"Invisible Disability" | Autism PDD
This is only partially true... according to ADA, the only legal question anyone can ask regarding the service animal is: "what service does the animal provide."
And regardless of the answer, access cannot be denied.
Now, autism, as a disability hinder's a persons ability to EXIST in certain places, either as a result of sensory issues, routine changes, or whatever.
Autism, as a disability, requires services to counter act those forces. That service can easily be seen as therapuetic, but they still result from the disability, thus falling under ADA.
Now, since therapy dog's don't have the access rights that service animals have, we are FORCED to become service animal compliant, and rightfully so. The animal is servicing deficiencies resulting from her disability, the very definition of ADA law.
Also, the school has NO LEGAL AUTHORITY to say what is and what isn't a service animal. And while a service animal must provide a service related to the disability. NO ONE CAN ASK what the disability is or how the service relates to it.
The only thing that is legally allowed to be asked is, "what service does this animal provide?" It is not a matter of permission.
If social deficiencies are part of the disability and the dog provides a means for the disabled person to cope with that deficiency, then it IS A SERVICE ANIMAL.
We have become completely wrapped in the world of ADA in regards to autism over the last several months, so much so that the ADA office knows us by name, lol.
She eat's next to nothing, is a slave to her routine, and exposing her to new scenario's is a nightmare. We had a service dog trained for her 4 years ago by a company called Caring Connection in Kansas.
DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICES.
We recently had the dogs training updated so that the animal could attend school with her. Problems with this trainer (see another post) negatively affected the formal suite we filed against our daughter's school district which tried to force us to provide proof of the animal's "service" status, claiming that the animal wouldn't aide in her education.
When we informed the district about ADA law and that it was illegal for them to "require" proof of service. They told us that their sitrict policy superceded federal law.
We filed a complaint and the DoJ and federal DoE started an investigation. Then our dog trainer said that "the dog's sole role was to provide physical saftey."
And now, we're told by the fed DoE that because of this, and the fact that autism is an "invisible diability," that our case may be ruined.
Our complaint which requests ONLY that, 1. The district remove the policy REQUIRING proof, to be in sync with ADA law, 2. the district formally educate its employees about ADA law, and 3. refrain from any additional hardships regarding the dog's attendence to school, will be completely ignored. Unless, the DoJ find the policy's existence to be worth their time.
The two things that anger me most:
1. what person, claiming to know about autism, would make the statement: "A service animal's only role to an autisitic is physical saftey"?
2. what kind of arrogance does it take for a local school district to claim that their "policy" supercedes ferderal law? I asked them which version of the US constitution they read in school and, of course, didn't get an answer.
so yeah... I'm not really saying much, just needed to vent!
There is a difference between a "Service dog" "therapy dog" and Social/therapy dog. Service animals are protected by federal law and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers. There is a similar case going on in WI right now, because the school district does not consider the boys dog as a service dog. The animal must provide a service for the person other than social/thearpy services. That could be the problem you are having. You would need to explain exactly what service the dog is performing for you daughter at school that cannot be provided by the school. Bump
Copyright Autism-PDD.net