Ms_Butterfly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,115
Sadly, I feel that much of the issue is due to people passing off pets as SD's and passing off emotional support animals as SD's with the resorts and parks having problems resulting from the abuse.
That is true. And it is despicable that those folks do that.
Unfortunately the fakes and frauds are the ones who complain the most loudly and who impact those of us who cannot travel without our SD's.
I don't think that part is true. Many disabled ppl complain loud and clear! And I should hope that no non-disabled person would actually make a formal complaint (i.e. to the DOJ, DOT, police) or lawsuit, since they have no ground to stand on.
I can tell you that each time we are at WDW I see at least one untrained pet, hear negative and questioning comments from Security about people with their "comfort pets", etc. Fortunately I also see well-behaved dogs accompanying disabled guests who are doing their job in the toughest of circumstances- people petting them and distracting them.
I've never seen another service dog at Disney before, or even most public places. The only times I've seen another one (besides a meetup of ppl who use service dogs - that doesn't count 'cause it was on purpose!) have been two different restaurants (in two different areas) - those seemed to be legit guide dogs - and on airplanes - one a VERY long time ago and two last year (they were on the same flight I was on), one seemingly a legit hearing dog and the other seemingly a fake seizure/hearing dog. I don't recall seeing any others.
While written "proof" is not required, there are two questions which can be asked if your disability isn't apparent..."are you disabled?", and" is that your SD?". Also they can ask, "what tasks does your dog do for you that you cannot do for yourself". On top of that the dog must exhibit exemplary behavior. BTW, I always carry shot records- if my dog were to be bitten or harmed by another, I want my own proof of vaccination for my dog's safety. ---Kathy
The third question is more like, "What tasks has your dog been trained to do for you/to mitigate your disability?" (Emphasis on the "training" part is crucial to help weed out the comfort pets. Emphasis on the mitigating part is crucial, too, as some ppl with comfort pets will say their dog retrieves when that isn't a task the person actually needs - they just think training the dog to do anything makes it an SD, arrgh!)
My dog wears her rabies tag, as per our state's law, so I don't need to bring copies of her records, which stay safely at home. (I soon will be scanning all her vet records and such to put in a .PDF file on my Smartphone, however. I'd like to have access to them when we're in other countries - not just titer and vaccination history, but all medical history.)