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autistic loses fight to have service dog in class

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ASPartOfMe
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01 Sep 2017, 4:02 am

Canadian Broadcasting Company

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Ontario's human rights tribunal has ruled that a nine-year-old autistic boy in Waterloo, Ont. can't bring his service dog with him into class.

The decision says Kenner Fee's family failed to prove that having his black Labrador Ivy in the classroom would help him with his education.

Adjudicator and tribunal vice-chair Laurie Letheren found that the Waterloo Catholic District School Board took all necessary steps to evaluate whether the dog was needed in the classroom, and supported the board's decision not to allow the service animal to sit beside Kenner during lessons.

The tribunal heard from Kenner's family that his autism leaves him prone to agitation, emotional outbursts and even bolting from his surroundings, but that having Ivy beside him significantly helps regulate his behaviour.

Letheren accepted that evidence, but also accepted testimony from school board staff suggesting Kenner was performing well in class without Ivy, and that any problems he was encountering would not necessarily be addressed by the dog's presence.


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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01 Sep 2017, 7:30 am

Brings to mind,

Quote:
When I Realized Why My Son Melts Down at Home but Not at School
By Michelle Myers
I write about Autism Spectrum Disorder
October 16, 2015
Tonight my son walked through the door from school, and immediately I knew. He didn’t have to say or do anything. I just knew.
Call it mother’s intuition, or call it years and years of practice, but I knew something was wrong. It was the delayed effect. My son has had a tricky day at school. He has held it together for nearly seven hours. Then he walks through the front door, and bam!
He’s somewhere safe and familiar, and he can’t contain the pressure anymore.

https://themighty.com/2015/10/delayed-e ... at-school/


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Misslizard
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01 Sep 2017, 10:18 am

That's just silly,let the kid have his dog.Service dogs are well behaved,and Labs love everyone.He should have his dog with him.


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01 Sep 2017, 4:09 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Canadian Broadcasting Company

Quote:
Ontario's human rights tribunal has ruled that a nine-year-old autistic boy in Waterloo, Ont. can't bring his service dog with him into class.

The decision says Kenner Fee's family failed to prove that having his black Labrador Ivy in the classroom would help him with his education.

Adjudicator and tribunal vice-chair Laurie Letheren found that the Waterloo Catholic District School Board took all necessary steps to evaluate whether the dog was needed in the classroom, and supported the board's decision not to allow the service animal to sit beside Kenner during lessons.

The tribunal heard from Kenner's family that his autism leaves him prone to agitation, emotional outbursts and even bolting from his surroundings, but that having Ivy beside him significantly helps regulate his behaviour.

Letheren accepted that evidence, but also accepted testimony from school board staff suggesting Kenner was performing well in class without Ivy, and that any problems he was encountering would not necessarily be addressed by the dog's presence.


I agree with the decision. This service/companion animal thing is getting way out of control. It might be nice for him to have his dog with him in class. It might be nice for a lot of students to have their pets with them in class, but as the school has already found it is not necessary. If the dog is not necessary, it shouldn't be there.

The first step that needs to be done is to start certifying service/companion animals. They should all be trained, well behaved, quiet, and certified 100% non aggressive. Then a permit should be issued, stating where and when the service/companion animal is needed. My dog is very important to me and needs to be with me where ever I go, should not be considered a valid need.


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EzraS
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01 Sep 2017, 5:29 pm

If they allowed service dogs for autism in my school, there would be quite a lot of them there.



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02 Sep 2017, 9:12 am

EzraS wrote:
If they allowed service dogs for autism in my school, there would be quite a lot of them there.

Why doesn't your school, allow the dogs to be there?








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shortfatbalduglyman
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02 Sep 2017, 12:00 pm

OK I am afraid of dogs. Not all dogs at all times

But every. Single. Owner. Acts like their dog is so cute, friendly, precious.

Every single dog owner acts like their dog is the exception. So special

There are exceptions but not nearly as many as they act like there are

:D

Having a dog brings up all sorts of questions:

On leash or off?
Litter box



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02 Sep 2017, 8:49 pm

Like shortfatbalduglyman, I am also afraid of dogs. I know in the instance of the kid it would be a service dog, but I would never have been able to sit in a classroom with a dog, no matter why it was there or how well-trained it was. If the dog is really necessary, then fine, but if not, as seems the case here, the school made the right decision.

I'm also with shortfatbalduglyman....why does every single dog owner believe their dog is the exception (oh, but he's really nice, and he won't hurt you), and then think it's ok to let their dog jump and drool all over me and get offended when I try to avoid the dog? Seriously. If they told me they were scared of heights, I wouldn't take them to a revolving restaurant at the top of a skyscraper and make them sit by the window....even though I absolutely love sitting there and there's no way the person could get hurt. I wish I was scared of something less commonly found, like mice, or at least scared of something that more people understand, like heights. sigh.



EzraS
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02 Sep 2017, 9:36 pm

Campin_Cat wrote:
EzraS wrote:
If they allowed service dogs for autism in my school, there would be quite a lot of them there.

Why doesn't your school, allow the dogs to be there?


I'm not entirely sure it's a rule, but I've never seen one there. Since all the students are autistic, there could be the possibility of too many dogs in class.



shortfatbalduglyman
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02 Sep 2017, 10:31 pm

If the court allowed a service dog, the court had to answer some questions:

If students are afraid of dogs or allergic, them what? Whose needs take priority?

If the dog won't stop barking in class, then what?

If the student let's the dog off leash, then what?

:)

Yeah I am biased but I think the most reasonable thing would be that the needs of students that fear dogs outweigh the needs of students that want or need the service dog :skull: