Assistance/Service Dog Laws UK Explained (+ Coco Update)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Assistance Service dog laws UK explained (+ Coco update) - I'm explaining the laws about assistance dogs in the UK, and how the equality act applies. Plus an update on how things are going with my assistance dog Coco.
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Very important points!
My dogs aren't assistance dogs but I dislike it when people don't ask before trying to pet them. It's rude. They wouldn't touch my child so why do they think they can touch my dog?
Im currently under pawsable and im so grateful. Before I had my dog I wasnt able to leave the house unless i was with my parents due to extreme anxiety, but now im able to go on walks with just me and Dolly and I feel so independent 😊
I agree that having a service dog is an ongoing learning process. I’ve been a service dog handler for 7 years and still learning things every day!
Hello how are you doing today
@@bobbybroussard7789 I’m alright, how are you?
Can we talk more on hangouts or WhatsApp
Hi can i ask u a question?
@@hammylover4life225 sure
This really interesting. I never realized how similar the UK and US Service dogs laws were.
Sadly, the laws in the United States and United Kingdom are very different I need to boil or evening, but the UK ones are a little bit and you want to some of the things fitting into criminal offences and some of it being civil duties
They have differences, US law is simpler and more favouabke for owner trainers when flying etc, but day to day stuff like going into businesses etc it's pretty similar in the US and UK
@@lailahepburnandmischka that makes sense
I did owner training with my German Shepherd as I have Autism and Anxiety as well but my boy is 9 now and been doing it for years. He’s used to all sorts now and we witnessed a fake service dog steal steak off the plate at a restaurant. My boy does the same as what CoCo does only he lays across my lap and shelters me by walls because that’s my safe space.
I've been interested in having an Autism service dog for a while but the two things that worry me about getting one in the UK is; firstly I'm a very passive person so the idea of being confronted about bringing a dog into certain places terrifies me and 2nd I'm worried people will treat/view me differently if I make my disability too obvious 😅
Hi :) have you given it any more thought? It's definitely not for everyone, but if it is helpful for you them you'll become more confident with going places and dealing with access issues.
Thank you PElla...this is really good news and I hope that assistance dogs for those who are on the autism spectrum will become more widely known and accepted...love from Scotland
🎇🦮🖖💜🎇
Hello fellow Scottish person!
I have an autism assistance dog, no one here seems to have a clue what that means lol
@@lailahepburnandmischka Hi...Having an assistance dog would be such a comfort to you...and I think that having an assistance dog for anything other than a guide dog for the blind is out of most folks ''ken''...give your helper a hug from me.
@@ChristophersMum spot on, I was told in greggs my dog wasn't allowed in because 'he's not a seeing eye dog' which I said was illegal and started recording and then she quickly agreed to serve me 'this time' but I made sure to then get her to repeat why my dog wasn't allowed and the daily record done a story about it (although didn't include the video) and on fb it got some vile and insanely dumb comments, many were down to my dog being a chihuahua (I'll be changing to a lab next year cuz he can't do all the tasks I need but he's great with the tasks he can do and legally ANY breed can be an assistance dog, as long as you're not trying to use a small dog for mobility or whatever) and combined with him being owner trained people assumed he's fake and were like 'oh so I can slap a vest on my rottweiler and call it an assistance dog? He can fetch my slippers so he's an assistance dog now! Haha!' 🤬 but then there was also a lot of 'only guide dogs are allowed in shops, if every disabled person wanted to take their assistance dog shops would be over run with dogs, greggs made the right decision I don't want dogs rubbing against food before I buy it!'
It's absolutely infuriating, aside from them believing only blind people are entitled to an assistance dog, the fact the thing any assistance dog with rub on food etc is ridiculous.
Thankfully I was well aware of the fact I'd get a whole load of abuse publishing the article, otherwise I'd have genuinely lost the plot after reading them, but I decided beforehand that if I wasn't willing to make a stand nothing would ever change, the whole point in the article was to raise awareness cuz so many people are clueless and make really nasty, ignorant, ableist comments all the time and the amount of access issues experienced, even by blind people with guide dogs, is just insane.
People also said I wanted that article just for the attention, when no, I want things to improve for assistance dog handlers and disabled people in general, I hate how the able-bodied population treat those with disabilities.
Like apparently you're fine if confined to a wheelchair, but if you have any other disability you're just a useless, lazy , scrounging waste of space 🤬🤬🤬
I honestly don't get why people are so nasty to disabled people and handlers, like even though I prepared myself for the nasty comments I was honestly suicidal for 3 days afterwards, not saying that to be dramatic, I seriously was and cried my eyes out for hours each day, but I still tried to act brace online, replying to all the comments trying to educate the clueless people and thankfully some people did learn from it and apologised to me for their comments, some people deleted their comments but no apology cuz they weren't sorry but they were getting a load of replies from other people telling them how nasty they were lol
Some people stood by their nasty ignorant qbleist comments, but I never expected to get through to everyone from one article lol
It's my life mission now though, I will continue to try to educate these people til the day I die :)
I love dogs but we can’t have one at home for our autistic son, as he’s so allergic to dogs! He’s ok passing by them outdoors but when we went to say hi to my neighbour’s adorable terrier, being indoors, that triggered his bad asthma straightaway! He’s the same with cats, too. What a shame.
From the USA and used to ADA law. Thank you very much for the overview as I am here for uni
Thank you for making this video it’s good to know that the laws regarding assistance dogs in the UK are pretty much the same as the laws regarding service dogs in the US
I can't believe how similar the US ADA of 1990 and the UK Equality Act of 2010 are. Your dog is SOOOOO cute. Give coco a pat on the head for me please? Service dog from the United States here.
Thank you very much for making this video. I also have a dog and i do that of putting him on my chest, i am autistic, i did not know it was a recognized support dog activity. Yet, i am not keen on facing that rejection that you describe and have a permanent struggle educating people about law and equality, will consider it though.
This has been so helpful, thank you, I am looking at getting an assistance dog for my son so we can have some more freedom. He's autistic and as he's gotten older and stronger it's become increasingly difficult to go anywhere or do simple things like going to a supermarket or getting on a bus or going to a museum because he struggles to cope, but was unsure if we'd be allowed to access these places and have found it very difficult to find information on this. I know animals have a calming effect on him so would be a life changer for us. Thank you so much for doing this video.
One of the biggest lessons I was taught as a young child was “Do NOT distract assistance dogs.” I just don’t understand why this isn’t more widespread knowledge. It’s so obvious…the dogs have literal instructions on their vests for heaven’s sake! XD
And as for people refusing you access: Shameful. I’ve made sure I’m mentally prepared to support a disabled person if that’s happening to them and I’m a witness, wielding my (almost certainly autistic) interest in the relevant laws.
The crazy thing is, even if someone didn't have parents that taught them not to distract assistance dogs, every single child should have parents that teach them not to touch or approach ANY dog without asking the owner first.
That's just good parenting and keeping your kids safe. And if they did that, at least more people would ask first and give a handler the chance to say no rather than just running straight up to a dog and touching them 🙄
Thanks for this video I myself have now applied to pawsable and what great help they have been so far
I have a childhood friend who has autism and she taught me a lot about autism before I met her I had no idea what autism was at all
I believe what you are saying but I find it hard to accept that one should have to pay anyone a monthly sub fee. I havent done it yet but Im sure anyones doctor can give paper work to help inform others that you have chosen to use your dog as your support assistance. Im sure it would help many people gain access to galleries/museums etc if they could have their support companion beside them. There should never be the need to pay any party a sub fee I feel its not right. Besides that, even with the correct "Official" paperwork, people still have problems with store staff of not being let in anywhere so it makes them more upset and anxious so the sub fee is wasted. xx
Heck, I'm autistic and definitely 'have' to interact with every dog I pass, but even I don't distract professionals while they're working with their humans.
This video has really helped , I suffer from severe depression and axiety and just contacted pawsable so hopefully they will be able to help us in the right direction 😊
Love having my little cat sat on my chest!! Animals are awesome!!
Considering owner training as I need help with multiple things. Guide dog/BPD/Hyper sensitivity/anxiety/the list goes on.
Ik this is an old video I am considering
getting a psychiatric assistance dog in 2024 to help my autism and anxiety. I am 13 right now will be 15 when the puppy is home and 16-17 when it’s trained enough to go into a non pet friendly public area.
I am okay with talking to people about not touching my dog because I am very good at saying no to people
I’d love my dog to be my service dog. I only go for walks with her mostly as I fine it too anxiety provoking (I’m autistic also). Unsure how people will react to this in the uk though. This is helpful thankyoy
Thanks for this very informative video, Ella!
Hello Sandra how are you doing today
I have lately only just heard about assistance dogs and thought it would be a great idea, but have to admit, after watching this video, the idea of people coming up to pet the dog, or humiliating experiences such as with that security guard make me wonder if it’s a great choice for me after all. It’s such a struggle even just walking down the road past people in the street, let alone if they actually tried to stop me to pet my dog 😕
I would love to train my next dog as my assistance dog. I was only diagnosed a few years ago, and my current dog is now 13, so too old to change his behaviours, plus he doesn't like other dogs. However, my next dog is going to be a female Doberman, which apparently make great therapy/assistance dogs because they are so owner focussed, and I doubt many people will be rushning up to pet her lol
Hi. I'm 99% sure that I'm autistic but when I went to my first appointment the doctor did an IQ test with me and he said I did exceptionally so he didn't even want to give me the ABAS test. I'm worried that means he won't diagnose me and was wondering if there was anything I could do about that. because I know that IQ has no effect on whether I'm autistic or not but I'm not sure he knows this.
I've just contacted pawsable after watching your video. The website said they'll reply within 3 days, so fingers crossed. Because there is literally no one - at all - who seems to train autism assistance dogs in the North. Every charity, organisation or commercial trainer who specialises in autism service dogs seems to be in the South. It's crazy how inaccessible it is up here.
Also, can someone explain the Equality Act 2010 section 173(1)(d)? What does it mean in the part about particular dogs. Also one of the websites mentioned in this video says that by law, a service provider can still choose to refuse dogs on the premises and this even includes guide dogs for visually impaired people! It's so contradictive.
I'm doing a lot of research about service dogs in order to try and convince my parents to consider it an option because I really believe one can help me. Unfortunately almost every provider I've looked at have their applications closed, are too expensive or are too far away from where I live (I haven't been able to find anything in the lake district, the closest is near Newcastle, however their website had little information so I'm building up the courage to email and ask questions.)
I've mentioned it to my mother but she doesn't seem very interested and keeps telling me to ask my father. I had hoped to be able to access one for when I go to college, but I hadnt told my parents in time at all and that probably won't be able to happen.
I’m allergic to dogs, but thinking of having one to train as service dog. Just wondering if I would be allowed to bring (small breed) dog to work, such as care home, working with the elderly. Sort of setting? I’m looking for work, but don’t want her staying at home alone and would need her with me. Many thanks
👍 Thank you so much for this 😊
Assistance dogs could be trained by Owner. Dosnt need any organisation or special trainer.Check equality act 2010. Section 10.
If you train the dog yourself, well, unfortunately, you have nothing to prove to the council or others, that it isn’t just a pet. The charity is trusted by the authorities that be, to be responsible for an assistance dog’s training and its ID as such.
In America you can owner train service dogs, can you do that in the UK or do they have to be trained by a professional? I'm planning on moving to England in 3 or 4 years and I recently got a puppy I am training to be my service dog and I want to make sure I'm prepared before I move.
Wow, thank you.
Thank you for the really excellent video i’m going to add some thoughts, but may I say that I really do appreciate the effort and time you put into this excellent piece
There is a definition of assistance dogs in relation to camps and taxis, and it’s defined under section 173 of the equality act 2010 one of the difficulties is that sometimes come out when people trying to work out what an assistance dog is in UK law, or at least for the equality act in England and Wales, as the bits about Cabs does not apply in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland, it’s the disability discrimination act 1995, they use the definition of applies to Cabs, but I believe it is an error in law to do so because these relate to the criminal offence in England and Wales in this instance, a dog, trying to guide a blind person, for example, or adult trained by a prescribed charity would definitely count as such, but many dogs to you, and I may consider to be completely legitimate may not be covered in law one of the challenges is in relation to the civil law, as the equality act in England, Wales and Scotland place has a duty on businesses and service providers to make, as you say a reason adjustment.
Recent adjustments are distinct to the laws on assistance dogs in relation to taxis and private hire in England and Wales, as refusing access to an assistance dog as defined under section 173 is a criminal offence, and therefore there is a definition, which of course many people don’t think it’s fair enough
You are probably aware that there is some work on going with SEN technical committee for 5 to which attempts to introduce standards there is another organisation called ADAA which seeks to provide accreditation for only train dogs, but such a system does not exist at the moment
Very specifically, just to take your point on, the issue that you raise is that it may well be likely that a County Court in England and Wales would agree that your dog is an assistance dog. As you know, and equality act claim must first establish the first is covered by the equality act. If you are registered blind, you are definitely already covered, otherwise they may request other then they would look at your disability, the circumstances and necessity for such a mobility aid i’m personally not aware of any case we are many different types of assistance. Dogs have been recognised, but part of the problem is that the County Court is not a court of first record, in other words, you could take them to court tomorrow and the judge could rule totally in your favour, and you could take something else to court months down the line or 10 years down the line and the ruling in your court case would not count which seems weird
In relation to Cabs, as far as the criminal elements are concerned, the medical exemption must be issued by the local licensing authority, who grant them their license to be a cab driver, and not just a medical certificate Will get a bit complicated but it’s best to think of it like this. The criminal applies to Cabs and you can look that up at section 168 and 170. Assistance dogs are defined absolutely in section 173 but this does not mean that I County Court would not decide that a dog not covered in that criminal elements of the law would not be covered for the civil wrong
Hopefully not too many typos in my dictated message. Please do come back and I shall reply. As you gather, I have a little bit of knowledge in the area for professional reasons.
Speaking personally, I am a supporter of the owner trained dogs. I am between dogs at the moment, but I normally work with a dog that most people would recognise as a well-known type of assistance dog. keep the content coming and best of luck
Hoping someone can answer this for me; I'm planning on moving to Germany but I have friends in the UK and I have a service dog. I want to be able to visit them and I need to be able to bring my dog. The problem is I have one friend in England who is told me unless an assistance dog is a guide dog ie they lead blind or deaf people around they will not qualify as an assistant's dog. This directly contradicts my best friend in Scotland who has an autism assistance dog. According to the laws because I have PTSD and autism my current service dog who is trained in America would qualify. However my friend in England swears up and down that it's worded so assistance dogs that are not guide dogs do not qualify as assistance dogs and they are in fact ESAs. Interestingly enough my friend in Scotland went through pawsible to get her dog trained. My question here is who is right. My friend in Scotland or my friend in England.
What is the laws on Assistance dogs in the workplace, I am getting pushbacks from my workplace?
Brilliant
This is so helpful!
I’m looking to owner train my dog for my anxiety and to do tasks as!
Dpt
alert me before panic attack
Stopping my legs from shaking etc…
as I have low frustration tolerance
I get angry easy so that could be a helpful task to stop me before
I hurt my self such as hitting things
I don’t really know if these are good reasonable
reasons to get a service dog!
If you could give me some feed back that would be Awesome to
Hi there. Firstly very best wishes to you and Coco. The lawyer UK is a little bit of a mess honestly, but I prefer it to section 173 of the equality act 2010, which is the legislation relating to taxes and private high vehicles And the criminal offence of family refusing. I’m not sure that under those provisions, Coco is covered, which I know you will understand is not me suggesting that I don’t think Coco should be covered.
The areas of the quality act you refer to quite rightly relates to the broader point, which is making a reasonable adjustment and also not treating people less favourably.
The definition under section 173, does only apply to taxis and private hire, and actually to the aggravated offences under section 3, subsection one and subsection four of the dangerous dogs act as amended.
Unfortunately, in England Wales, you would need to go to the county course on occasion. It firstly needs to establish that a person is covered under the equality act 2010, which of course I’m sure you would be. as a registered blind person will automatically covered, but this is a determination the judge must make on it occasion.
Been getting into the specifics of the necessity for a dog, and again, please understand I’m not suggesting that they wouldn’t rule in your favour on that one, suggesting is that the law is just such a mess in the UK that it’s not clear.
Thank you for making this wonderful video. There is work ongoing, for instance technical committee, 452 in Europe to set a European standard and this would also cover on trained dogs but it’s all very complex and quite in-depth. Very best of luck to you and take good care
Can anyone please explain the difference between service, assistance and therapy dogs? And the laws around each one?
An assistance dog helps you with tasks like laundry, paying for shopping with a card & machine, getting your socks, turning off certain gadgets, travelling safely outdoors, etc. A therapy dog helps you only with interactions with people. Assistance dogs are recognised and allowed by law in all kinds of situations. Therapy dogs aren’t and are treated by the UK authorities on a case by case basis by balancing needs.
For example, a UK school may or may not allow therapy dogs to visit termly to ‘relax’ the kids and on the dog visit day, they will remove the kids who are severely allergic to dogs to another room. However, if a child is blind and has an assistance dog for that purpose then the school has no choice but to allow that dog at all times and the kids who are allergic to dogs will then be permanently placed in another class.
In short, assistance dogs are NOT therapy dogs despite owners mixing up the terminology nearly all the time. For years, we wanted a therapy dog so much for our autistic son. Unfortunately, even now post-puberty, he is still extremely allergic to both dogs and cats.
Just got kicked out of tescos for my dogs head poking out of my jacket. We were leaving anyway bu the attitude of the person was totally ignorant and petite fascist. SO am very glad to see your video. I am disabled (invisible disability) and it has triggered me greatly. My pup touched nothing remained in my top and as we were packing up my shopping he stuck his head out for a sniff. we were facing the wall and had just decanted his sachets out of a big cardboard box so i could carry it better, She practically threw herself down the thoroughfare to get to me. Because he isn't a guide dog she thought she had the right to be unpleasantly authoritative . I complained about her attitude to Tescos who will pass it on. but not having a pass or badge makes it difficult f to prove his necessity for me. I am not autistic but suffer CPTSD and connected issues
Thank you for the information you have shared and we wish you and Coco all the very best.
I have some questions but I don't want to ask them publicly. I'll try be vague..
Does a service animal require any official documentation?
There's doesn't appear to be a need for it on a legal basis. However there are expected skills a dog must have. I think it would be irresponsible to not follow those rules. This is what being a service dog means.
I suppose what i take from this is, train your dog on your own if you are able to. Don't take shortcuts and don't be a nuisance to other people.
You don't need to own an ID badge in the UK , but you do own a responsibility. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Did you pay for the training course? I have complex PTSD so a service dog would allow me to go out in public with less stress but Just looked at the applying document and it has a lot of difficult rules in my opinion to say if it was a 12 week old puppy to apply
I've seen harnesses with something like "I'm a service dog. Don't pet me, I'm working!" or something of the sort. Maybe that will help?
Sadly, people ignore those quite frequently.
Pawsable is not a charity. Are there any assistance dog charities that are charities apart feom Guide Dogs for The Blind and Hearing Dogs UK? And what are the qualifications of the people judging and heloing train assistance dogs?
This happened to me the other day. I was harassed and cornered by 2 security guards because apparently I'm was lying and breaking the law by not having her ID book with me. I was shouted at called a prick a liar. I have reported it to the police because I was humiliated as there was about 40 people people watching and not 1 person tried to help me. My dog pulled me away from the situation and they kept shouting abuse at me.
Does anyone know if Scotland gets these support dogs i have autism and other mental illnesses bpd etc
It very hard having a assistant dog I have dog called coco
I LOVE THE ROOM YOURE RECORDING IN! ITS SUCH A VIBE!🥹😍
I have Anxiety, Depression and hemiplegia diagnosed, and being tested for Autism, Bipolar and some other health related issues… I have a cavapoochon puppy, Nala, that I’ve had for 4 months now. I’m hoping to train her to help me. I feel like she’s my last hope because I can’t live how I do anymore- can’t even pay for items in the shop or give my order in a restaurant.
I’m using this video as part of my research to decide what I would like her to support me with.
So Thank you for all the information
Thank you Thank you so much🌹🤗
Hey, would someone mind explaining what the uk laws for assistance dogs in training I would be extremely grateful. Thank you :))
I am moving to the UK with my service dog from the US. Could you share any information that would help me in the move?
Hi! I am a autistic person who Is waiting for my assistance dog to be trained and I was wondering if there is a law that states you have to wear a certain jacket/vest to be a assistance dog? I am so greatful for my assistance dog but I would love to be able to put a different jacket/vest on him as the one he comes with will break easily and I can't get a new one. this video is really helpful thank you so much!
Hi, I'm new here
would you mind explaining service dogs for autism and some of the charities supporting them??
I have bad autism and I'm thinking about getting one but I want to understand more before I bring it up
I have own dog skye :) she my autism service dog . No place train get things in ni . She does go to training regularly helps me a lot goes to shops and hospitals with me
It’s not a service dog if it’s in the uk there is no assistance/service dog it’s just assistance and if you owner trained you’re assistance dog then there is no ID
Is assistance dog the same as service dog from a legal standpoint? Can one fly with an assistance dog?
Now this is great
When I was very young I asked to pet someone’s service dog, they said no she’s working.
After that I have never asked anyone again.
When other people say to me they are about to pet someone’s service dog, I tell them no don’t do that, the dog is working.
Some people are not aware of this
Hi, this was a good video but I am a highschool student with anxiety and depression. If you know, would I be able to get an ESA dog and maybe even take it to school as I’ve seen in America (service dogs) are allowed into schools.
Thanks
@Tiny Princess in brackets I said service dogs and I live in uk
I want a dog to be my service dog 🐕🦺
Assistance dogs do not require a dog licence in NI either.
I no how annoying that is
It’s exciting that I don’t have to work with a charity or carry ID. I’m very good at self advocacy and that means I’ll be able to argue back at people with knowledge on the laws. I want to train my own dog to work with ME best, to know ME fully. I want to do it on my own or with an independent trainer at most.
If helps anyone I run one the Facebook assistance dog groups
Can you have assistance dogs for ADHD?
Yes if the dog is task trained.
On to it but annoying
Hi can you help me to get my 1st service dog
Meadow is really good for deep pressure therapy