Kimberly Harms Ryan wrote: September 1Kimberly Harms Ryan Please can you add this to your wall? WOOF! I am on a mission can you please approve of this post for people with hidden disabilities and the use of a service dog. I am beside myself as this is about having a service dog and who gets to decide who receives and who doesnt. I just lost my cocker spaniel service dog after thirteen and half years. She filled many needs in my life as recognized by my physicians and veterinarian. I am starting a new journey with my new rescue pup. I filled out the forms from my local animal control. I sent a portion of my bio about what my previous service dog and I had accomplished over the years of hard work. The information is on my business card about “the Hayliegh project” which helps people with hidden disabilities find solutions concerning physical needs and their civil rights. Google Kimberly Ryan San Diego canine companions about how Hayliegh became my service dog and how instinctively assisted me. We also landed on the cover of the San Diego pet magazine which discussed my manuscript regarding hidden disabilities and discrimination. I don’t understand the Hayliegh project has helped establish other people make their dogs as service dogs both elderly due to hearing and others with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and mental illness. Although I don’t look disabled I live in disabled housing because of my disease. I chose to eat well and take excellent care of my body. This creates a lot of hostility causing excessive discrimination for me. My reasons for being disabled are not visible but once again I feel that I am being discriminated against. My new puppy Chloe is in training as a service dog. She has already performed tasks for me by alerting me when I shouldn’t go outside, when my disease is in full flare. We are attending star pup classes and other classes. She has already retrieved medication for me. Next we will work on the phone. Both my veterinarian and physicians have seen us together and approve of her as my service dog due to the severity of my disease. The truth is that I want to scream so loud that is painful to hold in. I keep repeating to myself “are you kidding me! I pay the price daily from having a disease that is torturing and acutely devastating to my life. And I am not alone. It has been so devastating that suicide has crossed both myself and many friends I have met via blog sites. The blog sites have given me and many others a place to voice our pain and depression. My sister became sick with this condition and recently took her life. I can’t blame her as being riddled with auto immune and connective tissue disease is devastating to live with. With all this shared I cannot believe that the local animal control where I live will not grant me a service dog tag. People with other hidden disabilities like autism, ptsd, mental issues, epilepsy, and brain injuries can have a service dog. And I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue immune disease which run rapid through my body daily. I suffer in the most acute severe pain that leaves me on many days where I cannot do life. My doctors are upset and writing letters on my behalf regarding my disease and the benefits of having a service dog. I am entitled to a service dog discount at my vet’s office but because San Diego animal control refused to give me a tag, they resisted me the discount until today, as they know the value and assistance both physically and emotionally that my new service dog pup has brought to my life. I have been in touch with the ADA and they are upset with my situation. They know the value and assistance my last service dog gave me and the work I am doing with my new service pup. Under ADA federal law any dog can be a service dog to anyone disabled as long as the dog services a need.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 05:06:28 +0000