(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – The federal government requires business operators to allow service animals inside their establishments, but that doesn’t mean it always happens.
Just ask Candace Camper. The Chicago woman says she sometimes gets pushback when she tries enter a store or a restaurant with her medical mobility service dog, Clea. The canine, which can fetch her a drink or medicine, also helps her with tasks like balance support, she says.
“It can be so embarrassing and frustrating when I’m out with family and I just want to blend in,” says Camper, who documents some of her experiences on TikTok and Instagram.
Service animals are considered medically necessary to their handlers, under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Business operators who are unsure of the animal’s legitimacy are allowed to ask only two questions, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s ADA website:
Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
“If those answers are ‘yes,’ then the business has to allow the dog in,” says Michelle Yuen, co-founder of Paws Giving Independence, a not-for-profit that trains service animals for people with disabilities.
Business employees cannot ask the dog’s handler questions about their medical condition. Nor can they request documentation “proving” the canine is a service dog, the government website says.
Confusion over service animals and where they may go is compounded by websites that offer to give people official-looking documentation – for a fee. Observers say some pet owners are trying to game the system so that they can take their pets everywhere.
Camper, the handler of Clea, says pet owners who commit that kind of fraud are just making life more difficult for people with disabilities who need their service animals.
“People truly believe it’s a victimless crime when it’s not,” she says.
The latest episode of Looped In: Chicago takes a look at service animals, how they are trained and the types of tasks they perform for their handlers.
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