Small dog could be service animal
I respond to the Saturday letter “Service dogs need visible permit” from Dan Priedeman, which is misinformed and wrong on numerous counts. Priedeman assumed the dog could in “no way could it have been a service animal” based on its size. He claims “they are easy to recognize due to their size and harness.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t limit service animals based on size. The ADA doesn’t require service animals to be marked or wear a harness. The only limitation placed on service animals is that they must be dogs or miniature horses, and they must be trained to alleviate a recognized disability of a disabled person.
There is no card issued for service animals. Businesses are allowed to ask if an animal is a service animal, and businesses are allowed to ask what tasks the animal performs. Businesses are allowed to assume a dog is a service animal if the person the dog is with has a visible disability, e.g. blind, wheelchair-bound, etc.
Disabilities are numerous and complex. The tasks service animals are trained to perform are numerous and complex. Sometimes a small dog is necessary for the disability.
B.A. Wickensimer Greenfield discouraging lack of respect for working people. He wrote that his dreams of a new firehouse were ruined when he learned he’d have to pay prevailing wages.
You’d expect him to take responsibility for planning a bigger facility than he could afford. Instead he blames workers for wanting a living wage. Valentine wouldn’t expect a lumber supplier to cut prices just because he wants it. Why does he think workers should take any less for the work they do?
Employers attack prevailing-wage laws by arguing, “It’s Economics 101. People should be able to compete by offering to work for less.” If they paid attention in Economics 102, they’d know that if they don’t pay employees enough to live on, they are going to run out of customers.
Americans’ productivity has soared in the past 30 years, but once one accounts for inflation, one’s income hasn’t budged. Let’s strengthen our economy and our nation.
Jonathan Miller Reynoldsburg labeled as, and didn’t look to him like, a service animal (Saturday letter).
Some people have severe anxiety, and have small dogs as service animals to help them deal with the stress of being in public. Some people are just entitled jerks who think it’s OK to take their dogs with them everywhere they go, and since they’re not allowed to leave them in their hot cars, we should all accommodate their selfishness as they take the dog into restaurants, banks, etc.
Unless that dog jumped up on his table, what does Priedeman care what this stranger is doing? Why is he so mad? Managing counsel SWACO Grove City