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Service dog creates controversy

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Service dog creates controversy

While many people have close relationships with their dogs, Anthony Cruz depends on his for life saving-reasons.

His dog, named Dog, is a service animal. He is used to closely monitor his master’s blood sugar levels, which are capable of crashing suddenly, in addition to aiding 58 year-old Cruz in other areas of his life.

That’s why Cruz said he decided to take action when he was told he could not bring Dog to his classes, and that action may result in a lawsuit.

“I’m not out for money, and I want to make that clear,” Cruz said. “It’s like you telling me to leave my wheelchair at home.”

The problem began after registering for classes and receiving financial aid, Cruz was referred from the Center for New Directions to the Center for Educational Access as the result of requests for several classroom accommodations, including extended test time, the presence of his service animal and the use of a special chair.

“If I had known [what would happen] I wouldn’t have gone. I was good to go,” Cruz said.

After talking to several employees, Cruz said he was sent to Sharon Bullock, the department’s director, who also works as the college’s advocate for the disabled.

From there, Cruz said he was told his requests would be denied unless he produced an updated doctor’s note.

Cruz alleges that even after providing a second doctor’s note, his request was denied in an email from Bullock that referred to his dog as a companion animal.

“It’s tough enough to go to school,” said Virgil Edwards, independent living specialist and disability advocate for Northwest Disability Action Center [DAC]. “It’s enough stress and then you add this, and really they’re pushing people away. We would not recommend, and I can honestly say this from this office, for anyone with a disability to go to NIC right now. I will stand behind that.”

According to the American Disabilities Act, when it’s not apparent what service animal provides, there are a limited amount of questions that can be posed. It also says that medical documentation cannot be required.

“By the time it was all said and done then it had to go to an attorney for them [NIC] to figure out what their regulation should be,” Edwards said. “You don’t have to go to an attorney, the department of justice writes it out quite well what you can ask for.”

Cruz said Bullock called him at nine a.m. on Aug. 27 and told him that both his chair and service dog accommodations had been approved, but by that point his first class had already begun, so he declined to attend.

He said that it was repeated that he had been approved, and that he just needed to stop by Bullock’s office to pick up a badge and to stop by campus security to answer a few questions.

“I’m not doing anything. I don’t need a badge for my dog according to the ADA [regulations], which we had provided her,” Cruz said.

After that, Cruz said he received a drop for non-attendance, but at that point he refused to petition on principal.

“This all could have been avoided, so I went and withdrew,” Cruz said.

He said he was told he was welcome to return in January for the start of spring semester, and that he would receive accommodation and that his financial aid would still be good, but he decided not to return and filed a formal complaint with the department of education office of civil rights in Seattle.

“I don’t think other people should have to go through what I did, that’s not reasonable accommodation,” Cruz said. “There’s different types of disabilities, there’s the physical you can see and there’s some that you can’t. What I have is something that you can’t see. I wish I could hang my heart out and show the mechanical heart valve that’s in there, but I guess that’s not possible.”

Cruz said he’s had far less problems with his service animal in Washington, and is thinking he may choose to attend Carrington College in Spokane.

“A lot of people don’t understand that it’s not that easy to get a dog and slap on a vest and say it’s a service dog, because there is criteria you have to meet,” Cruz said. “First of all, you have to be disabled, and that’s through the definition of social security’s disability. There’s no such thing as partially, or 50 percent disabled. Either you are or you’re not.”

Cruz said the Office of Civil Rights said a process has to be gone through and everything he has provided is being reviewed. If it is found to merit action, a lawsuit may result, and he’s been told at this point it does appear to be going that way.

Cruz said he hopes to see change in policy come about from these events, so that this never happens again.

“My whole intention wasn’t to go duke it out with them, I was merely going by what ADA has prescribed. They ruled it, I didn’t, I’m just following [ADA],” Cruz said. “I’m just trying to show them this is what it says. I would like to see that they’re more educated about it.”

While Edwards, who also alleges that he’s heard several complaints from other disabled people not being properly accommodated, and agreed that he would love to see more education, but he would like to see reform taken a step further.

“This is just coming from me but at this point in time, education [for Bullock] just isn’t going to cover it. She had the opportunity to see this, it was given to her, she had the opportunity to see what the department of justice says, she denied it and still made this man’s life miserable,” Edwards said. “Education was offered and denied, what education is going to help her? They need to get somebody else in there that is willing to be educated and is willing to do the job that they were put in there for. Sharon is not the person.”

Bullock could not be reached for comment at press time, but Vice President for Student Services Graydon Stanley said, “I have full faith that she is so conscientious about knowing what the ADA says, what the law says, knowing what we have to do, and knowing what documentation has to be provided. I’ve been impressed with Sharon and her staff from day one, so I had little doubt when this broke that there’s a whole bunch more to this story, it’s not that we just messed up and somebody wasn’t served as they should [have been], and after talking with Sharon and reviewing all that I feel strongly that NIC did what they were required by law and what they do by practice.

The President of North Idaho College, Joe Dunlap, said at this point NIC has not received any written notice of written action, although he said Cruz filed an internal complaint.

“From what I’ve heard happened, there have been some assertions made that may or may not be accurate, and so until we hear anything official from him, I guess I’m not at liberty to comment upon it with [anything specific] if there’s potential litigation,” Dunlap said. “You’re going to get his side of the story, but based on the assertions we’ve heard, we don’t believe it’s accurate.”

Christina Villagomez is the current Managing Editor and former News Editor at the Sentinel. Described by a previous employer as being a jack-of-all-trades-writer and a bit of a spark-plug, Christina enjoys writing hard news stories when she's not attending board of trustee meetings in her spare time. Christina was previously a staff writer at the Panhandle Sun, and is the three-time winner of the Most Cheerful Award at her old elementary school as well as several Idaho Press Club Awards and a Region Ten Mark of Excellence Award from The Society of Professional Journalists for her news writing.

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