pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-10-11.pdf, 5
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2017-10-11 | 5 | ITEM 2-A COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES MEETING MINUTES OF Wednesday, October 11, 2017 6:30 p.m. Beth Kenny: Wonderful. Do any other commissioners have questions? Or I Go ahead, Commissioner Lewis. Tony Lewis: Yes, I was wondering, have you done any training or work with the rideshares? You mentioned about service animals. The rideshares, Uber or Lyft, in terms of taking service animals or. Have you got anything with that? Jan Garrett: We have not actually worked with the rideshare companies. They have not asked us to work with them. Tony Lewis: I guess the bigger question is, has anybody reached out to you who've been discriminated, with service animals? Jan Garrett: Not to us specifically, no. And if they have, it was just for technical assistance for us to tell them, "Is this discrimination under the ADA or is it not?" which we would have said, "Yes, it is, if they have turned you down because you have a guide dog or another service animal." And actually, there are specific policies, at least I'm aware of, with Uber that I have actually seen, that they have a policy that says you must accept people with service animals, and you can be disciplined or decommissioned, whatever they call it, as a driver if you do not accept people that have service animals. So I specifically have seen that policy and know that it exists, and we can tell people about that. Tony Lewis: Yes, and I guess also, the thing with service animals is that there seems to be a lot of confusion about therapy dog service animals, emotional support. Is there any training that you've done with them? Have employers reached out to you about training regarding it? For them, what's clear about that? The differences, and what constitutes what, and what is a legal certified service animals, emotional support animal, or a therapy animal? Jan Garrett: Well, sometimes employers have reached out to us. I will say that I think the concept of service animals, and maybe even emotional support animals in the work place, is a relatively new concept, even though service animals have been around for a while. I don't think they've been in the work place all that much, although they are starting to be more so, except for of course people who are blind who have brought their guide dogs, and I think that's been happening for quite some time. But other service animals haven't really been that prevalent in the work place, and I do think that's starting to change. But the people who call us more often about service animals are businesses, restaurants, shops, other kinds of businesses that are wondering, do they have to allow these animals? What questions can they ask? Jan Garrett: All of those kinds of things. And then we have a lot of housing providers that call us as well, because in housing, it's different. Housing needs to allow service animals and emotional support animals. So the landlords and housing providers, and tenants as well, often have questions about what kinds of animals can be allowed in housing. So that's mostly the people that call us about service animals and emotional support animals. 12/13/17 Page 5 of 16 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-10-11.pdf |