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