@embracingecho: Allowing disabled individuals to be denied access due to their medical equipment in this day and age is not tolerable. There IS a part 2 to this. Today, my client, who was trying to purchase water, she was discriminated against at @gosunoco at 6440 Myrtle Ave, (Myrtle Ave and Cypress Hills St) Ridgewood, NY for having her federally protected service dog under the ADA. For context: The store owner refused service and ordered her to leave due to having a dog. When Bianca explained she had a legal right to be there under the ADA with her service dog, the owner said she didn’t care and insisted she leave. My client calmly said she would wait for the police. The owner then told her the dog must stand up and that she had to clean the floor because the dog would leave hair behind. But when the officers arrived, the owner changed her story — claiming it wasn’t about the dog, but that she simply refused her as a customer because of drama. Rather than protecting my client’s federal rights, the officers refused to take a discrimination report and tried to label it as “mutual harassment” — as if asking for legal access is harassment. This is not how the law works. I was on the phone the entire time. I heard everything. The store owner was in perfect understanding as she was screaming that she didn’t want the dog because of the hair. The officers seemed to be interrogating the handler instead of the store owner until Bianca asked multiple times for the police officers to check the cameras which conveniently didn’t have audio. When the gas station was asked again after the video, she did admit it was because of the dog. 🦮 Service dogs are not pets — they are medical equipment protected by federal law. Bianca uses a service dog to mitigate the symptoms of her disability. Her dog alerts and responds to medical episodes. The officers even tried to convince my client that they can’t enforce a law if the business owner doesn’t comprehend it. However, the owner of the store had been yelling questions about the dog in the background while the police explained that there was nothing they could do. They refused to explain the ADA to the staff, and told my client that their superior said this “isn’t a hate crime” and that she had to leave. They left without explaining a law to the owner. The owner was able to discriminate and kick her out due to her service dog with the NY police on her side. It is never okay to tolerate or turn a blind eye to discrimination ✊ @Sunoco , please educate those that own franchises under your name the ADA and that discrimination is not tolerated. #ADAViolation #Discrimination #ServiceDogRights #JusticeForAll #StandUpForRights #DisabilityAdvocacy

Jaime Simpson

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Region: US

Wednesday 11 June 2025 16:22:41 GMT