there needs to be some balance and this balance can only be achieved through adequate training from service handlers who are experts on service animal policy and practice. Anything else is only theoretical.

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners believes that some airlines flagrantly discriminate against service dog handlers believing there will be no repercussions. Since passengers do not have a right of private action under the Air Carrier Access Act, we rely upon the Department of Transportation to resolve our complaints. We know the volume of cases the Department processes and realize every legitimate case cannot be investigated. We realize this is outside the scope of this NPRM and will pursue this in the future; however, we would like to strongly urge the Department of Transportation to seriously consider a provision to allow a right of private action under the Air Carrier Access Act. Disabled individuals will be more empowered and airlines will be less likely to treat us with the sort of disregard many of us have experienced from the airline industry.

 

            Advocates for Service Animal Partners appreciates the opportunity to comment on these proposed rules. We hope you will listen to the disabled community about how these regulations impact our lives by imposing measures that seem to discriminate against disabled individuals who use service dogs by eliminating the “Service Animal Behavior and Health Form” and the Service Animal Relief Form” as a prerequisite for travel. Should the Department decide to continue the use of these forms, ASAP recommends the Department publish clearer guidance for airlines, their contractors, and disabled passengers concerning the correct use of these forms. We demand the Department notify airlines that neither they nor their contractors may require additional forms and neither airlines nor their contractors have the authority to contact and question a passenger’s former trainer. We urge the Department of Transportation to implement a Known Service Animal program accessible to all airlines in order to streamline the process and ameliorate the additional burdens placed on service animal handlers.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Marion Gwizdala

ADVOCATES FOR SERVICE ANIMAL PARTNERS INC.

 

 

 

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