We Need to Stop Talking about Fake Service Dogs
Everyone loves to talk about service dog fraud, but they’re talking about the wrong thing and they’re standing against accessibility when they do it.
Everyone loves to be outraged by it. Businesses love to make moves to prevent it. It makes people feel good to have that outrage because they feel like they're standing up for something. People in the disabled community get outraged by “service dog fraud,” too. And rightfully so. There are Facebook pages and groups dedicated to calling out supposed fake service dogs.
Everyone loves to chatter on about how to fix the problem of fake service dogs. Federal registries, forbidding owner-training, doctors' notes, an i.d. card, etc... all of these things come up in these conversations.
We have to stop the epidemic of fake service dogs! It's a blight on society! All of these dogs everywhere! All of these dogs make things difficult for society at large! Dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs everywhere!
We don't have a problem with fake service dogs.
We have a problem with people faking disabilities.
Until we shift to that language, this problem will never stop and people with disabilities will continue to encounter accessibility barriers because they have a service dog.
The Conversation Has to Shift to the People Behind the Dog
I.Am.A.Person.
I am not my dog. I am not a thing with a disability. I am a person. My personhood matters.
Society regularly denies people with disabilities their personhood and the language we use to describe disability fraud is one of those ways. Yes, I said disability fraud. That's what we're talking about here. It's not "service dog fraud." It's disability fraud.
Photo is from Regina’s perspective looking down at her guide dog.
We demean everyone who has a disability necessitating a service dog when we use the term "service dog fraud." We take away their agency when we make it about the dog. And we take away responsibility from the person committing the fraud. We also make it easier for them to commit the fraud.
People consider putting a service dog harness on their dog a harmless white lie. They don't see the damage it can cause to real people because real people are removed from the conversation.
Our first line of defense is to be completely honest about what's happening here. What's happening is disability fraud - and that won't sound like a little white lie to anyone. It's ableism.
The only way to end ableism is to put people with disabilities first. We are what matters in this conversation, not the dogs.
We matter. You matter. I matter.
This conversation is about us.
When we shift the language we use to have this conversation, the situation becomes more serious in the eyes of society.
More Agency Equals Fewer Barriers
When people ask "what can we do to stop fake service dogs," they're asking "what barriers can we put in place?" As I said, this is ableist.
As I told the Washington Post:
“When Delta or anyone puts out a regulation like this that dictates what kind of dog can be a service dog, they are reducing access for someone with a disability.”
Accessibility, not barriers, must be at the center of every conversation about people with disabilities. We have enough barriers. We don't need more.
If we are the center of disability fraud conversations, Delta wouldn't have issued their new regulations, which create an undue burden for people with disabilities. People wouldn't be talking about federal registries and official disability identification cards. People wouldn't constantly judge those who owner-trained their dogs.
Business owners wouldn't deny us access so frequently if they recognized our personhood first and not our dogs.
To fellow people with disabilities who have a service dog, I implore you to put yourselves at the center of this conversation. Change your language and call this for what it is. Call it disability fraud and challenge anyone who says otherwise.
Again, this is our conversation to have and if we're going to have it, let's make sure the language we use is accurate.
