Inuyasha wrote:
Service dogs are not always seeing eye dogs, some are there because they can potentially sense when a child is about to have a seizure.
In all honesty the school is in violation of Federal Law and do not have a leg to stand on.
I may not be in the US but the law in the US does spefically say that a person cannot ask a public accommodation to care for the service animal for them. In that sense the parents would have to prove that the child at the age of 5 is fully capable of taking on the full care and responsibity of the dog. I would love to see any five year old take on those responsiblities. It does not matter what the dog is trained to do, the fact is the child MUST be able to handle the dog. Dogs are not and never will be robots. They require people to give them commands, to tell them what to do and to look after their needs. A 5 year old cannot do that. Prove the child can take full care of the dog and there will be no problems, but these dogs for children with autism are spefically trained not to listen to the child, and to only take commands from the parents. Or the parent can accomany the child to school each day or employ someone to care for the dog. Either way the school is not breaking the law when it is expected that teachers babysit the child's dog all day. How do you expect the dog to go through a full school day without anyone giving it any commands at all?? Not possible.
As for seizure alert dogs, there is no point in a dog alerting, there is nothing that can be done by the dog or the person to preven the seizure from happening. What is more important is that the dog is able to respond afterward. Roll the person onto their side, clear their airway, press an emergecny phone button, etc. Even an alert is only of benefit if the person is able to do something about it and understands and can respond to the dog. A 5 year old cannot do that.
This is a preschool class. Next your going to have parents demanding their 6 month old baby be allowed to take their service dog to day care!! !! ! I am all for service dogs and have one, but in order for them to be in school the kid MUST be able to take care of the dog. When the child passes the public access test with the dog alone the dog can go to school with them, otherwise the parents or another adult must be there to handle the dog for the child. And that is what the law requires in the US. I can assure you nurses are not required to look after someones service dog while they are in an intensive care unit, child care workers are not required to look after some infants service dog, etc. If and when the said dog is provided with a suitable and tested handler for the day then it can be there, provided it does not override the needs of another child. A service dog is not an automatic right. The law in the US and elsewhere only requires "reasonable accommodations" and it has to be decided whether the child's needs can be met in other ways, etc. I know of a school that offered to provide a child with epilepsy with a full time nurse, but the parents wanted the child to have a 6 week old puppy with them instead, claiming the america's with disabilities act said they had too!! ! There are places where service dogs can legally be excluded they do not have a right to be absolutely everywhere and nor are public places required to look after peoples service dogs for them. There are other children in the class and the school has a legal obligation to consider the needs of those children. They also need to provide reasonable accommodations for the child with the dog, but whether that involves the dog or not is not garanteed and not mandated by law. Reasonableness is all that is required and if they can meet the child's needs in a way that does not require the dog then that is OK. A shop is a different place - it is only temporary, than being a classroom or workplace for 6+ hours every day. The reasonableness of the situation varies depending on the variables involved and the time and other people invovled also have a very big influence on that.
02 Jan 2011, 3:56 pm
