Blind guide dog owner takes action against limo service after being denied access

[kestrell]

Kes: This happens way too often, even here in Boston, so it is not a regional thing. I have heard way too many stories of cab drivers denying rides to guide dog owners at the Carroll Center for the Blind (you would think that the "for the blind" part might indicate the possibility of guide dog presence

Comments

[kestrell]

1. Does this mean there are no Islamic people who work with guide dogs or use dogs as companion animals?
2. Always an interesting question: is it okay for someone to defy the laws of the country because those laws clash with religious belief? In *all* circumstances, including those where the person restricts rights of access to another citizen? I am interested in finding out if the Islam religion insists on this "no compromise" attitude, it seems a "spirit of the law" thing to me, but then, I'm a pagan and the point of hurting another person in the name of my religious beliefs has never made reasonable sense to me.

[writingjen]

1. The injunction against contact with dogs is subject to interpretation as widely as, say, the instructions that women modestly "cover their beauty," which in some views means a head scarf in public or at worship, while in other views means head-to-toe coverage. In England, Muslim leaders have come out to say that guide dogs are not banned: http://www.disabilityworld.org/11-12_02/gov/guidedogs.shtml... )

[kestrell]

Thank you for the quality linkage!

The incidents I mentioned re the Carroll Center predate 9/11, and as the dispatchers blithely sent these drivers to the address, I expect it is an example of the company not wanting to provide a policy which they might be held accountable for, and also not paying particular attention to which driver they sent. My experience with schools and other institutions, services, companies, and events is that policy is set by example and these incidents reflect the attitudes of the corporation or owner as a whole.