Well said Marsha. My father has been in a wheelchair for 20 years now. He is paraplegic (paralized from the mid-back, down) because of an accident. He doesn't have a service dog (my step-mom helps him) but I understand where you are coming from. Such as..... I know that people who aren't disabled will sometimes park in the handicapped parking spaces just because they are too lazy to walk far. At least they can walk! Stefanie
--- On Thu, 1/8/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [Chihuahuas] service animals To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, January 8, 2009, 8:13 PM I want to address the entire issue of service animals and the law regarding their access rights. First, let me say, Sharron, I am NOT trying to be mean to you or anything. I do not know if you have a disability or if Katie is trained to assist you in any way. If you do/she is, then I have absolutely no issues with your situation. She does look nice, there is no doubt about that. But, at the same time, I wanna try to explain a little about "the other side" There was a time when anyone with a disability was just flat out of luck. They could not work, they had no chance to socialise, they realy did not have a life. However, it has taken a lot of years and a lot of dedication, but those of us with a disability are now able to do many of the things that people without a disability take for granted. I have a boatload of chihuahuas. I love each of them dearly, and when I am going somewhere where they are allowed to go, I enjoy taking them and showing them off. I also have an SD. Pepper is by no means my "cutest" chi....he is not the one everyone will "awwwww" over. But, he is the one I depend on. Emagine going into a store to do your regular routine shopping. You walk in, you get what you want, you pay, you leave...never giving a thought to it. Now, emagine you are in a wheelchair and every iten you need to buy is out of your reach....so you turn to your trusty friend, you gets the item for you. Emagine you are in a dark area that you are not familiar with and you hear a sound....look around and don't see anyone....you quickly make your way to a lighted area and now feel safe. Now, emagine you are in the same area and you do NOT hear the sound....but there is a mugger behind you who grabs you, rapes you, steals everything you have and leaves you for dead. Or emagine you don't hear a sound, but your trusty friend walking behind you does...he alerts you to it and you quickly leave the area and are spared. Emagine you are going for a job interview in a building you are unfamiliar with. You walk across the parking lot, cross the walkway, enter the door, get into the elevator, push the button that will take you to the right floor and enter the room where you are to go. Now, emagine, you are going for the same interview... the first one you have had in 3 years...because no one wants to hire the blind girl.....you don't see the cars, walk right into one parked into the parking lot...which of course sets off the alarm....make it out of the parking lot and to the crosswalk, where suddenly you hear horn blast because you didn't see the car comming...somehow you make it to the building, fumble around for the door....ask someone to lead you to the elevator...finally arrive at your interview, don't get the job because you are so diheveled from your adventures in getting there. Now, same scenario, but this time, your trusty friend leads you around the parked cars, holds you back till traffic is clear, leads you through the doors and directly to the elevators... . In 1996, I left home for the first time to live in my own appartment. I was in a town where I knew no one.... I was 5 hours from any friends or family. MY SD at the time, Joe, made this possible for me. I could not have gone without him. No one would wake me up, no one would tell me someone was at the door, no one would alert me if an intruder broke into my appartment while I slept. But, thanks to my trusty friend by my side, I was able to venture into the real world. For many years, dogs have had the ability to do this stuff for us, but the law did not allow them in public places. Finally law caught up with reality and we now have a legal right to have that trusty friend by our sides....not to show off how cute they are, not to just have a buddy with us....but to give us the ability to do the things that the rest of you take for granted. We have fought twice as hard to be considered half as good. When someone fakes a service animal, they are telling us that they do not care about our limitations. They don't care if we get ran over, attacked in the dark, leave a store without items we need because we can't reach them, ect. And everytime store personele sees an able bodied person with a fake service animal, it makes it that much harder for us to get them to accept ours as legit. Faking a service animal is no different than going around riding in a wheelchair just because you are too lazy to walk. Instead of faking a service animal, try instead to only take your pet places where they are welcomed.... .then thank god for giving you the ability to live a normal life.......because some of us are not that blessed..... . MArsha This email contains correspondence from an attorney and may contain privileged information. If you are not the intended receipient, please delete. Do not tell god how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is. http://taylorstots. tripod.com/
