Restaurant refuses Iraq War Veteran and service dog!

[Missourian]

Again, under the ADA regulations:

Dogs that are not trained to perform tasks that mitigate the effects of a disability, including dogs that are used purely for emotional support, are not service animals.


Fact Sheet -- Highlights of the Final Rule to Amend the Department of Justice's Regulation Implementing Title II of the ADA

 

[Sunshine]

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Disability Rights Section


ADA 2010 Revised Requirements

Service Animals
The Department of Justice published revised final regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for title II (State and local government services) and title III (public accommodations and commercial facilities) on September 15, 2010, in the Federal Register. These requirements, or rules, clarify and refine issues that have arisen over the past 20 years and contain new, and updated, requirements, including the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards).
Overview

This publication provides guidance on the term “service animal” and the service animal provisions in the Department’s new regulations.
Beginning on March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA.
A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.
Generally, title II and title III entities must permit service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go.

How “Service Animal” Is Defined

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

This definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act.

Some State and local laws also define service animal more broadly than the ADA does. Information about such laws can be obtained from the State attorney general’s office.

Where Service Animals Are Allowed

Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. For example, in a hospital it would be inappropriate to exclude a service animal from areas such as patient rooms, clinics, cafeterias, or examination rooms. However, it may be appropriate to exclude a service animal from operating rooms or burn units where the animal’s presence may compromise a sterile environment.

Service Animals Must Be Under Control

Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.

Inquiries, Exclusions, Charges, and Other Specific Rules Related to Service Animals
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.
Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.
A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.
Establishments that sell or prepare food must allow service animals in public areas even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises.
People with disabilities who use service animals cannot be isolated from other patrons, treated less favorably than other patrons, or charged fees that are not charged to other patrons without animals. In addition, if a business requires a deposit or fee to be paid by patrons with pets, it must waive the charge for service animals.
If a business such as a hotel normally charges guests for damage that they cause, a customer with a disability may also be charged for damage caused by himself or his service animal.
Staff are not required to provide care or food for a service animal.

Miniature Horses

In addition to the provisions about service dogs, the Department’s revised ADA regulations have a new, separate provision about miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. (Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.) Entities covered by the ADA must modify their policies to permit miniature horses where reasonable. The regulations set out four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility. The assessment factors are (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.

For more information about the ADA, please visit our website or call our toll-free number.


ADA Website

ADA.gov homepage

To receive e-mail notifications when new ADA information is available,

visit the ADA Website’s home page and click the link near the top of the middle column.




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For persons with disabilities, this publication is available in alternate formats.

Duplication of this document is encouraged. July 2011



PDF Version of this Document



July 12, 2011

Revised ADA Requirements: Service Animals

Government publication. No copyright. Entire article copied.

Article in post #101 is dated May, 2011.

My source is the current rule.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

I don't see the problem.

If the owner doesn't want dogs in his restaurant so what?

There are plenty of other restaurant owners who would love the business.

ada says different...

Believe it or not, I was suffering insomnia last night and watching People's Court at three AM this morning and the case was on this topic specifically.

The ADA does NOT protect service dogs that are only for emotional support.

5. Service Animals. The rule defines "service animal" as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. The rule states that other animals, whether wild or domestic, do not qualify as service animals. Dogs that are not trained to perform tasks that mitigate the effects of a disability, including dogs that are used purely for emotional support, are not service animals. The final rule also clarifies that individuals with mental disabilities who use service animals that are trained to perform a specific task are protected by the ADA. The rule permits the use of trained miniature horses as alternatives to dogs, subject to certain limitations. To allow flexibility in situations where using a horse would not be appropriate, the final rule does not include miniature horses in the definition of "service animal."

Fact Sheet -- Highlights of the Final Rule to Amend the Department of Justice's Regulation Implementing Title II of the ADA
​

Have you ever heard of agoraphobia? That is a disability. It means you avoid certain situations or places because you fear you will have a panic attack. Some people have this mental condition so bad that they can't leave their home. Some are even confined to one room in their house!

Service dogs can help people with this condition. They provide support that enables the people to go out and work on desentizing themselves to their fears, with the support of a therapist.

Anyway, that is just one example of where a service dog would be allowed for what we might think of as "emotional support." Because agoraphobia is a valid disability, one that you can receive benefits for if you are unable to function and hold a job.

Of course, the service dog needs to be a valid, trained service dog, not just your poodle Miffy that you want to take eveywhere you go so you order a vest and tell everyone she's a service dog. That is bullshit, and too many people are starting to do that. They're making it tough on the people with real service dogs.

 

[Noomi]

Service dogs are highly trained working dogs. Emotional support dogs require nothing more than someone to say they need the dog with them. I know several people who have emotional support dogs that are designated as service dogs who are nothing more than pets. Pets lack the rigorous training that real service dogs go through. The guy just doesn't want to leave his dog home. He wants to be accommodated.

The abuse of the term service dog is what leads to the doubt that any dog who is not in service to someone with an obvious disability. The whole post traumatic stress thing is half a crock anyway.

You have a point, but the dog is a registered service dog, according to the article, and because of that, it shouldn't matter what the owner thinks, the dog must be allowed in the restaurant.

I do wonder though about (someone mentioned allergies earlier) someone being allergic to dogs - if this dog was a seeing eye dog, for example, and someone in the restaurant was highly allergic to dogs, does that person have to leave, or does the owner refuse service to the person with the animal?

 

[Noomi]

This vet was faking because he wants to take his dog everywhere he goes. I don't blame him for wanting his dog, I do blame him for being a fraud. Of course there are TONS of vets who claim emotional injury as an excuse for just bad behavior. If he cannot control himself, he can stay home or get a blankey. There are gang members that have seen more action than many of these vets.

You have not been to war, you have not seen the horrors that he has seen. You do not suffer from flashbacks and nightmares like he probably does. You will never know what it feels like to be him.
If his little dog makes him feel safe and secure in public, and helps reduce his stress and assists him with his PTSD, which is very common in war vets, then he should be permitted to take his companion with him.
He has as much right to be out in public as you or anyone else.

 

[Politico]

Are emostional support dogs officially considered service dogs? And keep the bleeding ass comments to yourselves peanut gallery.

 

[Noomi]

He had the papers, therefore the dog was a legit service dog.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

I am allergic to dogs and I am a landlord. I am required to accept certain service dogs but not others. I do not have to accept emotional support dogs in my state.

I wish the vet no ill will and don't even doubt that the dog provides him a lot of comfort. I would walk out of the restaurant and request a refund if the owner allowed a dog in there. I can smell them a mile away and soon after cannot smell anything else for days. Dogs and anyone else's food do not belong in the same setting, not restaurants, not grocery stores. I get pissed when people carry their dogs into the post office. Its just rude rude rude.

Sorry to hear about your affliction. In a survival situation, people like you will be among the first to go. Tsk tsk.

Also, so sad for you that you will never know what it's like to love an awesome dog.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Again, under the ADA regulations:

Dogs that are not trained to perform tasks that mitigate the effects of a disability, including dogs that are used purely for emotional support, are not service animals.


Fact Sheet -- Highlights of the Final Rule to Amend the Department of Justice's Regulation Implementing Title II of the ADA

Is PTSD a disability under the ADA?
The ADA does not contain a list of medical conditions that constitute disabilities. Instead, the ADA has a general definition of disability that each person must meet on a case by case basis (EEOC Regulations . . . , 2011). A person has a disability if he/she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having an impairment (EEOC Regulations . . . , 2011).

However, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the individualized assessment of virtually all people with PTSD will result in a determination of disability under the ADA; given its inherent nature, PTSD will almost always be found to substantially limit the major life activity of brain function (EEOC Regulations . . . , 2011).

Source: Accommodation Ideas (many other sources will confirm)

Same thing with anxiety disorders, agoraphobia, panic disorder. They can be deemed as disabilities on an individual basis...and if they are deemed a disability, the person can acquire a service dog that is trained to MITIGATE THE AFFECTS OF THEIR DISABILITY.

See, that's not "purely emotional support." It is emotional support yes, but it is MITIGATING THE AFFECTS OF A DISABILITY.

 

[JohnL.Burke]

I get post traumatic disorder when I go a while without a cigarette. I should be allowed to go out to a restaurants and break out a pack of service cigarettes and light up.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Wow, that's a shame they only allow dogs, and sometimes miniature horses as "service animals." I saw a program on television where a quadriplegic guy had a monkey that took care of him. I mean the man was totally paralyzed from the neck down and this monkey fed him and wiped his face and gave him his breathing tube and all sorts of other things.

Oh, well. Let's all just continue to be stupidly upset about animals.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

I get post traumatic disorder when I go a while without a cigarette. I should be allowed to go out to a restaurants and break out a pack of service cigarettes and light up.

You can. Service cigarettes = electronic cigarettes.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Are emostional support dogs officially considered service dogs? And keep the bleeding ass comments to yourselves peanut gallery.

If what you call "emotional support" means mitigating the affects of an emotional disability such as PTSD, agoraphobia, anxiety, or panic syndrome....yes.

Each case is assessed on an individual basis. Once the person's "emotional" disability is recognized, they have the right to obtain a service dog that can help mitigate the affects of that disability, and to bring that service dog anywhere they damn please.

 

[JohnL.Burke]

I get post traumatic disorder when I go a while without a cigarette. I should be allowed to go out to a restaurants and break out a pack of service cigarettes and light up.

You can. Service cigarettes = electronic cigarettes.

If I'm forced to smoke a fake cigarette in a restaurant then people who suffer from anxiety can bring a teddy bear to a restaurant.

 

[bianco]

Oh WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! If he can't go one hour without his dog with him then stay the fuck home. Sorry, I'm not buying this shit. We're becoming a society of wimps.

Stay home?
No.
He should go out and demand his legal rights...like everyone else in the nation is.

A veteran with a service dog as a crutch to get him thru the day?
I must defend him.

 

[Immanuel]

Service dogs are highly trained working dogs. Emotional support dogs require nothing more than someone to say they need the dog with them. I know several people who have emotional support dogs that are designated as service dogs who are nothing more than pets. Pets lack the rigorous training that real service dogs go through. The guy just doesn't want to leave his dog home. He wants to be accommodated.

The abuse of the term service dog is what leads to the doubt that any dog who is not in service to someone with an obvious disability. The whole post traumatic stress thing is half a crock anyway.

You have a point, but the dog is a registered service dog, according to the article, and because of that, it shouldn't matter what the owner thinks, the dog must be allowed in the restaurant.

I do wonder though about (someone mentioned allergies earlier) someone being allergic to dogs - if this dog was a seeing eye dog, for example, and someone in the restaurant was highly allergic to dogs, does that person have to leave, or does the owner refuse service to the person with the animal?

Seems to me that dog owners are a "protected class", therefore, the guy with the allergy can die for all liberals care.

By the way, you said in an earlier post that it was a gorgeous dog. It is a mutt and it is not appealing to the eye under any circumstances.

Immie

 

[Noomi]

Service dogs are highly trained working dogs. Emotional support dogs require nothing more than someone to say they need the dog with them. I know several people who have emotional support dogs that are designated as service dogs who are nothing more than pets. Pets lack the rigorous training that real service dogs go through. The guy just doesn't want to leave his dog home. He wants to be accommodated.

The abuse of the term service dog is what leads to the doubt that any dog who is not in service to someone with an obvious disability. The whole post traumatic stress thing is half a crock anyway.

You have a point, but the dog is a registered service dog, according to the article, and because of that, it shouldn't matter what the owner thinks, the dog must be allowed in the restaurant.

I do wonder though about (someone mentioned allergies earlier) someone being allergic to dogs - if this dog was a seeing eye dog, for example, and someone in the restaurant was highly allergic to dogs, does that person have to leave, or does the owner refuse service to the person with the animal?

Seems to me that dog owners are a "protected class", therefore, the guy with the allergy can die for all liberals care.

By the way, you said in an earlier post that it was a gorgeous dog. It is a mutt and it is not appealing to the eye under any circumstances.

Immie

Obviously not a fan of dogs, then.

 

[Gracie]

The restaurant guy...or ANYONE allergic or thinks animals should not be in their establishment, COULD, if they wanted to bother with getting new or MORE customers, would set a section aside for those who have service animals. Like...in an enclosed patio?

When I had my antique store..and my ladies boutique...I allowed all kinds of pets in my shop. People would leave them outside and I would tell them to go get them...let them come in where it's warm...or cool. And I always had treats and a water bowl. I had happy customers that returned over and over again because they knew their pet was welcome. Other customers that didn't like it? Sorry. Use a handy dandy clothes pin on the nose..need one? I got some.

 

[Gracie]

I also was a property manager for upteen years. I allowed pets. I got more rent. Bigger deposit. And had a waiting list for any vacancies that were coming up. Oh yes...the owners of the property loved me running their properties.

 

[Immanuel]

You have a point, but the dog is a registered service dog, according to the article, and because of that, it shouldn't matter what the owner thinks, the dog must be allowed in the restaurant.

I do wonder though about (someone mentioned allergies earlier) someone being allergic to dogs - if this dog was a seeing eye dog, for example, and someone in the restaurant was highly allergic to dogs, does that person have to leave, or does the owner refuse service to the person with the animal?

Seems to me that dog owners are a "protected class", therefore, the guy with the allergy can die for all liberals care.

By the way, you said in an earlier post that it was a gorgeous dog. It is a mutt and it is not appealing to the eye under any circumstances.

Immie

Obviously not a fan of dogs, then.

Obviously!

Immie