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Kokua Line
Question: It seems that almost every time I go into a grocery store, I encounter someone's husky, poodle, Chihuahua, cocker spaniel, etc., whose owner claims it is a service dog exempt from the law. Rather than assisting the presumed physically-challenged owner, the owners were busy trying to control their dog in the store. None of them needed the dog to assist them. So exactly who qualifies for a service dog? Suspicious of all
those ‘service dogs’Answer: It might help first to define what a "service animal" is and what rights their owners have.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines it as any guide dog (for the blind), signal dog (for the deaf or hearing impaired) or other animal individually trained to assist someone with a disability. The animals don't have to be licensed or certified by a state or county agency if they meet this definition.
A service dog is "not a pet," emphasized Francine Wai, executive director of the state Disability and Communication Access Board.
Some people who are disabled, such as the elderly, may use wheelchairs and may have a dog but that doesn't mean it's a service animal, she said.
"Service animals are not comfort animals or therapy animals or pets. They actually have to do something -- alert the person, pick up something, pull a wheelchair, carry books."
Wai also explained that dogs are not protected under the ADA. The ADA protects someone with a disability.
"So the person has to be a qualified person with a disability and that (service) animal has to be trained to compensate for that individual's disability," she said.
Under the ADA, private businesses that serve the public, including restaurants, hotels, stores, taxicabs, theaters and sports facilities, cannot prohibit service dogs.
The problem, in Hawaii and elsewhere, is that the federal law is "just too loose," and interpreted very broadly by the Department of Justice, Wai said.
Although most service animals have a special harness or collar, you cannot assume one is not a service animal if there is no outward sign.
But while a business can ask a person if an animal is required because of a disability, it "can't insist on proof of some sort of certification or license," she said.
If a business refuses admittance to an animal and it, in fact, is not a service animal, "then (the owner) cannot sue you, because they have no rights under the ADA," Wai said.
However, it runs the risk of throwing out someone who legitimately has a service animal and that person then can file a lawsuit.
"It is a terrible predicament to put a business in," Wai said.
"We have tried to tighten the law here, but we cannot do that because (federal law) is more restrictive and it would be contrary to the guidance of the Department of Justice."
Short of the feds setting more definitive guidelines, Wai believes, "it (might) take a court case to sort some of this out."
Q: Please print something about who we can call to continue our Star-Bulletin subscription after you change owners. The Hawaii Newspaper Agency is cutting us off on March 15 and we don't know where we're going from there.
A: For subscriptions and information about circulation concerning the Star-Bulletin after March 15, call 529-4848. The central number for Oahu Publications, which will own the Star-Bulletin, MidWeek and four military newspapers, is 529-4700.
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com