Settling In

Here is the info on the fundraising page for VetDogs Attention: I have a Personal Fundraising Page for VetDogs Now! Please follow this link and make a donation to help another veteran like me get a service dog.

I want to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who helps me in so many ways. I could not make this journey of living without everyone that I come in contact with. This week I had the pleasure of getting out without any commitments and just relax. After reading two books completely through and sleeping in I feel completely rested and ready to start back up.

I want to give special thanks to my Sister Liz Burnell for these pictures of Mike and I, she came out and took.

One of the Projects I have wanted to take on for a longtime that I have finally started was an awareness project pushing this government of ours to possibly change the current ADA laws in the way they pertain to Service Dogs. Having had bad experiences out in public due to people using fake Service Dogs because of the loop holes in the way the laws are written I am hoping to get a national central certification authority to issue a card or something that will work and help stem the number of posers out there.  Here is the Link on FaceBook please pass it out I would love to get a spirited debate going there. https://www.facebook.com/changeADA

From the number of responses that I have already seen from the disabled community I have a feeling it is going to be a tough road to fight just to get people to get on board with changing the ADA. I have a FaceBook page setup to spur a debate in hopes to create some common ground for people and maybe ultimately come up with a workable solution. Nothing when dealing with the government is ever easy, I understand that and I am not a lawyer so my views may be overly simplistic when looking at the law. What I do know is that America is a great country that when enough people come together for something that is right can make anything happen.

What I am trying to do is not take away civil rights that our disabled citizen fought hard to achieve but I do want to make those rights something that don't become a laughing stock of our community. Laws that are not enforceable or even able to understood well enough by law enforcement do not really do our disabled a service.  So at this point I know what I would love to see is a National ID Card something like a Drivers License or like the Disabled Parking Placard issued with a doctors order.

I would also like to see some sort of standardized testing similar to the ADI Public Access Test for the team to prove it has met the standards of a working team. I understand that there are many out there that seem to think this is way overboard and unnecessary but having had my first service dog retired earlier then her years would have had her normally retire I feel I am not asking to much. The cost of a fully trained service dog is priceless in the hands of the disabled persons eye (mine at least) $50,000 is the going number quoted by most of the major service dog and guide dog schools. That cost is an astronomical dollar amount to someone that is most likely on a fixed budget so a bit of preventative legislation that could put some teeth to the laws and keep those fake dogs from cruising the isles is worth any time taken to show a simple ID in my opinion.

We require licensing to drive cars and to do so many other things in this country why is it such a major issue to require an ID for the use of a Service Dog? In most cases the ID will only be asked for when traveling to a strange place local merchants that we frequent often will know who we are and will not ask for a card more then once. When we travel via air or boat we know that an ID is required even if we are not Disabled so having the ID out and ready is not any more of a hassle and will again fix the fake issue simply. The issues of having to explain disabilities will go away because the doctors note/script used to gain the ID will have taken care of the question and will be a moot point.

Hopefully this Blog and my continued work on FB and in the legal system will make a difference. Please take a moment to weigh in on this subject. My single voice is never going to be enough to effect a change but if each person that reads and responds then passes this on does something who knows maybe we can make a positive change. Thank you all again and God Bless.