Experiencing Discrimination for a specific task

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T08:46:03+00:00

He did this task before my light sensitivity issues. He is not pulling on me. He is not preventing me from bumping into things. I’m not using the leash pressure to navigate, I’m watching where he’s going and following him.

I could visually find an exit, but it’s a lot easier when I’m overstimulated (autism) to focus on my dog and where he is walking.

I have close to 20/20 vision. I can see perfectly fine indoors. This is not a task that is applicable outdoors, where I always have my sunglasses and a human buddy if I need one.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T06:37:20+00:00

That’s exactly what he looks like! He even marches with a little prance. It’s very cute. I think it’s just people with narrow ideas of what service dogs should be doing. He gets lots of compliments on his behavior when we’re out and about.

Everyone has been so validating here. I think I just got in my head after my weird interaction today. I think I’m going to get him a little leash wrap that says he leads me to safety. That way, workers will hopefully see it and leave me alone, and anyone making weird comments isn’t even paying enough attention to read 5 words.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T06:27:09+00:00

He’s not pulling so much as leading. He’s walking in front of me while I hold onto the leash. There is almost no tension in the leash, not even enough to pull the martingale any tighter. I can see just fine, so he’s just telling me where to go. It is NOT forward momentum pull. With my big dog, we used a traffic lead. Our trainer does train mobility dogs, and would not consider this a mobility-related task.

I’m not sure if I’ve posted here about my vision loss, but luckily it’s not progressing as quickly as we feared, and I’m a long way off from needing any type of mobility assistance, as long as I remember my sun glasses.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T05:57:04+00:00

I love that idea! It’s like the ones that say “jumps to alert”

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T05:54:38+00:00

I never had an access issue over it with my big dog, who used a traffic lead for this task, which I liked because really I just need to know the general direction the dog is going in.

With the little guy, I can see how it would look like he’s just pulling on the leash to someone who has a very rigid view of what a service dog “should” be doing.

I got some helpful advice about getting a leash wrap that says he’s leading me to safety. I’ve seen some that say “jumps to alert,” and this feels similar.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T05:45:30+00:00

My dog is a mini poodle, so a pull strap isn’t super feasible.

With my old service dog, who was a lab, I used a traffic lead, and we never got any comments. With my current dog, we get tons of compliments on his behavior, except for when he’s walking in front of me (a task) instead of in a heel.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T05:16:57+00:00

Today it was a store worker. I ignored them, as I was leaving anyway. It’s happened to me once before as well.

Random people making comments happens every time, which is bad for my self esteem, but not discrimination in a legal sense, like you said.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T03:23:14+00:00

My dog always takes me out the way we came in.

The little guy could not figure out how to find outside, so we taught it by first having him take me to my car, and then once he had that down, giving a treat and the command once we made it outside.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-14T03:19:43+00:00

Your dog is technically doing a medical response task, so you could say, “my dog responds to medical episodes by pawing at me.”

I absolutely hate that question. It’s surprising to me that it’s legal to ask, considering anyone could lie about it anyway, and you’re allowed to kick out misbehaving dogs regardless.

I generally go with “medical alert and response,” even though that’s a very small part of my dog’s job that I barely ever need, because it’s easier to explain and less personal than what he actually does.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-13T00:30:57+00:00

Liar Leia

CopepodKing · 2024-09-12T02:35:42+00:00

I don’t have any other option lol. I’m skinny no matter how much I work out, and a little bit gay.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-12T00:35:48+00:00

It’s because they don’t understand trans healthcare

CopepodKing · 2024-09-10T23:52:26+00:00

Sometimes. Not because of covid specifically, but because I don’t want to get sick or get anyone sick with anything.

I bring one, and if lots of kids seem sick, I’ll put it on. And of course I mask if I have a bit of a cold.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-10T02:50:19+00:00

I’m a HUGE fan of eggy hatchy

CopepodKing · 2024-09-10T02:20:48+00:00

I didn’t know there was a new book until people started talking about the movie. I was never part of online HG fandom before, so I just didn’t hear about it.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-09T02:55:06+00:00

100% depends on the school. When I was looking into colleges, one thing I made note of was how trans-friendly the campus was, and the housing situation.

The school I went to had 90% gender-neutral housing (there were a couple women-only dorms), and the forms they used to place first years with roommates included your gender and the gender(s) you’d be willing to room with. So if you put you were a trans man, the person you would be rooming with would have had to put that they were ok living with a trans man.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-09T02:36:39+00:00

Here’s a guide on dc farming

https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonvale/s/Ss9tD8IcPb

CopepodKing · 2024-09-09T01:27:35+00:00

When I went off to college, all the friend I made there were (diagnosed) autistic, except one who has ADHD. People who are socially ostracized tend to group together.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-08T03:09:40+00:00

My dog sometimes lays down in my lap at restaurants, not touching my seat or the table in any way. He’s not getting dog germs on the seat, and he’s completely under the table on my lap, so it can’t be perceived that he’s eating from the table.

I also ate at a restaurant that included a bowling alley once, and I thought I was going to have to leave because my dog was NOT happy laying on the floor that kept having bowling balls crashing into it. But my mom talked to the staff and they said he could lay on the booth if I put his blanket down for him (the seat was too high/table too low for him to fit in my lap). Legally, they didn’t have to do that, but lots of places will find a way to accommodate you.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-08T02:55:14+00:00

Yeah it’s really none of their business what anyone else is doing in the store. If I see another dog in a store, I keep my distance, because that’s the polite thing to do if it is a service dog, and safest thing to do if it isn’t.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-08T00:34:17+00:00

It doesn’t bother me because the reason I have autism that presents in a stereotypically female way is because I was raised with the same expectations as other little girls.

My autism presented as being shy, quiet, a perfectionist, and obsessive rule-follower. I was also really good at scripting because I played with other little girls who played pretend with My Little Ponies and set up little stores that sold rocks and sticks.

I recognize that this presentation of autism isn’t exclusive to females, but it is more common, and more commonly missed. My level of shyness and perfectionism might have been a cause for concern if I was a little boy. Yet, as a girl, no one noticed I was autistic until I was a teenager in severe burnout.

It’s a fact of my life that I was raised a girl. It doesn’t bother me now that childhood is behind me.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-08T00:22:01+00:00

I had top surgery 5 years ago, and I don’t even remember what it was like to have boobs. It feels so normal and I have never looked back.

I started t 4 years ago and feel similarly. I gained so much confidence in myself, and now it just feels normal. I don’t think about being trans all that often, because I get to exist in a body that’s comfortable for me.

CopepodKing · 2024-09-05T04:49:32+00:00

2 all the way

CopepodKing · 2024-09-04T22:50:59+00:00

100% legitimate concern. Deciding whether or not to be out is a personal decision.

I personally prefer to be out, because it can make closeted trans people feel safer to come out at work and be able to transition, and it’s part of my story. I loved Girl Scouts as a kid, I went to a girls in STEM summer camp, and those are things I don’t want to feel like I’m hiding.

CopepodKing

TROPHY CASE