What happened to them is not only inexcusable, but also illegal. Sadly, that incident was not a 'one-off' and seems that almost every week we hear of Veterans and patrons being discriminated against by businesses who are seemingly ignorant of the laws of the land.
Here's a couple just from the last few days. In a Dartmouth, NS hospital ER, where you would think they would know better, from the CBC:
PTSD service dogs not welcomed at Dartmouth ER: owners
Capital Health looking into incident
Nov 16, 2013
Two Afghanistan war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are upset after a doctor told them their service dogs weren't welcome in the Dartmouth General Hospital's emergency room.
When John Leight is feeling overwhelmed by the symptoms of PTSD, he said his service dog Gypsy moves in.
His wife Keri Snow gets the same help from her service dog Littlefoot.
Their PTSD stems from time serving in Afghanistan at the air base in Kandahar.
“We lost a lot of friends, comrades, people we worked with very closely. It was tough,” said Snow.
Leight went to the Dartmouth General Hospital on Thursday night with pain and numbness in his arms....
For what happened next, go here.
A Texas restaurant did not leave out the welcome mat got an American Veteran. From Ktre:
Service dog causes dispute between vet and East Texas restaurant
Nov 20, 2013
By Leigha Hughes
CENTER, TX (KTRE) -
A disabled veteran is speaking out after he says he was harassed and told to leave an East Texas restaurant because his service dog was not welcome.
House Bill 489 was signed into Texas law on September 1st, 2012 allowing individuals with disabilities to use their service dogs in all public places, including restaurants but the owner of Steaks & More Buffet and Grill in Center said he didn't know about the law.
Mike Cowden is a Marine suffering with PTSD and hearing loss from the Vietnam War and for three years he has had Janie, a service dog.
"This is what this dog is to him. His freedom in America," said Cowdens wife, Brenda Cowden.
Mike and Brenda Cowden say they are accustomed to receiving questions about the dog but never had to deal with anything like what happened at T/R's Steaks & More in Center.
"We were standing in line and one of the waitresses came up and asked us to leave because we had the dog and Mike said it's a service dog and she said you still have to leave," said Brenda....
More details of the ignorance on display - plus a video clip - here.
The Winnipeg Sun has a video that introduces a few Veterans who describe how crucial Service Dogs are to their quality of life.
Seems we still have lots of education to do.
1 comment:
Service dogs are becoming more prevalent, especially with Veterans.
It's awful to see people being denied service just because of their necessary service dog.
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