PAWS UP AND PAWS
DOWN
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PAWS
UP:
E.B. Games, Camarillo, CA.
Thank you, Jon Appling, Assistant Manager, for standing up for a disabled
person and his dog and telling a complaining customer that he could
go elsewhere if he didn't like them being in the store!
Please spend your money wisely! Support the businesses who support
the disabled and their service/therapy/companion animals.
In the future, we will have a PAWS UP and PAWS DOWN rating for restaurants
and other businesses. Please be sure to email us with your experiences
with your service/therapy/companion animal. Give us the name of the
establishment, the date you were there, who you spoke with, what occurred,
and if you recommend that they be put in the PAWS UP or PAWS DOWN column.
D.I.A.L. S.T.A.R.T. reserves the right to edit your remarks to fit
the space, content and style of our web site.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE PLACES WHO SUPPORT THE DISABLED AND THEIR ANIMALS!
REMEMBER, WE ARE HERE TO EDUCATE NOT ANGER. IF YOU ARE HAVING A PROBLEM
IN PUBLIC WITH YOUR ANIMAL, PLEASE CALL D.I.A.L. S.T.A.R.T.
PLEASE DO YOUR BEST NOT TO GET ANGRY. WHAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED IS THAT
A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE ACTING ON MISINFORMATION FROM THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
INSTEAD OF GETTING ANGRY, PLEASE EDUCATE PEOPLE TO OUR RIGHTS. TRY
TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE NON DISABLED PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ARE
ABUSING THE LAWS THAT PROTECT US SO THEY CAN TAKE THEIR ANIMALS TO
LUNCH, MOVIES, ETC.
SADLY, IT REFLECTS BADLY UPON US WHEN THEY DO THIS. THIS IS SIMILAR
TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT DISABLED WHO GET A HANDICAPPED PLACARD SO THEY
CAN PARK IN HANDICAPPED PARKING SPACES. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE
WHO WILL HAVE NO CONSCIENCE WHEN IT COMES TO ABUSING LAWS THAT ARE
DESIGNED TO PROTECT OTHERS.
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PAWS DOWN:
How To Handle Impersonators
At D.I.A.L. S.T.A.R.T., we
hear this all the time from non disabled people,"How can I get my dog qualified as a service animal
so I can take him every where with me?" Nothing rankles us
more than people who want to "impersonate" someone with
a disability so they can take their pet to lunch. It's like
someone who isn't disabled hanging a handicap placard from
their rear view
mirror so they can park in a handicapped space. It's against
the law. It makes it even more difficult for those people who
are truly
handicapped to feel comfortable accessing public places with
their animals. It angers business owners. It hurts the people
who truly
are disabled. It is committing FRAUD. And it carries a fine,
imprisonment or both.
In short, a person of integrity and compassion would never even
consider doing such an unethical thing.
Having said that, here is what the law says about people who impersonate
a disabled person and try to pass off their animal as a service/therapy/companion
animal:
"Section
365.7 of the Penal Code prohibits any person to knowingly and
fraudulently
representing himself
or herself, through verbal
or written notice, to be the owner or trainer of any canine
licensed as, to be qualified as, or identified as, a guide dog,
signal dog,
or service dog, as defined in subdivisions (d), (e) and (f)
respectively, of Section 365.5 of the Penal Code and paragraph
(6) of subdivision
(b) of Section 54.1 of the Civil Code, and that a violation
of Section 365.7 of the Penal Code is a misdemeanor, punishable
by imprisonment
in a county jail not exceeding six months, by a fine not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment
and
fine."
As
a business owner, if you have any suspicion that someone is breaking
the law, you have legal rights. You may want to consider
printing out the following message, and posting it in your
establishment, printing it on your menus, a table tent card, etc.:
We welcome the disabled and their service animals; however, please
be advised that if you are impersonating a disabled person and your
animal is not a legitimate guide/service/signal animal, that you
are breaking the law and we have the right to ask you to leave your
pet outside while you browse, shop and/or dine here. We appreciate
your understanding that laws were created to protect legitimately
disabled people and their guide/service/signal animals. Please read
the law below. For more information, go to www.dialstart.org.
"Section
365.7 of the Penal Code prohibits any person to knowingly and
fraudulently
representing himself
or herself, through verbal
or written notice, to be the owner or trainer of any canine
licensed as, to be qualified as, or identified as, a guide
dog, signal dog,
or service dog, as defined in subdivisions (d), (e) and
(f) respectively, of Section 365.5 of the Penal Code and paragraph
(6)
of subdivision
(b) of Section 54.1 of the Civil Code, and that a violation
of Section 365.7 of the Penal Code is a misdemeanor, punishable
by imprisonment
in a county jail not exceeding six months, by a fine not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment
and
fine."
(This notice is provided by www.dialstart.org, a non-profit organization
benefiting disabled children, adults and the service/therapy/companion
animals that serve them.
If
you decide to use this notice, we ask that in return, you
use it in full, without editing, and please do
not delete our
contact information. Our goal is to protect the disabled and
their service/therapy/companion
animals and at the same time, try to assist in protecting you
against people who think it's "cute" to take their animals
to lunch.
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