People are buying orange “service dog” vests or backpacks online, and disguising their dog to look like a service animal so that their pet can accompany them to restaurants, stores, theaters, airplanes and wherever else the public is permitted. It’s an easy law to break because legally the business cannot ask questions about the animal beyond (1) Is the dog a service animal because of a disability and (2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform for you? When people provide credible answers to these questions, the animal must be permitted to accompany the individual.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a “service animal” is any dog (and in rare cases a miniature horse) that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. The dog is not required to wear any type of vest or badge indicating that it is a service animal, and an individual using a service animal is not required to carry any paper certification or license to prove that the dog is a service animal. If it is unclear whether an individual has a disability or whether the dog is a service animal, only two questions may be asked: (1) Is the dog a service animal because of a disability and (2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform for you? It is important to remember that service dogs are trained to assist individuals with a variety of disabilities, including those that may not be immediately observable.

The temptation is remarkable. The run is long. The body screams, “No more!” So, when some runners in the New York City Marathon hit the Queensboro Bridge, temptation sets in, and rather than finishing the last 10 miles through Harlem and the Bronx, they hop a ride on the subway and head toward the finish line at Central Park. A total of forty-six runners used the subway solution to finish the race in the 2008 New York City Marathon. We look at this conduct and react, “That is really unfair.” Others, particularly the forty-six, respond, “So I skipped a few boroughs. I didn’t do anything illegal.” That’s where ethics come in; ethics apply where there are no laws, but our universal reaction is, “It just doesn’t seem right.” We all don’t run marathons (or run partial marathons), but we do see ethical issues and lapses each day.

Points will be deducted if you exceed the 350 word limit for this section.

In 350 words or fewer, LIST stakeholders (people affected by an ethical decision) and describe the impact the decision to use fake service animals have on each of them. You will receive 5 points credit for each stakeholder identified until you reach the maximum point value of 35 points. Therefore, you will need to list at least 7 stakeholders to receive full credit.

If you need help identifying stakeholders, consider the New York City Marathon cheating scandal from BE Reading 1.3 which was discussed in the recorded Unit 1 Lecture in which the stakeholders in that scenario were discussed.

For example, in the NYC Marathon scenario (where some runners took the subway to the finish line) a partial list of stakeholders impacted by the unethical behavior would include:

1. Other runners - actual winners who did not receive trophies

2. Race sponsors - had to begin paying for electronic monitoring of runners and post-race video checks to be sure no one cheated

3. Race spectators - came to see a fair race but instead saw only "winners" who cheated