“It reduces me to tears:” The ‘absolutely awful’ and unknown discrimination
- Rhys Hanson
- Mar 31
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 1
Those who rely on assistance dogs to live their lives face discrimination even in hospitals and GP surgeries.
You may have noticed a recent article by the BBC addressing JD Wetherspoon’s potentially illegal policy on assistance dogs, but this issue isn’t just confined to the pub.
Kieran Connors is fully blind, hearing impaired and has frequent seizures, so relies on his mastiff guide dog, Bodhi.
Kieran described his ‘worst access experience’ at his previous GP’s.
“The GP came out to call my name and I asked for assistance but as soon as he saw I had a mastiff he refused to see me, then had the receptionist kick me out for having an ‘aggressive dog.’
“Bodhi lay under my chair the whole time not making a noise.
“Since then, I had every single GP in that practice claim to be allergic to dogs and refuse to see me.
“It got to the point where I had to swap practices as they also refused to do home visits despite me being unable to get out without my assistance dog.”
Unfortunately, Kieran is not alone in this experience.
Jango is one of the more famous dogs you could meet, with over 2,000 Instagram followers, whom he tells about his adventures as Kim Murphy’s guide dog.
Kim lost her sight 11 years ago and Jango is her first guide dog. “He’s changed my life,” she said.
“The world can be so cruel, that I’ve got this fantastic opportunity to have my mobility, get around, be sociable still and do all these things, but then [another] part of the human race can come along and take it away again...
“It reduces me to tears.”
Kim told me that she has been discriminated against in pubs, restaurants and hospitals.
“I’ve had just straight ‘you’re not coming in here,’ I’ve had ‘you’ll have to sit over there’ [with the pet dogs]."
But she’s found it most often with taxis.
“I've been abandoned in the streets, ‘I'm not taking you with that dog,’ I've been left in a city where I didn't know where I was, it's terrifying.
“It's actually dangerous in that situation, you know, left somewhere where you can't see and you don't know where you are and there's no contact with anybody else. I mean, it's horrendous. It's really horrendous.”
Kim explained how part of the problem is how disability discrimination against people with assistance dogs is largly unknown compared to other issues.
"It's not really known about that well in the general public.
"Racial discrimination, sexual discrimination; everybody would scream and quite rightly so, but this is equal to it."
Kim also spoke of experiences in hospitals, of porters and nurses refusing to accompany her because of Jango.
“I went to the reception desk [and asked] could somebody possibly show us where the MRI department is and had ‘ah no, no, not with that dog,’ refusing us.
“I have had good experiences in hospitals as well,” she added. “But it’s hard to think of the ones that were all good and fine, because you’re always looking for the next experience where it might go pear shaped again.”
Because of her own and other assistance dog users’ experiences, Kim is now in the process of setting up (what she hopes will become) a charity, Action 4 Access, hoping to fill a gap in support for those with assistance dogs.
“It would support all assistance dog owners if they were discriminated against. Somebody would actually pick up the phone or answer an e-mail that day.”
Bruce is a multi-purpose assistance dog for Fiona Davey, (not her real name) who has had him for five years. He alerts her if her blood pressure rises too high and supports her with her autism.
“When things get a bit much, he gets me out of places and things like that,” Fiona said.
“I was getting to the stage that I was worried about going out in case I took ill and things like that. Just having him with me gives me that confidence to go out and face people.”
Fiona has also had problems whilst in hospital.
“He'd been with me in the hospital for nearly a week, I think, we'd moved between three different wards, and in the last ward, I found out through this person saying that he had to leave was when I'd been admitted, they'd marked him down as a guide dog, which he obviously wasn't.
“So, although I explained and it wasn't my fault that he'd been given the wrong title, they said to me that they don't have to abide by the Disability [Equality] Act because they're a hospital."
Unsurprisingly, hospitals do have to abide by the Equality Act.
However, part of the broader problem is the lack of specific information surrounding assistant dogs.
In UK law there isn’t an exact, comprehensive definition of an assistance dog, but only one in relation to the hiring of private transport (taxis etc.) in the Equality Act.
With that in mind, this is what is in the law:
Nico Aikman is an ambulatory wheelchair user and lives side-by-side with black labrador assistance dog, Dazai.
Nico is also Co-Director of Good Karma Assistance Dogs, a non-profit providing specialised training for prospective psychiatric assistance dogs.
Nico sent me some recordings of access refusals (disability discrimination). I have edited the clips down and put them together. The first is in a pub, the second in a hospital and the third in a small shop.
Emily (not her real name) is deaf and has an assistance dog. She told me over messages how she now struggles with anxiety around leaving the house, because of ‘fear of access refusals or harassment’ because of her assistance dog.
“Even more than anxiety it means I have to prioritise what’s absolutely necessary because every time is a fight.
“For example, I would love to go to the theatre. But I’ve given up on that completely because it’s not worth the fight every time.”
Emily also told me that she’d had many issues with healthcare services.
“The only areas I've NOT been affected by access issues (yet!) are GP and A&E.
“I even had a consultant put down in my records that I have (I'm paraphrasing) an exaggerated sense of my PERCEIVED rights!!!!
“Perceived was the actual word they used. As if there's no legal right or entitlement.”
The more people I spoke to, the bigger this issue revealed itself to be, but currently there aren't any robust statistics reflecting the breadth of this problem.
So, in an attempt to get an idea for myself I took to Facebook, asking in two assistance dog groups for people’s experiences with this issue.
Here are some of the comments I received:
Reasons for denying someone access because of their assistance dog are broad. It can be out of a fear of dogs, religious reasons, allergies or many other things.
Kim Murphy explained to me how the broad reason, however, is simply lack of education.
"We need to work more with people all religions, cultures and different communities to try and overcome what could be a really explosive problem."
As an example, some buisiness ask for ID for the dog from one charity, ADUK, and then won't let them in if they don't have it.
This is just one way to train a dog, and refusing someone access simply for the lack of the ID is discrimination, as it holds no weight in law.
However, businesses too have rights and would be safe to ask someone and their assistance dog to leave if the dog was acting in a way an assistance dog shouldn't - barking, jumping up etc.
This is the way 'fake' assistance dogs should be identified and then asked to leave, as 'IDs' and assistance dog vests are easily purchaseable online and cause problems for those with legitimate assistance dogs.
Wetherspoons' policy online states that no animals are allowed on their premises except 'guide dogs' and 'assistance dogs with accredited training from ADUK or ADAA,' stating health and safety laws and obligations as to the reason.
Many assistance dog users and related charities believe a combination of more education and clarification/strengthening of the laws could help decrease the rate of discrimination, prevent 'fake' assistance dogs and even help buisinesses and services navigate the problem.
But at the very least, almost all the people I spoke to said they hoped that they could continue talking to journalists and the media to raise awareness of the issue, as even that could make their day to day lives just a little bit easier.
I contacted the NHS for comment, but did not receive one.
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