Remember that post I published about fellow blind blogger Becky Andrews, the social worker who owns her own business in Salt Lake City? And remember how I described her as a fashion plate? Well, one week after I featured Becky here on the Safe & Sound blog, her name turned up on Jezebel, a blog that describes itself as “Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women. Without Airbrushing” The Jezebel” post wasn’t about Becky’s fashion sense, though. It was about Becky’s style! From the post:
A legally blind shopper was barred from shopping at a Salt Lake City area Ann Taylor last weekend because she had a dog with her, even after she explained that she was dependent on the service animal to get around.
That’s Becky with her guide dog Cricket.
The Jezebel blog picked up on the story after Becky wrote about the incident on her own Cruisin’ with Cricket blog. In Becky’s words:
I was greeted by a clerk with her first words indicating I needed to leave the store with my dog. I politely explained that she was a guide dog and allowed to be here. She indicated again dogs were not allowed and she would need to talk to her store manager. I began to feel like my exciting find of the Ann Taylor store was not going so well.
Work with a guide dog long enough and you’re sure to go through a situation like this. My Seeing Eye dogs and I have been stopped trying to get into Crate and Barrel on Michigan Avenue, at Andy’s Jazz Club on Hubbard, even at Wrigley Field. In every case I asked for a manager, and once they showed up we were allowed in. Unfortunately, this was not the case with Becky and Cricket. Again, from her blog post:
the manager also was not too helpful and indicated that dogs were not allowed. I knew there were other people there as well, and I felt really alone. No one stood up and said, this is a guide dog she can be in this store. I again explained she was a guide dog and allowed to be here. At this point, I found myself just wanting to leave and go to another store where I was welcome.
And that is exactly what Becky did. She took her business to The Limited next door. Later on a representative for Ann Taylor company claimed Becky’s dog didn’t have a harness on, and that’s why the pair was denied entrance to the store. Maybe that rep needs a guide dog herself. Or at least a check-up with an eye doctor!
Becky called the statement absurd. “To make it very clear, I walked into the store with my guide dog in harness, of course!” she wrote in a follow-up post. “Why would I enter the store without her in her harness?” The company could be fined up to $50,000 under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but Becky says she doesn’t plan on pursuing anything in court. She describes herself as a woman who usually prefers to stay quiet about things like this, but hearing the lie about Cricket’s harness compelled her to agree to an interview on KSL News that garnered a lot of support for her in Salt Lake City. “This wasn’t about me – this was about all of us,” she said. “Accessibility. Respect. Equality. It is for each of us.”
An Ann Taylor spokesperson emailed a statement to the Jezebel blog after Becky’s story came out:
We at Ann Taylor sincerely apologize to Mrs. Andrews for her experience at the City Creek store.
Service animals are always welcome in our stores and this incident is not representative of how we approach customer service.
In our previous statement we had said that her guide dog was unharnessed. This was not the case. We were misinformed, and we are sorry that this information was released.
We strive for 100 percent customer satisfaction. In this case we fell short.
This just shows how much more public education is needed for issues that we all think are self evident!
And what about the other people in the store? Another customer should have said something.
Public education, yes. Plus you’d think “managers” would have been trained in HR and disability issues…
Good for Becky Andrews for taking the high road in this situation. Even though her feelings were hurt when she and Cricket were (illegally) told to leave the store, she reached out to Ann Taylor Co. offering to educate at the local or corporate level. She is willing to do this FOR FREE, instead of suing the company. Go Becky! You are a class act AND a fashion plate.
Yes, a class act for sure.
I just don’t even understand why they even mentioned the harness. What if this was an assistance dog?
Talk about a lack of education not just at the store level but at the corporate level. A 5-minute google search would have allowed them to realize what a ridiculous explanation this was for refusing to admit the team. Even if it was true – and I’m sure it wasn’t – but even if it was true, it’s a pretty bad PR statement seeing as how not all service dogs wear harnesses.
Correct! By law dogs do not have to wear anything special to identify them as service dogs protected by the ADA. From this gov’t site on service dogs:
http://www.nh.gov/disability/information/community/serviceanimals.htm
“Although public identification is not required, most dogs wear some form of visible identification to represent them as Assistance Dogs. You may see equipment such as a tag, vest, coat, harness, or backpack.”
Thanks for sharing this story on a topic everyone should know and be ready to help on if need be. Hopefully in the very near future we will simply shake our heads that this was ever allowed to occur. I was especially sorry to hear this happened to you at Wrigley. And though it was clearly unforgiveable in that instance, I think you can understand that even now, after 67 years, they might still be a little gun-shy about allowing someone who is not a very big Cub fan to bring a four-legged animal inside.
I’m just saying.
OH, Michael, I am tempted to leave a quip here saying something like, “Gee, do you think it was because I was wearing a White Sox jersey?” But As difficult as it is for a White Sox fan like me to resist dissing the people who work at Wrigley Field, I need to give them a break here. those of us with legitimate service animals suffer when others fake or exaggerate a disability so they can bring their pets wherever they go, so it’s worth telling what happened at Wrigley.
I was stopped while trying to get into a Cubs game at Wrigley Field with my second Seeing Eye dog Hanni. The man taking tickets said he didn’t know if the dog was allowed. I pointed to Hanni’s harness, told him she was a Seeing Eye dog. He was skeptical.
Turns out that a week earlier someone had brought their puppy to Wrigley, claiming the dog was a service dog. The dog misbehaved, and fans sitting nearby complained. After that, the people working the gates were told to scrutinize anyone coming in with a service dog.
In addition to being despicable, faking a disability to gain privilege is fraud. It also results in increased scrutiny of people with legitimate disabilities. I have no idea if the Ann Taylore store in Salt Lake City had experienced fraud like this before Becky tried to get in (I doubt it, really) but folks need to know that stretching the rules about service an desistance dogs can really cause a backlash.
And okay, I can’t resist here: Go White Sox!
I’m a volunteer puppy raiser for an assistance dog organization We rely on the good faith of businesses to support our socialization efforts by welcoming our young dogs in their stores. (My socialization work with the pup is not protected by the ADA.)
On the rare occasions when we’re met with resistance by a business, it is sometimes because of a negative experience with a fake service dog. These selfish folk bringing their beloved, but ill mannered, pets into stores don’t realize the barriers they’re creating for those that rely on guide dogs or assistance dogs for independence.
I agree that many businesses have a need for more education on ADA, but there is also a need to crack down on these fake service dogs. And on the companies out there selling service dog capes and certifications to anyone with a credit card and a dog.
Agree! Not sure the people who do this are necessarily being selfish, though. I think they just don’t realize how much bringing their “beloved, but ill mannered, pets into stores” can create barriers for those of us who rely on guide dogs or assistance dogs for independence.
THANK YOU for this comment, it will help educate people who think it doesn’t hurt anybody to bring unqualified dogs into public places. Also thanks for your work with assistance dogs, Donna — we literally couldn’t get by without you!
As a rehabilitation counseling student right after the ADA was passed (if I remember correctly, by Bush nevertheless!), I’m shocked that these employees wouldn’t be more aware of this civil right 20 years later. This story makes me mad! Sorry to be so negative but…stupid people.
Yes, Bush the first signed the ADA into law. THANK YOU, George Herbert Walker! Lori, had no idea you studied to be a rehab counselor. We’ll have to talk!
I’ve had a guide for 15 years so reflect on what it must have been like prior to the ADA? This has been quite the journey. Thank you for all of your support. I have had the experience of as you say – having the manager be called to the situation but only one other time where it was taken to this point. Then, the turn of events of a false statement! By the time they made this statement — Steve had already gone in and spoke with them at great length about the situation and I had also shared my story with the manager so not sure where they were so ‘misinformed’ from. I can only hope that it is creating a dialogue of talk and action about the Americans with Disabilities Act and education on accessibility for Service Animal teams.
Oh, Becky, your hopes are being fulfilled: your cool head and determination has indeed created a dialogue of talk and action about the Americans with Disabilities Act and education on accessibility for Service Animal teams – look what’s happening right here in the comments to this post!
For my blog readers –I could only fit so much of Becky’s Ann Taylor incident on this Safe & Sound blog post, to get the rest of the story, including her husband Steve’s return to the store on his own afterwards to explain the ADA laws and tell them they may have lost a very valued customer, link to Becky’s blog here:
http://cruisinwithcricket.blogspot.com/
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