[nagdu] questions I get from my bus driver that is not an accessible bus just regular bus

[cheryl echevarria]

As many of you know I live out in Long Island, NY not to far from GDF.

And there has been a person, who swears that there dog is a guide dog, meaning a pit bull.

I don't know if Jeanine knows about this issue.  But here on Long Island, I believe every year the Suffolk County Bus Company for there drivers that is called sensitivity training.

I wish they would allow me to come as well as being part of NAGDU, and have a representative from GDF as well as the other service animal schools in the area.

One day, I was a passenger on the bus when this person tried to pass off there dog as a service animal, again this dog is a pit bull.

I was sitting there and the driver said that we are stopping and the person has a dog and has tried to get on the bus before the driver side to me, they don't carry a card with them, but they carry the print out of the ADA law with them.

I will tell you what happened, and then I will put what the driver's question is.

First when the driver stopped and the woman tried to get on the bus, now mind you I sit in the front because I like to talk to my driver as well. Nice guy, many years he has been the driver, anyway she tries to get on but her dog starts to growl and bark at my dog.  Maxx moved closer to me not wanting anything to do with this dog.

I asked her what type of dog is that, she said a pit bull, no I said meaning what kind of service animal is it.  She said he was just a service animal and that she has the paperwork to prove it. I said what job does the dog do for you, I didn't say what disability she has.  She said he is her comfort animal.  I said 1, Comfort animals are not considered Service Animals and fall under the ADA. 2. In the State of NY, especially Suffolk County NY, and some other parts of NY to even have a pit bull, and that I am blind and a graduate of GDF I said which school, and I pulled out my ID from GDF, I do not need to carry paperwork around with me and never should she. From my searching I have found that especially in the state of NY there is no service animal training schools that train pit bulls. I asked her where she got her dog, she said NY.

The driver asked her to please leave if she could not control her dog.

A few months later she tried to get on another bus and the driver let her on.

The driver and I spoke the other day since I had to go somewhere, that she tried to get on again on his bus, and he said he wouldn't allow the dog on the bus.

The driver wants to know how far are they allowed to go to stop this.

To many people are trying this in Suffolk County.

Yes we get IDs and I don't know what the big deal is about giving ID, I think that helps a lot, especially in the case that it is not always obvious to lets say in this situation to tell if someone is disabled and needs a dog, I mean if a person is blind it is not always noticeable, not everyone uses dark glasses, or has a dog with a harness with the schools name on it, or a person in a wheelchair, and with more children and adult with seizures or autism or other disabilities how is one to know.  You can't ask what the disability you have, you can't force a person to show ID.  What is the answer?

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Cheryl Echevarria 
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