Letter: ADA’s intent calls for real service dogs

Jan. 6, 2019

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / DEC. 2018

Umi is a bonafide service dog for Patrick Hamlow who lost both his legs due to complications with a staph infection. Umi is pictured pushing a handicap button for a door for Hamlow.

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I would like to respectfully address Clark Himeda’s understandable concerns with the new “fake-service-dog law” (“Fake-service-dog law needs to be tougher,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 1).

As the executive director of Hawaii Fi-Do Service Dogs, I can tell you that our supportive testimony this past year addressed that head-on.

The Americans with Disabilities Act specifically prohibits requiring registration. So, how does one enforce? There were three alternatives: wait until ADA changes and allows a registration requirement (when pigs fly); do nothing and see the problem only escalate; or have the law passed anyway with a belief there would be a genuine deterrent effect.

As we help educate about the ADA’s intent to help individuals with real disabilities, we believe some of the “fakers” will rethink what they are doing. Hopefully their families and friends will also help dissuade some of them.

If folks decide to continue to abuse the ADA’s intent, it speaks volumes about them.

Jim Kennedy Jr.

Ewa Beach

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