[NAGDU] Special Report: Pets pose as service animals

Tue May 1 14:16:31 UTC 2018

So much ick in the first few paragraphs. Suffers from. … Took the harness off her husband? (Speaking of suffering) Is it any wonder that blindness is so often feared and we, by extension? 

As for ID cards = drivers licenses, I address that here, and won’t belabor the point:
https://growingupguidepup.org/guide-dogs-not-like-cars/ <https://growingupguidepup.org/guide-dogs-not-like-cars/>

And, while some government issued service dog ID might (emphasis added) solve the problem, it would cause a whole host of new ones. 

—Buddy (feeling grumpy)

So…to this news outlet…thank you very little, although at least you got the difference between service, ESA, and therapy animals right. 

> On May 1, 2018, at 8:45 AM, Ginger Kutsch via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Special Report: Pets pose as service animals
> 
> By Jess Doudrick 
> 
> May 1, 2018
> 
> Source:
> http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/watch-pets-pose-as-service-animals/article_ad
> 10c870-4804-11e8-af13-2f2f6cec30ad.html
> 
> Suzy Wilburn from Southeastern Guide Dogs poses with her service dog Carson.
> 
> 
> 
> SARASOTA, FL (WWSB) - Family pets might be walking through Suncoast malls
> and restaurants with their owners' posing them as service animals. You may
> not even know it until that pet causes a scene or goes after other animal.
> 
> 
> 
> It's a struggle that real service animals and their handlers are facing more
> often.
> 
> 
> 
> Suzy Wilburn suffers from a rare vision disease called Stargardt's. Instead
> of seeing what you or I would, she just sees sparkles. The diagnosis, nine
> years ago, devastated her.
> 
> 
> 
> She couldn't go anywhere without her husband until she got her guide dog
> Carson.
> 
> 
> 
> "When I put the harness on my dog, I took it off of my husband," Wilburn
> said.
> 
> 
> 
> Wilburn described Carson as her security blanket. He has been specially
> trained to help Wilburn do things like cross a busy street and prevent her
> from running into anything dangerous.
> 
> 
> 
> "With Carson I get to do things that I never did when I was fully sighted,"
> she says. "He makes me a better person."
> 
> 
> 
> But it's not always smooth sailing for Carson and Wilburn. On the first day
> after Carson graduated from Southeastern Guide Dogs, the pair went to the
> mall.
> 
> 
> 
> "As we are walking through, somebody's dog jumped out of the purse and
> barked aggressively at Carson," Wilburn described. "I immediately turned
> around and said, 'What kind of service dog is that?!'"
> 
> 
> 
> She says scenarios like that play out all of the time for her and Carson.
> 
> 
> 
> According to the National Alliance of Therapy Dogs, Wilburn is not alone.
> 
> 
> 
> "People are recognizing the value of their pets and wanting to spend more
> time with their pets than ever before, which is leading people to take their
> pets wherever they go," Pat Coglianese, Alliance of Therapy Dogs president
> Pat Cogilanese says.
> 
> 
> 
> In just five minutes anyone can go online and register their pet as a
> service animal or emotional support animal. You don't need any proof!You
> just pay as little as $20 and get a certificate and ID card for your pet.
> You can also easily buy a service vest online. That can make it hard for
> people to be able to tell what's truly a service animal and what's a fake.
> 
> 
> 
> "There are some disabilities that are obvious that that person needs a
> service dog, but there are other disabilities that are very helpful, but you
> can't really tell from looking at the person that there's a disability,"
> Cogilanese says.
> 
> 
> 
> The ADA permits businesses to ask only two questions of people with pets in
> public places: Is the animal required because of a disability and what work
> or tasks has the animal been trained to perform?
> 
> 
> 
> If the owner can't answer those questions them businesses do not have to
> allow them access.
> 
> 
> 
> "If that person can answer the questions, there's not much they can do
> unless the animal is not well behaved or creates a problem in the
> environment," Cogilanese says, "If there's a problem with the animal in the
> business, they can ask them to leave."
> 
> 
> 
> A business owner cannot ask what the person's disability is or ask the dog
> to demonstrate the skills.
> 
> 
> 
> So what's the difference between service animals, therapy animals and
> emotional support animals?
> 
> 
> 
> Service animals are dogs that are trained to do work for the benefit of
> someone with a disability. That disability can be physical, sensory,
> psychiatric, intellectual or mental. Service animals are allowed in public
> places.
> 
> 
> 
> Emotional support animals can be any species of animal. They're recommended
> by a qualified physician, psychiatrist or other mental health professional.
> They do not go through training and do not qualify as service animals. They
> are not allowed in public places. However, under the Fair Housing Act, these
> animals are permitted in reasonable housing for people with disabilities.
> 
> 
> 
> Therapy animals have some kind of goal directed intervention to help with a
> treatment process. They are not allowed in public places.
> 
> 
> 
> Wilburn now works at Southeastern Guide Dogs to help others.
> 
> 
> 
> She feels that government issued ID cards for service animals could solve
> the problem.
> 
> 
> 
> "You have to have a drivers license. You have to have a license to be an RN.
> Why shouldn't you have a license? It would just make my life easier," she
> says. "Others think it's a huge violation of their rights, which it is."
> 
> 
> 
> It is a second degree misdemeanor to misrepresent a service animal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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