Inclusion Daily Express -- School Rejects Boy's Hearing Assistance Dog; Rights Commission Investigates

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School Rejects Boy's Hearing Assistance Dog; Rights Commission Investigates
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 11, 2007

WESTBURY, NEW YORK--Fourteen-year-old John Cave and his parents believe he needs to have his new hearing service dog Simba with him 24 hours a day, including when he is at W. Tresper Clarke High School.

Officials at East Meadow School District disagree, and since last Wednesday have barred the yellow Labrador retriever from coming inside, saying that it would present a safety and health risk to the rest of the students.

The Cave family calls the district's ban a violation of John's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The case has since turned into a public standoff, with John taking Simba to school every morning, and then being turned back by the school's principal, often with reporters and television cameras watching nearby.

After the story hit the news services, it caught the attention of the New York State Division of Human Rights, which decided to look into the Caves' allegations and to file a complaint on their behalf.

The state's new human rights commissioner, Kumiki Gibson, told Newsday that this is the first time in more than a decade that the division has initiated an investigation on its own. Most of the time, the agency only deals with complaints that are filed by members of the public.

"It just jumped out at me as the kind of thing that our long list of laws calls on us to investigate," said Gibson, who started in the position just last week.

The story also caught the attention of fellow Long Islander Brooke Ellison, who was the first quadriplegic student to graduate from Harvard and who last year ran for the New York Senate.

"John and Simba's story is getting national attention now -- and for good reason," Ellison wrote in an opinion piece for Newsday. "This case challenges our most basic fears about difference and disrupting the status quo, but it also provides us with the opportunity to embrace the noblest parts of human nature."

Related articles from Newsday:
"State to look at dog dispute"
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0111d.htm
"School resolute against service dog"
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0111e.htm
"District explains barring dog"
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0111f.htm
"Opinion: Disability can be a valuable lesson" by Brooke Ellison
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0111g.htm

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