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

Thu Sep 28 18:02:05 UTC 2017

Thanks for sharing this! I would simply love it if a really high profile case occurred and it went something like this. There's a legitimate service animal on an airplane. Perhaps a guy dog. And there's also a fake service animal on an airplane. The airline tells the blind person with the well-behaved guy dog that they are more than welcome to stay and thank you for having such a well behaved dog and they kick the fake service dog off. The owner of the  fake service dog pitches a fit and maybe even sue's the airline. The airline who has a great track record of excepting well  behave service animals, fights the lawsuit and it makes the media. I wish that businesses knew more about their rights and our rights. I like the guys idea about businesses  being more pet friendly and people who want to bring their well-behaved pets have to have some kind of certification. I would just love to see everybody be more educated on this issue. The Mormon church, for example, does not allow service animals into their large conference Center for concerts or meetings that are going to be recorded. Apparently, some people with fake service dogs came in to a big meeting and caused a ruckus. So now no one with a service dog, including legitimate and well  behaved service dogs are permitted. If you want to go to the meeting or a concert there and bring your service animal you have to sit in a room apart from everybody else. There a church so they don't have to follow the Americans With Disabilities Act. Just my two cents!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 28, 2017, at 8:36 AM, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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