Guidance for assistance dogs users
06 July 2009
Dogs that tell you when there is someone at the door, guide you through busy streets, help with the laundry and even warn of epileptic seizures – these are all tasks done every day by Northern Ireland’s assistance dogs, including around 90 guide dogs for the blind and 15 hearing dogs for deaf people.
The Equality Commission has just issued updated guidance for people who use an assistance dog to improve their independence, mobility or quality of life and for the businesses or organisations which serve them.
The guidance covers all assistance dogs who support people with visual or hearing impairments, people with physical disabilities and people with hidden disabilities.
Fionuala Devlin, Head of the Commission’s Promotion and Education Division which published the guidance, explains, “An assistance dog is easily recognisable by the harness it wears and it may also have a jacket with the Assistance Dogs UK logo. Our guidance will both inform dog users of their rights and help employers and service providers comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. It’s important that anyone who provides goods, services and facilities to the public understands that they cannot refuse to provide the same service to someone with a disability for a reason relating to that person’s disability.
“The law requires a service provider to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to accommodate people with disabilities – as far as assistance dogs are concerned, this could very simply take the form of not enforcing a ‘no dogs’ policy in respect of assistance dogs. To show your organisation or business welcomes assistance dogs, there is a window sticker available from Assistance Dogs UK, the umbrella organisation for support dog charities.”
‘The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for Northern Ireland: Assistance Dog Owners - their rights, Employers and Service Providers - best practice’ is now available on the web at http://www.equalityni.org/archive/pdf/Assistance_Dogs.pdf or ring 028 90 890 890 for a hard copy.
