Emily Kaltenbach
Accessibility is a right, not a choice. Isla, pronounced eye-la, was created out of a need for accessibility in the world. The world was created for abled bodied people by abled body people, so how can we change that? Throughout my everyday struggles as a disabled service dog handler and student I saw a huge need for education to the public and businesses about service animals, especially service dogs as they are the most used. A recent epidemic that is hurting service dog teams are individuals faking service dogs or bringing their pets into non pet friendly stores, such as target and Walmart. This can cause false representations on how service animals should behave in public. In turn, by doing this it sends a message to everyone that bringing pets everywhere is okay, when it is illegally. As a service dog handler, I constantly must fight for my rights that were already given to me by law. It is illegal to deny access to a person because of their service dog, but it happens all the time. This is because business owners have seen misbehaving or aggressive pets being misrepresented as service dogs and assume every dog will act that way. Then when a handler has a litimate service dog, they are not allowed in the store because of others poor choices. Most handlers know the laws better than law enforcement, medical professionals, and business owners. The public doesn’t know the laws, so handlers must, so we get the rights we deserve.
Use of AI: If searching on google for service dog information the first thing that will come up are certifications and registry sites. They claim if you pay x amount of dollars you will receive a vest, certificate saying your dog is a service dog, and be able to take them anywhere. These are all a scam and fake. According to the ADA law in the US there are no legal binding certifications or registries for service animals. Slapping a vest on a dog doesn’t make it a service dog, a service dog is made my thousands of hours of task training and their model behavior. Ai is used with Isla by creating targeted ads to business and animal owners. When the targeted audience is using a search engine Isla ad will pop up first on the list to learn the correct information first instead of going to a scam website. Ai will also be used on social media by creating ads for pet owners. Many pet parents bring their pets into a store like target, where pets aren’t allowed. Some knowingly breaking the law and some just simply ignorantly. They will take and post photos of their pets in the store, sniffing and touching food, and sitting in the cart. When they post this type of content targeted ads will come on their feed to teach them the correct laws and information about taking pets into public spaces.
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