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from the my-emotional-support-is-a-lion dept.
The young, perfectly healthy looking guy ahead of me in Panera Bread walked his fifty lb. dog to the front of the line - I can't tell you the breed since I don't know dogs - and was immediately told that the dog had to go. "Um, I have an anxiety disorder", he replied. The cashier turned around to consult with the manager, but people were still waiting to order, and soon it was conceded that the customer and his service dog/best friend could stay for lunch. And they did.
The Chicago Tribune reports that similar incidents are cropping up on airlines. Passengers dread having their pets locked up in a kennel in the cargo section, and airlines charge hefty fees for the service, so some of them are taking advantage of a legal loophole allowing service dogs of disabled people to ride in the passenger cabin free of charge; but in these cases the disability is "emotional distress" rather than, say, blindness. Many of these passengers pay a licensed therapist for the certificate of need required by airline gate attendants, and for an expensive vest for their "service animals".
From the Tribune story:
"It's definitely gotten carried away to the point where people are taking advantage of the system," [Atlanta flight attendant] Williams said. "It's hard when someone is following protocol and they're not allowed to take the animal out of the cage, but others use the loophole to have an animal sit on their lap."
The story mentions that some fellow passengers and advocates for the (real) disabled are annoyed with the game-playing and lax enforcement. However, others perhaps side with the late Harry Nilsson, who famously sang "I'd take my puppy everywhere, la-la-la I wouldn't care. We'll stay away from crowds, signs that said 'No friends allowed'".
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Friday November 18 2016, @12:42AM
service animals are a bit different in that they're always properly trained
That's the key point right there.
You internet certificates and dog vests mean nothing. Literally $15 bucks gets you both.
As a shop owner, you can ask what specific things the animal has been trained for. (You can't ask the animals owner what medical condition requires the animal be present - that's against the law).
Proprietors can ask two questions:
1) Is the animal required because of a disability?
2) What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?
If they can not list one or more of a set of training that animal has received you can kick them out. In Florida the situation got so bad they passed a law criminalizing fake service animals with a 60 day jail term upon conviction.
There is also a list of fake certificate issuers that I have seen posted in some places,
http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/node/509 [servicedogcentral.org]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday November 19 2016, @05:01PM
One of the side effects of them being trained is that they don't jump around spreading their allergens all over the place the way a lot of those ill-mannered pets do. I'm still allergic to service dogs, but because they don't jump around all over the place, I'm exposed to somewhat less of it.