Waiting for the Day

Most days I spend at least part of my time researching information about service dogs, organizations, providers and trainers.  A natural part of this research is reading news articles and online stories about people with service dogs and their experiences in public.

I’m waiting for the day when service dogs are not news.  A time when most people know about service dogs, they see them often as they go about their errands, at social gatherings, in restaurants.  For there to be as much shock and surprise about people being unaware of the rights of people with service dogs as there might be for someone to say, “Starbucks? … What’s that?”.

There is so much contradictory and mis-information in cyber world about service dogs, particularly about service dogs for people whose disabilities are not readily apparent to others (like diabetes, seizures, post traumatic stress, to name a few). 

A recent online news story shared the experience of a young teenager in Alabama with a seizure disorder who was struggling with businesses in his area allowing him access with his new seizure assistance dog.  Read the news article here).  Several local business owners said they were unaware about access laws under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The article called service dogs a “novelty”.  Really?  A novelty?  I know that many people are unaware about service dogs for people who have “invisible disabilities”—after all it’s part of my job to help raise awareness around this issue.  But a novelty?  Hmm. 

Although there is no truly reliable resource for statistics about how many people in the U.S. use a service dog to increase their independence and enhance their quality of life; some reports note there are approximately 15,000 people plus another 10,000 guide dogs for the blind throughout the US and Canada.  Personally, I think that number is low.  There are literally hundreds of organizations providing service dogs annually.  The number of service dog teams will continue to grow and one day – hopefully soon – service dogs will no longer be a novelty.  And business owners will no longer be in the dark about their obligations to allow access.

For more information about service dogs and their use for people with invisible disabilities, please visit our website at www.ServiceDog411.com.