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People with guide dogs have been denied flights and a hamburger
Guide dogs are nothing new. Most commonly known for helping people who are blind navigate the world around them, they are gaining use in helping people with other types of disabilities. Also called service dogs, some are now being used by war veterans with post traumatic stress disorders. The more service dog use increases, the more likely they will be part of the traveler's scene. Unfortunately, not everyone who works in the service industry knows the laws and rules that protect service dog owners. This has created a few snafus.
There is a current lawsuit against McDonald's for a situation that started with the refusal of service. When Luis Carlos Montalván, a former U.S. army captain who was wounded in Iraq, came to a McDonald's in Brooklyn with his service dog, he was told he could not bring the dog inside. Montalván complained to the company CEO which resulted in a sign installed at the restaurant indicating that service dogs are welcome.
The lawsuit came about after this incident because Montalván claims that when he returned to this McDonald's after the sign was installed, he was denied service by a different manager. When Montalván later came back with a camera to take a picture of the sign that said he should be able to have service, two employees accosted him.
In another recent guide dog incident, a blind couple and their dog were denied boarding on a Jetstar plane in Australia even though the airline does allow people with service dogs to fly. [Jaunted]
In both of these cases, the problem arose because the people who worked for the organization weren't aware of the rules of an organization or the law. I would bet they hadn't come across someone with a service dog before either. As much as a service dog looks like a regular dog, it's not. Guide dogs are not pets.
What are the laws anyway? In the U.S. the Department of Justice outlines them quite clearly. In essence, a person with a service dog cannot be denied service. Period--except from what I can tell from reading the guidelines, if the dog is barking during a movie or if it acts up somewhere. Since service dogs are taught not to bark or act up, such behavior would be unlikely.
If you do see a service dog, don't pet it when its harness is on. That means it's "working" with an important job to do.
Filed under: Business, Blogs, Stories, United States, Australia, Airlines, News, Travel Health
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cristobal Dec 4th 2009 4:24PM
being blind myself and having traveled with my german shepherd guide on a few airlines, i can say that all in all, my experiences with the various flight crews and ticket agents have been positive and uneventful. only once when flying continental did i have any issue. the lady in charge at the gate was givign me serious lip about my guide and where it would have to be placed. usually, the procedure is that a seat next to the individual with the service animal is blocked off and the dog makes itself comfortable the best way possible on the floorspace of the seat. my my case, since my dog was a bigger breed, he took up his space, some of my footspace and the area under the seat in front of him. not ideal, but it works. in any event, she insisted that i couldn't fly with him cause the flight was booked to capasity or that i'd had to buy an additional seat for him.
after some back and forth, and with the insistance of the actual flight creww and checkign whatever guidelines were necessary, the nasty lady backed down and my dog and myself got on the plane. someone had to be bumped, but well...hopefully they were compensated. it wasn't my fault that the flight was over booked.
i later wrote to continental explaining what had happened and expressing my displeasure with how this person initially treated me and my dog. As well as praising the flight crew for getting involved and sorting her and the situation out. Continental wrote me back with an apology and stating that the agent at fault was undergoing additional training and sent me a $200 voucher for my troubles.
i've heard horror stories from other service animal users and traveling, but thankfully that was the only problem my guide and i ever had. he's since past away.
mary Dec 5th 2009 11:37PM
Perhaps some of the misinformation stems from signs like the one in your article..it implies that ONLY guide dogs are allowed. ALL service dogs are allowed into parks, museums, hospitals, restuarants, theaters, and taxis etc, with their handlers as long as the handler is a person with a disability. The problem we have had is that my husband's disability is not visible. So we have had people say "well you don't look disabled!" as their reason for questioning his use of a service animal. And the ADA does not require that a service animal wear an identifying vest. So the best option is to ask "is that a service dog?" before jumping to conclusions. And if the person says "yes", please ignore the animal so that it can do it's job.
Heather Mar 12th 2010 11:46PM
Ok, a couple of things. Service dogs, like hearing ear dogs, wheelchair dogs and PTSD dogs are not types of guide dogs. Rather, guide dogs are a type of service dog. Guide dogs do not pull wheel chairs, they do not perform deaf assistance dog duties, they are only trained for blind persons to guide them. Additionally, and just FYI, Seeing Eye dogs are a spacific type of guide dog that only are issued at The Seeing Eye in New Jersey, whereas dogs from other schools such as Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and Guiding Eyes for the Blind are not called Seeing Eye dogs. The generic term is guide dogs, but the legal or technal term dog guides is often employed to describe these dogs. I always laugh when I see a "Guide Dogs are welcome here." sign and think to my self, "Damn skippy." or "Duh." Those signs are for the employees and the non-disabled cliants or visitors of stores, restaurants, etc, as the ligitimately blind or deaf or otherwise disabled users of service dogs already know their rights. *smile* I appreciate you posting this in support of service dog handlers and their rights and the rights of their dogs, I just wanted to correct that one small inaccuracy. Oh, and another FYI, the terms using a service dog and owning a service dog, are falling out of vogue with many individuals with service dogs, in favor of handeling a service dog, which emphasizes the idea that the disabled person is in control of, responsible for and working with, not simply forcing the dog to work or using it like a tool. It is just simantical, but to some people it is starting to make a difference. I have mixed feelings, because, from a legal stand-point, saying that we handel a guide dog, are accompanied by a guide dog, are working with a guide dog, etc, doesn't emphasize their neccessary role, the way the words using a guide dog, working a guide dog or ownership of a guide dog do. And when groups like PITA insert terms like guide dog companions or helping companions, the legal clout is further diminished, which is extremely detremental in access issues, which is what we call it when a service dog and their handler are being challenged by someone when we seek admitance to a public place. The majority of access issues that I personally have had have consisted of taxi drivers trying to charge me extra for the dog, not refusing to transport us, of renters trying to charge us a pet deposit fee, not refusing to rent to us, and so on. These are often harder to fight, because the police are usually much more helpful when a cab driver is refusing to transport us from, and effectively stranding us at the train station at midnight, but if we make a big deal of being charged five extra dollars, they often don't want to get involved or even go so far as to say, "Lady, it's just five bucks, pay it, ok?" This of course is completely unacceptable, as charging for a guide dog is completely illegal. That being said, if a guide dog does dammage, the handler must pay for it. I had a guide dog for instance, who never had house-breaking type accidents, and was very well-behaved, but one day when she was extremely sick, I was transporting her in a cab to the veterinarian's office when she simoltainously had diarreah and vomited. She was sick enough that she wound up requiring subcutanious fluids, two different perscriptions and round-the-clock observation by me for two days. The instant I knew she was getting sick I moved the towel that I had under her to katch most of the reer mess and kept my feet clear of the front mess. I told the cab driver what had happened and that I would pay for the cost of having his cab cleaned. He was wigging in a big way, shouting about not being able to pick up fairs for the rest of the day, and lost pay. I didn't want to get ripped off, nor did I want to rip him off, so I called up a nearby carwash that I knew did apulstry and I asked them for a price quote for the job, and then made an appointment for the cabbi. I gave the car wash my credit card information over the phone and told them to bill me for whatever it took to get the cab clean and smelling nice on the inside. I told the cabbi where to go after he dropped me off, and that it was paid for, and he was sceptical, but I told him "If you don't take advantage of my offer, then it is your loss, but the money is there if you want to use it, and you have an appointment in ten minutes, so you won't miss more than an hour or two of work." A lot of service dog owners are not as responsible as they should be though. In some places service dog owners are not required to pick up after their dogs, which I disagree with, accept in situations like in parts of NYC where dogs pavement relieve and do so in the street, where no one will step in it, and it would be dangerous for the person to pick up. But, many many people simply do not pick up after their dogs, even when they are able to and it is safe to do so. Others do not control their dogs, who have been known to steel food from tables in restaurants, jump up on people, etc. Also, there are many opertunistic individuals who have learned how to pass their pet dogs off as service animals. Because the law actually prohibits you from asking them what their disability is, there is no way to know if they are lying. But, for crying out loud, don't volinteer the question "Is that a service dog?" If they really look suspect, challenge them politely, with the no dogs rule or polocy, and if it is a lawful service animal, and you were politely informative, then they should politely and calmly explain that it is a guide dog, service dog, assistance dog, etc, and you can both go on your way. If they are breaking the law, trying to pass off a pet, then they are usually cowards, because they know they are doing wrong, and won't usually try to explain what their dog is: they'll just leave. And, if it is something obviously a lie, such as a chawawah that they are saying is a seeing eye dog, when the Seeing Eye would never in a million years issue that tiny breed, or a labrador retriever that they say is from Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, that only trains German Shepherds, toss them out on their ear, but if you don't know school spacific facts like that, play it safe and let them go, unless their dog actively starts causing trouble. Alright, that's quite enough of that. I hope this was helpful to someone.
Advocate-in-DC Mar 17th 2010 3:05PM
Yesterday (3-16-10) a DC mom, her disabled daughter and service dog were denied access and refused service in a Northern Virginia McDonald's restaurant. The manager was told numerous times the (vested and tagged) dog was a service dog. She was also told she was breaking state and federal laws. To which she rudely replied "...I don't care what it is..." referring to the service animal. The service dog team and Mom were refused service and ordered out of the McDonalds.
An incident report was filed with Fairfax County Police Department later in the day. FCPD told the mom that she could call them if it happened again and they would come out and explain the law to the McDonald's personnel. The Mom had not called the police because her daughter who was already traumatized would have had further anxiety with the police there.