It costs you literally nothing to leave service dogs the fuck alone.
yall. this isn’t a joke. if i can tell a 5 yr old “my dog is working, please let her be” and they understand then you can too. those dogs ARE working. they have a job to do. and when we say ‘leave them alone’ that includes making faces at them and baby talking them. literally act like they are just someone’s bag or something. if you distract them they could fail to alert their owner to a seizure or blood sugar issue or allergen. you are literally jeopardizing someone’s life bc you can’t have basic decency, respect, and self control.
SAY IT LOUDER
am I allowed to tell the person I’m proud of the dog? Or should I just not bring up the dog?
Ignore the dog. Do not mention the dog.
Would you walk up to a stranger and be like “Oh damn your wheelchair is doing such a hecking good job being a wheelchair you go lil buddy!” no? then don’t do it to service animals that are clearly wearing their vest/collar/harness whatever it is that marks them as service animals
[ID: Comment from @certifiedcoolkidno1 “animals…..aren’t…….objects…….”]
Service…..animals…..are…..legally…..classified…..as…..assistive…..devices…..
Y’all literally do not care how many disabled people you kill and how many disabled lives you ruin - you want to coo at and pet the cute dog.
Go fuck yourself asshole.
Here, if you want a comparison that isn’t an object: I worked as a caregiver for people with developmental (usually accompanied by physical) disabilities. My job was to accompany them into the community for various activities including shopping, dining, and leisure activities. And everywhere we went people would come up to ME and tell me what a good person I was, what a great service I was providing, god bless me, etc. Not only was it embarrassing for both me and my consumers, it was distracting! I was supposed to be paying attention to my consumers and their needs, which could often change rapidly depending on their conditions, and instead I was having to deal with some prick who felt the need to voice what a martyr I was for doing my job. And they’d usually get angry if I ignored them or informed them they were distracting me from my job, which sounds familiar.
So yeah. Leave. The Dog. Alone. All you’re doing is making yourself feel good while distracting the dog from its job and endangering the person it’s supposed to be helping.
Question: I know service dogs are for a variety of maladies (I hope that’s not offensive, if so plz correct me) so is it wrong to even go up to the person and calmly tell them their dog is cute and ask them to give them a pet for me later when they’re off the clock? Without actually giving the dog attention?
What exactly is it about “Ignore the dog. Do not mention the dog.” that y’all aren’t grasping.
Oh right. It’s not what you want to do so you’re just going to keep trying to weasel your way around it. Because fuck disabled people, it’s a cute dog.
What’s really getting me is that all of these “but what if I” examples blatantly involve inserting yourself into a disabled person’s life just to get to their dog. Like
[ID: A white stick figure on a black background. Orange text says “that’s a human person”]
people love talking to my dog or asking questions while we’re in line and therefore can’t just leave. if we’re in line chances are I feel terrible, he’s doing his job and I’m trying not to fall on the floor I do not have the time or energy to answer questions. he knows he’s a good boy and that he’s very smart. I know he’s doing a good job. I should not have to worry about people petting him when I’m having tachycardia and actively need him to do his job. just leave us and our dofs alone
disabled people: leave me and my assistive devices including service animals and caregivers and aides alone
ableds: but what if-
disabled people: leave me and my assistive devices alone
ableds: but what if-
disabled people: what part of “leave me and my assistive devices alone” are you not understanding here
Ableds: But I don’t want to.
If anyone still doesn’t understand how prevalent & harmful service dog harassment is here’s a compilation of service dog-owners confronting instances of abuse, harassment, and invasiveness as they were going about their daily lives in stores & such. here’s another compilation, and an instance of a woman having her dog called to while all on the job. please for the love of god stop acting so entitled to the attention & energy of disabled ppl just bc they have a cute dog w/ them. it’s invasive & being cornered or talked to abt their dog routinely for no good reason is smthg most service dog users have to go through & probably are very tired of.
You people are so fucking obnoxious. Literally just mentioning their service dog, a living being regardless of whether you and the law want to classify it as an object, is not going to “kill disabled people and ruin their lives.” You’re being hyperbolic as fuck and everyone knows it.
Since you decided to add this bullshit on a reblog from me, I’m going to respond.
While there are never any articles in the news about it, there have been accounts of disabled people dying because their assistance aids have been compromised in some way by abled people. The abuses faced by disabled people ruins their lives just the same as it has and does for abled people.
And even if the dying part is hyperbole, so fucking what? In the face of all the ableism disabled people face just trying to live as normally as we can, we’re allowed to be angry and show it sometimes.
