The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a service animal as “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability." According to the US Census Bureau there are over 41 million Americans with a disability. That is 12.7% of the population in this country. Of those 41 million, approximately 500,000 people have a service animal.

Service animals are trained to do a variety of tasks including, but not limited to ,guiding people who are blind or have low vision, alerting people who are deaf or hard of hearing, providing non-violent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, or retrieving items. Without the assistance from their animals, many people with disabilities would not be able to perform the everyday tasks that you and I take for granted.

I have personally witnessed a person with a service animal be denied entry to an establishment because the animal wasn’t welcome. Have you? The sad fact is that you most likely have. According to the ADA, “State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go.” Which means denying entry to a person with a service animal is against the law. Yet, somehow, service animals are denied entry time and time again.

Service Animal Discrimination or SAD is currently a civil issue, not a criminal matter. That means that when a person with a service animal is denied entry to an establishment, they can not simply call the police to resolve the issue. The only path to seek justice is to sue the person or the business in a civil court. This is a lengthy battle that does not rectify the situation at the time, only months (sometimes years) later.

I propose that SAD become a criminal matter. This means that a person being discriminated against because of their service animal can call the police and receive immediate action. I propose that Service Animal Discrimination be listed as a misdemeanor in the U.S. Federal Code. Then we can begin to see real discrimination reform.