FAIR GO: WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS FOR THOSE WITH ASSISTANCE DOGS?

Dogs – man’s best friend. They can fetch, roll over, and sometimes even shake hands.

And for some New Zealanders living with disabilities, dogs can be so much more than a furry friend.

Disability assistance dogs allow the people they support to move about the world more safely, and with greater confidence.

These dogs can open doors and retrieve items for those with low mobility; alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing to fire alarms, doorbells, and baby monitors; and help people who are blind get around safely and with ease.

Their rights are protected by law. Until 2022 the Human Rights Act listed ‘reliance on a guide dog’ as one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination. This has now been amended to ‘reliance on a disability assist dog’, extending protection to a broader range of dogs.

The term ‘disability assist dog’ is legally defined in the Dog Control Act, and it’s exactly what is sounds like – a ‘dog certified… as being a dog that has been trained (or is being trained) to assist a person with a disability’.

The certification is important and the dog must be certified by one of the organisations listed in the Act, in order to qualify.

These organisations are: Assistance Dogs New Zealand, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People New Zealand, K9 Medical Detection New Zealand, K9 Search Medical Detection, Mobility Assistance Dogs Trust, New Zealand Epilepsy Assist Dogs Trust, Perfect Partners Assistance Dogs Trust, and Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind Incorporated.

Guide dogs for the blind might be the first to come to mind when you think of disability assist dogs, but some organisations provide dogs trained to assist people with a wide range of disabilities, and not all of these are visible.People with psychiatric disabilities, epilepsy, brain injuries, autism, and hearing impairment may require disability dogs too.

Fair Go recently spoke to two women with invisible disabilities about their frustration at being refused entry to public places, because of their disability assistance dogs. They said despite discrimination being against the law, they were still facing barriers because of a lack of public awareness.

The Dog Control Act said that any disability assist dog accompanying and assisting a person with a disability, or accompanying a person genuinely engaged in the dog’s training, may enter and remain in any public place.

Refusing someone access to a public space on the basis of their disability is unlawful. Public place, in this context, means any place that is open to or is being used by the public – even if the owner or occupier is entitled to exclude or eject anyone from it.

This includes transportation, even if you’re paying for it. Public transport, taxis and rideshare services must allow disability assist dogs on board.

Discriminating against someone for their disability when it comes to providing education, employment, housing, goods or services is also unlawful.

People accompanying disability support dogs also have responsibilities, whether they are disabled or they are training the dogs.

They must comply with any reasonable conditions set by the person in charge of the place in relation to the entry or presence of the dog.

If you feel that your human rights have been breached, or you have been discriminated against on the basis of your disability, there are actions that you can take.

The Human Rights Commission can answer questions and provide support if you are unsure of what your rights are, and you can also take complaints about unlawful discrimination to it. It offers a mediation and dispute resolution process, which is free and confidential.

If a complaint cannot be resolved through these means, it can be taken to the Human Rights Review Tribunal, where the Human Rights Commission can provide free legal representation to the complainant.

The presence of disability assist dogs in public spaces not only provides those that need them with valuable assistance, it also brightens up the supermarket, the library, or the train.

If you see a disability assist dog out and about in its vest or harness there is one important thing to remember.

They may be cute, but don’t touch them.

Pats can be distracting to a dog that’s just trying to do its job, and that distraction could mean that it isn’t assisting the person who really needs it in that moment.