Example of
Letter to Representative
Below is a
letter addressed to our local congressional representative which can be
used as a model:
Ed Eames,
Ph.D. / Toni Eames, M.S.
Authors /
Educators / Disability Advocates
3376 N.
Wishon, Fresno, CA 93704-4832 Phone: (559) 224-0544 Fax: (559) 224-5851
E-mail: eeames@csufresno.edu
As a blind
constituent, I urgently request your help with an air travel issue of
importance to me and other disabled Americans who work with guide,
hearing and service dogs. A rule recently recommended by the Department
of Transportation for airline personnel would infringe on my ability and
right to travel by air.
On November
4, 2004 DOT published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the Federal
Register concerning air travel by passengers with disabilities. The
stated goal was to clarify existing rules and make air travel more
accessible for disabled Americans. However, a segment of that document
would have the opposite effect.
My area of
concern focuses on the situation where a guide, hearing or service dog
cannot fit within the floor space in front of the disabled passenger and
there are no open seats in the class of service purchased. In its Notice
of Proposed Rule Making, DOT states:
"...If
no single seat will accommodate you may offer the option of purchasing a
second seat, traveling on a later flight or having the service animal
travel in the cargo hold."
If the
cabin is fully booked and no open seats are available, the DOT
recommendations would make it virtually impossible for me and others
working with large assistance dogs to continue traveling by air.
The three
DOT recommended options are unacceptable and unconscionable! The first,
charging for a second seat, would disenfranchise me and many other
disabled persons, since few could afford to pay two fares to travel by
air. Requiring the disabled passenger to take a later flight makes
little sense since the same crowded conditions might exist on other
flights. Furthermore, the uncertainty this would create, the fear of
being forced to miss connections, scheduled pickups or appointments
makes this option unworkable. The third recommendation, shipping the dog
in the cargo hold is unacceptable because none of us would expose our
assistance dogs to this danger. In addition, separating the service
animal from the disabled partner threatens his /her independence and is
a violation of the decision made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
in the case involving quarantine restrictions imposed by the state of
Hawaii on guide dog partners from the mainland. The court clearly
indicated that separation of blind travelers from their guide dogs was a
violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The outrage
and distress these DOT recommendations evoked in members of the disabled
community and the general public who responded to the NPRM can be viewed
on the DOT's website. Of the more than 1,200 comments posted, over 1,100
focus on this issue, and request the elimination of those three
unacceptable options.
Current
airline practices of providing an empty seat where space is available or
asking for a volunteer to share leg space with the assistance dog, have
created excellent working relationships between disabled passengers and
the airline industry. The International Association of Assistance Dog
Partners, a consumer advocacy organization opposing the DOT's proposed
rules, has recommended the following language:
""If
no single seat accommodates, you may offer the passenger sitting in a
seat adjacent to the disabled passenger traveling with a large service
animal a seat in the same class of service in another part of the cabin.
If no seats are available in that class of service, you may ask for a
volunteer willing to occupy the seat next to the disabled passenger
requiring sharing of leg room. If no volunteer is forthcoming and seats
are available in another class of service in another part of the cabin,
you may ask the adjacent passenger or the disabled passenger to occupy a
seat in that other class of service."
As the
author of A Guide to Guide Dog Schools and Partners in Independence: A
Success Story of Dogs and the Disabled and many articles in general and
professional magazines, I can attest on both a personal and professional
basis to the life-changing impact of assistance dogs on the lives of
their disabled partners.
I urge you
to contact DOT on my behalf and on the behalf of the more than 20,000
Americans with disabilities who work with canine assistants and need
them in the cabin of an airplane! These DOT recommendations cannot be
allowed to stand.
Sincerely,
Ed Eames,
Ph.D. International Association of Assistance Dog Partners
President:
Ed Eames, Ph.D. 3376 N. Wishon, Fresno, CA 93704-4832 Phone: (559)
224-0544 Fax: (559) 224-5851 E-mail: eeames@csufresno.edu
Board of
Directors: Chris Branson, Toni Eames, Jill Exposito, Joan Froling, Lynn
Houston, Carol King, Michael Osborn, Devon Wilkins
