One man's fight for disabled rights
James Woodrow has lived with two kinds of pain for more than a decade. One is physical ---- the torture of two debilitating nervous system disorders, sometimes so bad "it feels (like) razor blades or battery acid under my skin."
The other is the anguish and indignation the disabled man feels every time he walks into a store or restaurant with his service dog, Rocky, and hears the words: "You can't come in here with that dog," the 54-year-old Temecula resident said.
While most businesses don't think twice about allowing a blind person to bring a guide dog into a store or restaurant, that is often not the case with service dogs that assist those with other disabilities, especially when the disability is not visible, experts say.
The animals help the disabled in a number of ways. Some are able to detect the onset of a seizure, or provide balance to those with trouble moving around. Others help those with psychological disorders stay calm. The Michigan-based International Association of Assistance Dog Partners estimates that 20,000 disabled people in the United States use service dogs, including guide dogs for the blind and signal dogs for the hearing impaired.
Rocky accompanies Woodrow wherever he goes. If Woodrow falls, he leans on Rocky to get back on his feet. When he struggles to walk, Rocky pulls him along.
"With my dog and my faith in God, I was able to walk again," Woodrow said on a recent morning. "He's everything to me."
In the early 1990s, Woodrow was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome and fibromyalgia. Both of those conditions cause severe chronic pain.
When his suffering becomes unbearable, Woodrow locks himself inside the recreational vehicle he calls home, draws the blinds and prays for the torture to end ---- often for days at a time, he said.
Once his pain returns to a manageable level, Woodrow ventures outside with Rocky for a bit of shopping or a cup of coffee at a local restaurant. Often, he seeks nothing more than the solace of being around other people, he said.
But the simple, everyday pleasures most take for granted are anything but a given for disabled people like Woodrow.
Over the last few years, Woodrow says he has been barred from entering dozens of stores, restaurants and other businesses in Riverside and San Diego counties. And while federal law stipulates that such licenses are not necessary, Woodrow took out a state service-dog license for Rocky in 2003, just to try and avoid conflict with business owners, he said. Rocky wears the tag around his neck.
Yet, despite that precaution, Woodrow continues to be barred from some local businesses, he said. And on several occasions, he has made a citizen's arrest of managers who refused to allow him access with Rocky.
Discrimination common
Woodrow is not alone in his plight, says a spokeswoman for the statewide disabled-rights advocacy group Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
"We see it as a widespread problem," said staff attorney Diana Honig. "Based on the number of calls we get, there is a high level of frustration at the lack of access."
She said she attributes much of the discrimination to ignorance of the law and ignorance of the fact that many people suffer from disabilities that are not visible.
Discrimination of all types against those with hidden disabilities is especially common, according to Marilyn Golden, policy analyst with the Berkeley-based Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.
"(It's) a huge issue," she said. "They encounter this all the time."
Businesses that evade the federal law or choose to ignore it do so at their own peril, she said.
"(They) are usually the ones who end up being sued," Golden said.
The U.S. Census bureau pegs the number of disabled in the country at 49 million people. Of those, about 12.6 million are categorized as severely disabled.
Whenever Woodrow enters a business with Rocky for the first time, he said, he explains that he is disabled and presents the manager with printed information on the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring that businesses allow disabled people access with their service animals. Even then, however, some employees still refuse to serve the man and ask him to leave, Woodrow said.
And that's when things begin to escalate, he said, as he insists they obey the federal law. Tempers flare and accusations begin to fly. Woodrow calls the police, saying he is making a citizen's arrest, and managers call the police, too, asking officers to arrest him for disturbing the peace. On more than one occasion, both have occurred.
Who's to blame?
Some of the business managers Woodrow has clashed with over the last several months say the man is out of control.
One of the most recent incidents occurred Feb. 6, when Woodrow went into Siggy's Restaurant in Murrieta.
Owner Jim Spiropoulos said that when he saw Woodrow enter the restaurant with Rocky, it was at the peak of lunch hour business. Woodrow was standing in line with his dog at the self-service counter when Spiropoulos spotted him, he said.
"I politely told him, 'no dogs allowed,' and he wouldn't take no from me and started calling me names and using profanity," Spiropoulos said.
"He went off on me right away; he might have said something (about Rocky being a service animal), but I didn't hear it," the restaurant owner said, adding that Woodrow then stormed out of the restaurant.
Coincidentally, two animal control officers were sitting on the patio near the entrance at the time, Spiropoulos said. When they saw a visibly upset Woodrow exiting the restaurant with his dog, they approached him and asked what the problem was. At that point, one of the officers went back inside and informed Spiropoulos that Woodrow was disabled and that Rocky was his service animal, requiring that the man be served.
Spiropoulos said that he then went outside and asked Woodrow to come back in the restaurant, so he could serve him. But Woodrow cursed him, he said, and told him he was going to sue him, before leaving.
Later in the day, Woodrow returned to the restaurant with a Murrieta police sergeant and made a citizen's arrest of Spiropoulos.
The restaurant owner said he had no idea Woodrow was disabled and that Rocky was his service dog, in part, he said, because Rocky had no special harness or vest like the ones that guide dogs for the blind typically wear. Under federal law, no special tags, collars or other identifiers are necessary for those accompanied by service animals. Nor are the disabled required to present proof of either their disability or documentation of the animal's status as a service dog.
Woodrow tells a different story about the altercation.
He said that when he first entered the restaurant, he immediately approached Spiropoulos, identified himself as having a diagnosed disability and told him that Rocky was a service dog, protected under the Americans with Disability Act.
"I bent down and showed him the certification tag to show him Rocky was certified by the state as a service animal," Woodrow said.
He said that Spiropoulos began yelling at him to get out of the restaurant. "It didn't matter what I told him," Woodrow said. "He was practically jumping over the counter."
During a similar confrontation at the Temecula Target store on Dec. 23, Woodrow made a citizen's arrest of a store employee who allegedly denied him entrance to the store and assaulted him. Store managers also called the police, and officers issued Woodrow a citation for disturbing the peace and threatening store employees.
Educating business owners
Willa Bagwell, the manager of Animal Friends of the Valleys, the local animal shelter, said last week that she recently drew up a brochure explaining Americans with Disabilities Act requirements after Woodrow appealed to her to do something to help him and others who use service animals. In recent weeks, she said, she has distributed many of the brochures to local businesses and city officials.
Spiropoulos said that he was unaware of the law, and that if he had known ---- and Woodrow had not lost his temper so quickly ---- things might have gone differently.
"Now I am fully aware," he said. "There's no way everyone can be aware of every single law in the United States; I bet you 95 percent of business owners (don't know about) the law."
Recently, the cities of Murrieta and Temecula worked with Animal Friends to develop brochures on businesses' obligations under federal law, relating to the disabled and service animals, officials said last week. Both cities now include the brochures in their business-license renewal packets, they said.
"It is something that we weren't real familiar with, in terms of service dogs," said Murrieta Human Resources Manager Chris Paxton.
And in the case of Temecula, a city official said last week that Woodrow was part of the reason the city decided to create its brochure.
"Woodrow raised this as an issue and requested the city provide the information to the community," said Grant Yates, assistant to the city manager.
The Americans with Disabilities Act allows businesses to ask if an animal is a service animal and what task the animal has been trained to perform. But neither owners nor employees can ask for proof of the person's disability nor ask questions about the disability.
Businesses may only ask the person to remove the animal if the animal owner is not able to control it or if the animal poses a direct threat to others. The federal law takes precedence over any local heath codes that may restrict animal access to restaurants and other types of business.
Just like guide dogs for the blind and signal dogs for the hearing impaired, service animals are allowed access with their disabled owner to all businesses open to the public, including restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, hospitals and medical centers.
Those who violate Americans with Disabilities Act requirements may be required to pay monetary damages and penalties, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Protection & Advocacy Inc. attorney Honig said that in her opinion, discrimination against those with service animals is just as egregious as "a sign on the door saying, 'No blacks allowed.'"
Crusading for disabled rights
The pastor of Temecula's Hope Lutheran Church, Skip McComas, said last week that he has ministered spiritual guidance to Woodrow for the past two years and has gotten to know him fairly well.
He attributes much of Woodrow's anger to the years of discrimination the man has suffered, the clergyman said.
"After so many years of piling up, I think it has led to maybe a shorter fuse than he had in the beginning," McComas said.
Woodrow's appearance may be adding to the problem, he added.
"When you first look at Jim, he looks more homeless than disabled, and I think that may be the cause of their reaction," McComas said.
But he certainly doesn't expect Woodrow to fold up his tent and disappear into the night, he said.
"He's on a crusade to educate ... the community about the disabled and their service animals," McComas said.
Woodrow said that someone has to stand up for the disabled.
"One reason I am involved is to end this ignorance about the disabled," he said. "In America, we are better than that. As long as I have a breath, I am going to fight these people."
Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or wbennett@californian.com.
Americans with Disabilities Act and service animals
Definition of disability: "a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities ... "
Definition of a service animal: "any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. Service animals perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform ... "
ADA rules applying to businesses and other organizations open to the public: