09/11/2024
It was such an honor to be asked to be the guest speaker at the Mayor’s Council today to speak about Service Dog Awareness. I know the videos are not 2 minutes and we all have short attention spans lol, but I would love for you to have a listen. We were all supposed to meet in person but the space we were supposed to meet in was no longer available somehow, so we all had to go virtual. I will say yes, speaking very quickly because I technically only had 20 minutes to speak and then questions and I wanted to make sure I got through everything. I will however, attach my speech in general for those who would rather read then hear me speak. But I can’t include the questions and answers as that was unexpected.
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Hello, everyone. My name is Amber Laudicina, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. I am both a disabled service dog handler and a certified service dog trainer. Some of you may have attended my presentation at the ADA conference, an experience I truly enjoyed, even if it was my first time public speaking. But, One significant takeaway from that event was the pressing need for increased education regarding not only service dogs in general, but also the various types available and why there is just so much confusion to it all.
Today, instead of following a traditional presentation format, I want to engage you in a conversation about some critical issues faced by our community. In our increasingly interconnected world, we have access to a wealth of information online, yet this has led to a proliferation of misinformation about service dogs. As an active member of the online service dog community, I spend much of my time educating others, advocating for our rights, and addressing some of the negative sentiments we encounter.
Im sure you may be asking yourselves, what does she mean negative sentiments? I would like to give you some examples of some of the things that have been said to me just this week and to other service dog handlers. Now, I will state trigger warning due to language used.
“Unless you are blind, Deaf or a Veteran that has killed children with bombs strapped to their chests to save their platoons, you don’t need a service dog. You just need serious mental help. If you’re fat, maybe you should just eat right and exercise. You’re just being lazy and don’t need a dog to live your pathetic, attention seeking lives. The fact the majority of you feel you need a dog to live your lives shows just how desperate and pathetic you are and maybe should just not leave your homes. Or better yet, do us all a favor and end it. Because we are sick and tired of you taking up space and if I ever saw you in public, I would purposely insert myself into your self entitled bubble and pray to God your dog bites me so I can make sure it gets put down and then go after the store for allowing you inside.” - Said by a US Marine Veteran
“Why do you have 2 service dogs? Are you Blind and Retarded?” - Civilian
“Just stay home with your mangy mutts! Now we have to deal with people walking around with support animals just so they can cope with the same s**t everyone else deals with! F that!” - Civilian
Someone took a picture of a disabled individual in public with their service dog and stated “What’s wrong with this picture? Posing in a wheelchair when she can walk” - not sure if you knew this or not but 70% of wheelchair users are ambulatory. - Civilian
They are expressing that individuals like myself don’t deserve service dogs unless we fit a narrow definition of disability. Unfortunately, this perspective highlights a broader incomprehension about what service dogs can do for their handlers.
Mind you these are only a few saying this to me & others and I can assure you, it’s so much worse out there. This tells me that there is still so much unawareness when it comes to service dogs and what they can do for their handlers. Many individuals still think that service dogs are required to come from programs or be professionally trained. This is actually far from the case. And yes, you can actually have 2 service dogs, we call them tandem teams.
Did you know the ADA law actually does not define how you must train or obtain a service dog? You can in fact train your own service dog. All you require is a documented disability, whether that be a doctors letter, handicap plaque, Social Security Acceptance Letter. Now, know that public entities cannot ask you for these items as proof, but if you end up in court as a service dog handler, you better make sure you have some form of documentation. The law only states that the dog must be potty trained, cannot be aggressive or protective in any manner and must perform at least one physical task to mitigate their handler’s disability. This means the dog isn’t required to be in a breakneck heel the entire time out. This doesn’t mean the dog has to be staring at the handler 100% of the time. This doesn’t mean that a service dog can’t be startled by something, they’re not robots. Are there what we call common sense expectations? Yes. The dog should remain quiet and not easily distracted. The dog should be under control at all times. Barking continuously, growling, lunging, jumping on people are all considered inappropriate and a business can ask you to leave. If the dog is causing any disturbance or is inhibiting normal business functions it can also be asked to leave.
Moreover, service dogs are not required to wear vests or carry identification, which often leads to misunderstandings among businesses and the public. This misunderstanding creates barriers for those who genuinely rely on service dogs, especially when misrepresentations occur, such as with emotional support animals.
Now, certain states do require service dogs in training to be identified in some form or matter, some states do require a trainer to be present and some states do not allow service dogs in training the same public access as service dogs. But no one actually knows any of this and there’s no one to enforce it anyways. Most states allow service dogs in training the same public access as service dogs but the ADA does not protect them if something was to occur.
Now, because service dogs are not the biggest priority for businesses to learn about, they often go misguided or due to a fake service dog handler, think they can ask for physical proof that the dog is in fact a service dog. But the issue here lies in the fact that not only can they not ask you for proof but there isn’t any. All of these websites that sell certificates and IDs are not helping the matter and quite frankly hurting us even more. It’s not illegal to obtain an ID, but to use it to gain public access if asked is. See how this seems so gray? Many will show one just to get it over with which just adds even more to the barriers. I believe we must begin changing the narrative surrounding service dogs by sharing real, tangible examples of how they assist disabled individuals.
Open and close doors
Hit buttons
Call 911
Retrieve medication
Assist their handlers physically out of chairs, up and downstairs, ramps, moving forward
Retrieve dropped items for those with fall risks or those who are in wheelchairs that cannot bend
Alert a Deaf handler to phone ringing, someone at door, someone is calling their name
Go get help
Detect seizures, blood sugar, cardiac events
Assist with panic attacks
Assist with bodily harm by interrupting the behavior by forcing themselves into the handlers space or bring them a toy to distract them
Help with laundry
Help remove clothes items
Create space for those with anxiety or PTSD
Nightmare interruption
Help raise legs to help with blood flow to the heart
Turn a handler to the side if having a seizure to prevent aspirating
This is actually a very small list.
Ever since emotional support dogs became recognized, it hurt the service dog community even more. Because people purchase vests off amazon and pass them off as service dogs and use them to get away from paying pet fees. I personally do not feel ESAs should exist simply bec I don’t need a letter to tell me my animals in general give me great comfort. Which is not a task and is defined in the law that it’s not.
I also think that there needs to be changes within the verbiage that enforces the part of the law that it can be a misdemeanor or felony charge for misrepresenting your pet dog as a service dog. It’s always a civil matter so the police can never do anything as we’re being denied access and being kicked out of a business illegally. The DOJ doesnt even look into half of the reports we place when our rights are violated. I do believe there should be certifications for service dogs although most likely wouldn’t be the solution, but unfortunately that’s not a popular opinion because that would mean it would limit disabled individuals to have access to service dogs. It’s not that I want a disabled person to not have the life changing benefits of a service animal, but if you cannot afford to care for the dog, pay for what is needed to certify it, and even train the dog to the high standards the community expects then this form of treatment may not be adequate to that individual anymore. The other question comes to mind is, if there were certifications, businesses most likely wouldn’t invest the time to educate their staff on what to look for and since there is so much fraudulent IDs and Certificates out there already, it would be easy to create your own. I can admit I still dont know the true answer to this crisis. It would be nice if insurance companies could find a way to assist with the costs, but due to the red tape and liability of random people training medical equipment when they have never trained a standard pet more than how to sit and lay down is a problem. I do think that if trainers were required if you’re not going to go through a program that would not only remove a large percentage of the fakes out there it would also lesson the amount of attacks on service dogs every year. My service dog Eva that was at the ADA event was put out of work because she was mauled by a fake service dog and half her ear was ripped off. There was no way to even enforce the fact this happened and my service dog was removed from work, over 20k worth of training into her alone.
I know this isn’t a happy, uplifting presentation about service dogs, but this is part of the awareness that is missing. We all here I am sure know that you shouldnt distract a service dog. Service dogs have access rights. That’s primarily it. It’s what’s part of the problem and what’s creating even more of the misinformation. We also have stores like Home Depot that used to be pet friendly, but as of 2023 the policy changed to service dogs only. But yet the stores are picking and choosing if they allow dogs or not. That again isn’t helping because again, no accountability. We have many disabled service dog handlers that cannot drive and rely on services such as Uber or Lift. They are being denied and left stranded illegally, missing appointments or stranded where they were or having to pay even more money to order a pet Uber or pet lift just to get home. We shouldn’t have to be paying more for being disabled and having a medical aid they don’t want in their cars. But, unfortunately they sign over that personal choice when they start serving the public and they sign that contract that says they are required to allow service dogs. But again, no accountability by these companies. There is also nothing quite like trying to go into a doctors appointment you waited months for to get into, you even let them know you have a service dog and they deny you access for illegal reasons such as allergies. Or, trying to go to a restaurant with your family to celebrate a birthday and being told you have to leave, even going to the point of calling the police because they dont want to listen to you. Or, like myself just this year, being refused service at the Winston Salem Transit Station, told I had to leave and was escorted out of the building by the police. All captured on my body camera mind you. Quite frankly Walmart is by far the most dangerous store you can go to as a service dog handler. I will never shop there with my service dog. Most service dog attacks happen in Walmart. And although guide dogs and other service dogs are different in aspects of tasking, no one working dog has more rights than the other. We see many business state certified ADA service dogs only or guide dogs only.
Beyond education, I advocate for stronger legal protections against the misrepresentation of service dogs to ensure that individuals who genuinely need these animals can access them without discrimination or inconvenience. We must push for change and accountability within our communities and industries.
I would love to hear, if we have time, any questions that anyone may have for me?
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Amber Laudicina, ABC-SDT Certified Trainer & AKC Licensed Evaluator
www.kodadogtraining.com
518.955.1869
[email protected]
Licensed & Insured
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https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-faqs/
https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/
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