Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination Bill) submissions open

The Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill ) recently passed its first reading unanimously and is now out for public submissions.

The Bill amends the Human Rights Act to make it clear that if an individual, organisation or business discriminates against a person, for example by denying a service to that person, on the basis that the person has or uses a disability assist dog, then they are in fact denying the service to a person on the basis of their disability, and therefore discriminating against them.

If  you have a disability assist dog and have experienced discrimination because of your disability assist dog you may like to make a submission here:  the closing date is the 10 November.

DPA will also be making a submission. If you would like your experience to be included in DPA’s submission please email policy@dpa.org.nz .

Note that the legal definition of a disability assist dog refers to a dog certified by one of the organisations listed in Schedule 5 as being a dog that has been trained (or is being trained) to assist a person with a disability.  These include assistance dogs, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs, epilepsy assist dogs as well as guide dogs.