as small as a world and as large as alone

8:39pm August 11, 2013

rainfallboy:

This actually makes me feel really sick.
I don’t usually make posts like this but
It’s illegal to pretend you’re disabled and have a need for a service or emotional support animal without an actual need for one. If someone found out that you were lying about having a disability (which you would have to to get your dog registered) you’d have problems.
I’m very. Upset about this. I hope you guys can see why. Lifehackable.tumblr.com is encouraging illegal behavior that not only the person perpetrating it can get into trouble for, but it makes it 10x harder for people who have actual service/emotional support animals to be accommodated. This is the kind of thing people pulled on restaurants in my area that makes them question whether my dog is a service dog or not and this is the kind of thing that makes it harder for people with service animals to go through a day without being questioned. People turn and ask me if they can get their dog a vest like my dog’s just to get them into restaurants and other placesand it makes me feel ill and brings me to tears. It invalidates our disabilities and our real needs for service animals and emotional support animals. Please don’t reblog the photoset this is in and please don’t do this.

Yes please don’t do this.

But also.

Whether an animal is an assistance animal or not (cats can’t be service animals in the USA, but can still be assistance animals under landlord tenant law) has nothing at all to do with being “registered”.

Same with service animals.

I’m not sure emotional support animals count as either one, even though they should. This is because service animals have to perform specific tasks! And comfort isn’t enough.

It should be. It’s discriminatory against people with emotional disabilities. But right now that’s not how it works.

Fey is an assistance animal, formerly known as a service animal before the law was changed. She detects seizures. She helps me get up if I fall and can’t move. She assists me with movement when I’m stuck. She prompts me by nudging different body parts in sequence until I can move or walk again. She gives me small nudges if all I need is touch to get me moving. These are specific tasks she performs, not generic comfort and companionship.

I’m bothered by the fact that they’ve restricted service animals to dogs. A dog could perform these tasks but I’m unable to take care of a dog. And cats tend to have better intuition of the type required to learn to interact with my movement disorder, and know my body language. Dogs who don’t know me well sometimes get nervous around my autistic body language, I basically have to fake body language to make them comfortable and is exhausting. Cats tend to be okay with me as I am.

But at least there’s still provisions in the law for assistance animals other than dogs.

The reason Fey can no longer be a service animal though? People were abusing the law JUST LIKE THIS for their pets. Keep it up and she won’t be able to be an assistance animal either.

SO STOP IT.

Disabled people genuinely need assistance animals and service animals in order to be independent. You’re NOT HELPING. Especially those of us with non-traditional species.

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