Breaking Down Barriers

Today, there are more and more people in our society, who travel with the aid of a dedicated Service Dog. These people come from all walks of life. Each and every one of these individuals, have a personal story about their disability and their Service Dog. For the most part, they are stories about people who are facing—and overcoming—challenges. By using a Service Dog, issues such as mobility and independence are no longer insurmountable challenges. For many of these people, they have a go-anywhere, do-anything attitude which shatters many stereotypical attitudes about people with disabilities.

However, accessibility challenges for Service Dog users continue to be an every- day occurrence.

Service Dogs are routinely denied access to public transportation, restaurants, grocery stores, churches and other public buildings, despite laws against such discrimination. Being denied access is not isolated to any one town, city, province, state or country. This is a world- wide problem. Cultural attitudes towards dogs, misinformation regarding health codes and personal attitudes all contribute to the problem. It is only through public awareness, attention and education that these issues can be resolved.

Perhaps, one day governments around the world will realize people with disabilities want to be treated as first class citizens and be included in the main-stream of society. Many countries are working towards an all inclusive society by introducing and implementing access laws to allow these individuals full access to all/any public buildings. However, these enormous challenges will not happen over-night.

Over the past eight-teen years, I have travelled with two different Guide Dogs. During this time, we have been challenged on a regular basis, by people who own, manage or work in restaurants, variety stores, grocery stores and even my own doctor’s office. It is often embarrassing and humiliating to be centered out in front of other patrons in these establishments. As a Guide Dog user, it is our responsibility and duty to try and educate the offending person. If that falls, we are instructed to contact the local police. It is then the responsibility of the police to determine the next step.

Each and every day, there are thousands of people around the world, who are denied access. For what- ever reason, some of these people have decided to escalate their case to a civil court case. Unfortunately, many of these legal cases have been dismissed by the courts on technicalities (mine included), while others have resulted in levying severe fines, participation in community service and even jail time for the person who has denied access.

I truly believe, if we start educating the general public as part of the educational curriculum, people with disabilities will have a better chance at living their live to the fullest. I also believe, we could minimize that amount of denied access cases, by asking our governments to institute a law that would make it mandatory for new immigrants and/or people working in the service industry to take a course surrounding people with disabilities and Service Dogs/animals.


Together, we can break down the many barriers that still exist in our society by changing cultural and personal attitudes, as well as educating and clarifying misinformation that contributes to the misunderstanding about people who travel and live in our communities with the assistance of a Service Dog/animal.