Eosian Wrote:Many of my blind friends would actually look down on this person for needing a service dog in the first place and feel that incidents like this are what make them unwanted in public places. Service dogs are to the blind what hearing aids are to the deaf, oddly. Weird internal schisms and biases.
The one who does have a service dog would be horrified at the thought of going any where with out him and offended at the idea that she was unwelcome anywhere just because she needed a service animal to get there. Tying it up outside wouldn't even remotely be an option when you consider the time, effort and expense of training a service animal and the potential for it to be taken by anyone who passed by. Letting a service animal leave proximity to you isn't something most blind people are willing to do, they're codependent after all. By that same token expecting their friends, acquaintances or even strangers, who likely have zero training in assisting them getting around, to take the place of a service animal is something a lot of people are uncomfortable with. How many people would you trust yourself to be led around by blindfolded? Especially if it involved being left alone for indeterminate periods until they came back for you?
Simply avoiding the restaurant is an option yes, but hungry people have to eat eventually, and depending on where you're at, why you're out and whatnot stopping at a restaurant isn't unreasonable and if the only thing that makes you doing so an unreasonable burden on others is your service animal that's more a matter of other people being narrow minded and picky. I have no problems with a service animal, be it dog, cat, monkey or whatever, being present pretty much anywhere I am as long as it's well behaved. Categorically saying it's presence is wrong is just a form of prejudice.
I have no problem with a service animal being anywhere either. I like animals in general, if they're well behaved. However, there are just policies that public places, such as restaurants, adhere to for the sake of their business. There are people who mind the dog being there, even if it's well behaved. They came to the place for a nice meal with their date, not to feel a little awkward dining next to a stranger's dog who's ruining the mood with his panting (which is normal, the dog can't be blamed for this), or a sudden breeze from a waiter walking by that picks up shedding fur from the dog into the air near their plates.
Just because the man heavily relies on the dog doesn't mean that they're going to make an exception for him. If I had a safety blanket syndrome and needed to have my cat in my arms at all times, or risk a panic attack, they wouldn't let me in either. That would be a case where my furry companion can not be out of my sight, because I'd need it around for mental stability. They're not making an exception for me though, and there's more than one reason as to why they wouldn't.
Maybe if it was a less classy place, like a McDonalds or something. I've seen someone come into McDonalds with a cat before. Oddly enough, the cat was in a harness, being walked as if it was a dog. The employees eyed it for a bit, but nobody made a big deal about it and she had her meal to go anyway.