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The following news story has come to our attention and we wanted to share it with our network, along with some accurate information.
What this judge did was abhorrent and was likely a violation of the subject’s civil rights. However, this article quotes an attorney as stating that the rights of an individual to
be accompanied by a service dog in training are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
There are two major errors in this statement. The most obvious is that the ADA only applies to trained service dogs, not to service dogs in training, though we would like to see
that changed. The second and less obvious challenge is that the federal government and its facilities are not subject to the provisions of the ADA. The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to
(A) any State or local government;
(B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government; and
(C) the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and any commuter authority (as defined in section 103(8) of the Rail Passenger Service Act). 42 USC 12115(1).
Absent from this list is any instrumentality of the federal government. The federal government and, by the way, any funding received by the federal government, is subject to the
provisions of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Though provisions concerning service animals are not as well defined as those within the ADA, § 504 does contain provisions concerning service animals.
Advocates for Service Animal Partners has reached out to the subject of this discrimination in an effort to assist in bridging the knowledge gap that created this incident. We will
keep you updated on the progress of our efforts. Here is the link to the WKRG-News 5 two minute video.
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