Service dog owners with unseen disabilities can face stares, glares

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By Daniella Aird
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Without Abby, Mindy Romoff risks falling down in public.

Romoff, of Margate, suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal imbalance that causes unstable blood-sugar levels. When she's in danger, Abby knows when to push furniture aside, brace Romoff's fall and call for help.

"Abby's job is to make sure I don't fall down," said Romoff, a 29-year-old paralegal. "She's my lifeline."

Romoff gets uncomfortable glares from other customers whenever she brings Abby, a trained service dog, to places typical pets aren't allowed.

"When we walk in, everyone stares, customers complain, people are afraid," said Romoff, who travels everywhere with Abby in tow, including work. "They ask me if I'm blind. I constantly need to explain that even though I don't look disabled, I need Abby there to make sure I'm OK."

Romoff and others with disabilities increase public awareness regarding animal assistance. They rely on service animals such as Abby to perform a variety of tasks, including retrieving dropped items, opening doors, pushing buttons, picking up phones and turning lights on and off.

Service animals have become more visible since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, but many people are still learning about the animals' legal access to public places, said Eric Holland, a spokesman for the Department of Justice.

"Seeing-eye dogs are the one type of service animals with which most people are familiar, but there are service animals that assist people with other kinds of disabilities in their day-to-day activities," Holland said.

Karla Clinch, a Deerfield Beach dog trainer who has multiple sclerosis, carries around a book of state and federal laws detailing why Apollo, her Labrador retriever, is allowed anywhere she is. She has also printed up brochures about service dogs that she hands out to business owners and the general public.

"People come up to me all the time and ask questions. They say to me, `But you don't look disabled,'" said Clinch. "I'm educating people every day of my life. It gets to the point where I don't want to go out in public sometimes, but I want to be an advocate."

Clinch, 41, who has trained dogs for 20 years, teaches canines to work as companions for people with physical and mental disabilities, including post traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, bipolar disorder and hearing impairment.

She said service dogs come in all breeds and sizes: beagles, Malteses, shiatsus and toy poodles. Some assistance dogs are welcome distractions for their owners.

Melly, a golden/Labrador retriever mix, is a constant companion for Cory Harrison, a 10-year-old quadriplegic from Davie. Although the pair turns heads whenever they travel to restaurants and malls, strangers are usually more fascinated with Melly than Cory's wheelchair and ventilator. That's a blessing, said Cory's dad, Maurice Harrison.

"Prior to having this remarkable animal, people only wanted to know what was wrong with Cory," said Harrison, 49, a computer technician. "Now they just say, `Wow, look at that dog.' They see past his wheelchair and see a kid lucky to have a dog like that."

Kathy Kilpatrick, a puppy trainer for the Orlando-based Canine Companions for Independence, a nationwide nonprofit that places service dogs with clients, said assistance dogs are slowly gaining acceptance." People will always have the possibility of encountering somebody who simply doesn't understand assistance dogs and the services they provide. But with the ADA and state legislation, it's something people are becoming more and more aware of," Kilpatrick said.

Canines typically undergo specialized training before getting matched with a person.

Although the average cost of training an assistance dog is $15,000, organizations such as Canine Companions rely on donor support and place dogs with disabled clients for a nominal fee.

Clifford Siston, 47, of Deerfield Beach, travels everywhere with Astro Doberhead, a Doberman Pinscher who was trained by Clinch.

Siston, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said he'd rather deal with all the questions and complaints because he needs his black-haired dog in order to function in public. For instance, Astro will check the safety of rooms before he enters and alerts him when people approach.

"With Astro, I can live a normal life," Siston said. "He's like having a pair of eyeglasses or a cane."