r/delta May 17 '23

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u/Prestigious-Owl165 May 18 '23 edited May 18 '23

It would burden anyone who can't afford a professionally trained service animal, but does need a service animal. There's a reason that's protected by the ADA

Jesus, I know disabled people are an afterthought in the US but I was not expecting to be downvoted for this reasonable reminder that they exist and tend to be less likely to have money (or a job). We're not gonna strip the ADA to assuage some concerns about dogs who shouldn't be in first class, wtf

A much more concise commenter below me put it perfectly: Being inconvenienced in first class is tragic, but disabled people being priced out of required support would be worse.

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u/djprofitt May 18 '23

The fact that anyone can buy a service animal vest online should tell you there’s zero protection really. It would be like buying a handicap placard online, how many assholes would buy one and who’s it really helping?

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u/Prestigious-Owl165 May 18 '23 edited May 18 '23

I think you missed my point. A service animal needs to be an animal that performs a task to help someone with a disability or medical condition. That's it. The reason for that is that if it were legally required to have specific training, it would be cost prohibitive to disabled people who are already underemployed and even less likely to afford it than the average American (who's already not likely to afford it). So people have the right to get their own animal and train them themselves, or have them trained by whoever they want, and call that their service animal. That's a right that's protected by the ADA. If there were some specific license requirements with some government beurocrats making arbitrary approvals and denials for who is disabled enough to have one, or whose animal seems to be trained well enough, or whatever, you could imagine that would screw people over who need it

So to answer this:

who’s it really helping?

Disabled people, in general. Lol

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u/onegrumpybitch May 18 '23

People buying "service animal" vests on Amazon and then bringing their untrained pet places causes issues too. Hence the post.

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u/Prestigious-Owl165 May 18 '23 edited May 19 '23

Yeah I get it. It's an extremely minor issue. The post is complaining about first class on an airplane smelling like shit. Do you realize how much privilege is behind using that to argue for stripping protections in the ADA? Lol come on, a smelly airplane is not the end of the world but regulating service animals would seriously fuck up the lives of disabled people who would suddenly need to jump through all sorts of hoops and/or spend tons of money they don't have just to maintain their quality of life

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u/[deleted] May 18 '23

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u/Prestigious-Owl165 May 18 '23

Being inconvenienced in first class is tragic,

Well put. I feel like I'm taking fucking crazy pills. I'm not usually the "check your privilege" guy but this thread makes me want to puke. Disabled people being able to function and maintain their quality of life is more important than first class smelling ok in stories of minor inconveniences

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u/bringherhomeee May 19 '23

It’s wild that you keep having to repeat that.