Of all the Great Issues currently engaging our attention (climate change, war with North Korea, taxes and healthcare, the Roy Moore/Al Franken meltdowns etc.), none is more important than this, so pay attention: which of these sorority sisters should prevail in their battle over a therapy dog?
In brief: Madeleine Entine wants to keep her 8-year-old ruby Cavalier King Charles spaniel (Cory relieves Madeleine’s panic attacks) in the sorority house. Another sorority sister, Cary Goldman, complained that the dog’s presence aggravates her allergies and Crohn’s disease, and wants the beast removed. There are potentially dueling Americans with Disability Act claims here, but since only Entine has official ADA status so far, a U.S. District judge has ruled that Ohio State can’t boot out the dog until the case goes to trial.
This is a tough call for me. I am generally fond of dogs, and especially Cavaliers (I’ve had three of them). The Cav in question here is a beauty. I can attest to their calming effects. And this dog’s owner is a damsel in distress if there ever was one (today’s story in the Columbus Dispatch notes that “the dog licks the tears from her face when she can’t reach for tissues”. I ask you.) Nevertheless, my sympathy is more with the allergic housemate. The university has offered to put Madeleine and her dog up in alternate housing, but she insists that she should have access to sorority life.
While I feel sympathy for Miss Goldman, I say screw her and her allergies. It would seem, from what little info is in the story you linked, that an inference that she’s never witnessed a severe panic attack wouldn’t be amiss.
Fun answer: Move the two women into different sections within the sorority house. Make the allergic one keep the dog with her constantly and make the panicky one do completely without the dog, never to see or touch it, nor allow her to get a replacement. The first one to cave loses.
Trial by combat always works; we just need to define “combat” appropriately.
Serious answer: Right now the panicky one has the force of law behind her. So that’s the answer. Once the allergic one gets a proper diagnosis from the right authority then the law becomes a tie. What then?
IMO …
My general attitude is that in dense environments freedom from is more important than freedom to. We each have an affirmative obligation to minimize our second and third order effects on others. Why? Because they outnumber us umpteen million to one and living with umpteen million people each doing their selfish damndest to the people around them is bad.
In very low density environments the balance of duties and benefits goes the other way. Some guy far out in ruralia can spin donuts in his front yard in his mufflerless pickup truck at 6 am on Saturday to his heart’s content. He has freedom to because nobody else around needs freedom from. That’s not so in the city.
Consider the arguments about second-hand tobacco smoke. The end state is that tobacco smoke production is not allowed in high density places but is fully allowed in low to nil density places.
These women are living in a group home. That’s high density. Ms. Allergy wins and Ms. Panicky loses.
Certified therapy dog? I was under the impression that there was no one sanctioned government agency tasked with certifying therapy animals; has that changed or did I misunderstand?
One’s accommodation ceases to be reasonable when it results in harm to someone else.
It’s kind of funny because people with allergies and people with anxiety disorders share similar stigmas, with healthy people often assuming they both need to “suck it up”. As someone who has experienced a taste of both conditions, I appreciate how disabling they can be. I know panic attacks are pretty horrible, but so is Crohn’s disease.
I agree with the school’s decision to give priority to Goldman, the one with the allergies, since she signed the lease first.
they’re not 100% effective especially if you have severe allergies. If they’re bad enough, the Gen 2 antihistamines can merely take them from “unbearable” to “miserable.” I take a Claritin daily pretty much from when the snow melts through september, and even then in peak pollen/ragweed season I still get symptoms.
of course, the gen 1 antihistamines (e.g. Benadryl) are pretty powerful but they have the well-known side effect of knocking you on your ass.
(edited to clarify I’m only talking about the allergy side)
And as Snowboarder Bo stated, there is no solid legal standing for a “therapy” or “emotional support” dog. You can get one certified, but only through therapists or private entities that have no legal clout - many just take your money and send you a certificate on fancy paper. It’s not the same thing as an actual service dog or monkey which has gone through rigorous training to aide their human.
Some states have taken some steps to demand certain standards of certification in exchange for the right to bypass some “no pets/animals allowed” rules in public and semi-private places.
Others states have done nothing. It’s the typical US mishmash.
Me too. I can’t fault the University for giving precedence to whoever signed the lease first.
Whether permitted to or not, it would be highly distasteful for the university to rank disabilities.
I am assuming that the university, in arriving at its decision, had access to greater information about Ms Allergy’s allergies and effects in Crohn’s disease and there are no reasonable steps she can take to minimize her allergies - such as the availability of safe and effective medicine.
I’ve done some research on “service animals” in connection with a non profit. According to the ADA therapy animals, including dogs, are not service animals. Dogs that alert to oncoming seizures, yes. Comfort, no.
The answer here is to try to get the dog elected as the sorority’s mascot. You can’t kick out the mascot, so if successful, the dog wins and the allergic one moves out;if the dog loses, the panicky one moves out. And her little dog, too.
I am frankly surprised at Chi O for allowing members in who have obvious defects like panic attacks and Crohn’s.
Which one? The one who’s afraid to go outside without her [del]teddy bear[/del] doggy or the one whose immune system is so defective she’s dying while just standing around?
If we kill the weak we’ll only get stronger. Maybe the Chi-O’s need to have more “rigorous” pledge initiation process. Kinda like some FSU & Ohio State frats do.
Which states and what have they done, tho? If the requirement is “have a certificate; it doesn’t matter where you got it” then the requirement seems meaningless.
While trying to look that up, I did find this tho:
