Judge: Monkey is Not a Service Animal

[proud2BlibKansan]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a Springfield woman's claim that her monkey was a service animal and that she was disabled.

Debby Rose had sued the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, CoxHealth hospital and a Springfield Wal-Mart because she was not allowed to take the monkey, named Richard, into restaurants and other businesses.

The Springfield News-Leader reported that Rose claimed she was covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act because she suffered from anxiety and agroaphobia. She said she needed Richard to calm her.

But federal Judge Richard Dorr ruled Thursday that the monkey was not a service animal and that Rose was not disabled.

The judge noted that Rose was able to marry three times, raise six children and work several jobs despite claiming to suffer from the disabilities since the 1970s.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/content/news/missouri/story/Judge-Monkey-is-Not-a-Service-Animal/-ClhzyxWOUuRAoE61bKqrA.cspx

[Enrique]

1. what kind of name for a monkey is Richard?

:wtf:

[targetpractice]

9. My neighbor had a dog named David.

I still think that's hilarious.

[Maraya1969]

23. I just named my cat Prince Harry.

[Enrique]

28. after seeing the picture, I take it back

He looks more like a Richard than a Bobo. He actually looks a little like Matt Dillon.

[951-Riverside]

36. He is not pleased by this decision

:rofl:

[mitchum]

54. He does look like Matt Dillon!

nice call

[hfojvt]

41. my dog is named Jack and the other one Dot

I am not sure how Jack Smith feels about that.

Or Jack Kennedy.

Mine is named after Jack Horner because when I first got him, he would run away and hide from me, usually in some corner. So I said he was little Jack Horner, sitting in a corner, and named him Jack.

Of course, my previous dogs had human names too. One was Blake, named after Jeff Blake, because his father's name was Boomer, named after Boomer Esiason. Blake's mom was Mitzi, named after a dog I had in my childhood that was named Mitzi because she had white paws that looked like mittens, and so, incidentally, did my Mitzi.

[Shell Beau]

47. That is what the shelter was calling my dog before I adopted him.

WTF? We changed it to Hank. Is that any better? I am not sure! LOL!

[Sal Minella]

10. My father-in-law told a long story one evening that confused the daylights out of me

about a man and a dog.

I had a terrible time following the story and finally figured out that "Brownie" was the man, and "Mike" was the dog.

[Blue-Jay]

13. Better than "Bonzo" I suppose.

[lillypaddle]

16. I had fish named fluffy and skippy

Richard is a fine name!

[Bunny]

45. Richard is an excellent name!

:o

[roguevalley]

55. we had two black cats named spike. you can imagine what people

expected when we would call them and what they saw when we did. best cats evah!

[TwilightGardener]

27. I like it.

[nashville_brook]

46. i had a parakeet named Steve.

[fizzgig]

2. pray for mojo

[QC]

32. That was my first thought also when I read the subject line. n/t

[liberal_at_heart]

3. there is still alot of descrimination against mental disorders

People look at others with mental disorders and tell them to just get over it. Just like many people look at overweight people and tell them to just stop eating bad food. Trouble is for many people telling them to get over a mental disorder is as rediculous as telling an amputee to regrow a limb. I hope she keeps fighting this. The Americans With Disabilities Act is a good and strong law.

[imdjh]

6. A service animal is one which actually does something. By her definition, a python could be one.

[DemBones DemBones]

11. Calming a person with agoraphobia IS doing something.

A small dog would no doubt be more acceptable to most of the public but monkeys are permitted service animals. So are miniature horses, which actually live inside their owners' homes, and, yes, they are housebroken, which is a good thing.

[imdjh]

21. Oh for God's sake.

[AlienGirl]

35. Mini-horses seem like they'd be good mobility animals for Bethlem myopathy

There exist muscle disorders (Bethlem myopathy is the one I'm thinking of here, mostly, but Ullrich's is another) that cause a person to fall and be unable to get back up without having something to brace a knee against to get leverage. The thing they need has to be proportioned properly and be able to support their weight for a couple of seconds. I've seen people with this disorder fall and have to crawl along a sidewalk on their knees to find a bracing point--very uncomfortable, and tears up the knees something fierce.

I think a mini-horse could wear something with a handhold in the right spot and a step-like padded platform as the bracing point, and be trained to stand still while the person pulled himself or herself up.

Tucker

[Confusious]

14. I have anxiety and depression problems

I don't need no damn monkey to calm me down. Its frikin' bull.

Sorry if I sound like a RWer here, but take some meds, find a spine, and go through.

Relying on a crutch just makes things harder.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. LOL!

I had friends in college who had a monkey. Worst pet imaginable. They had to keep their house at 90 degrees and that damn animal stunk to high heaven.

[Maraya1969]

24. Have you ever had an actually full blown panic attack that lasts for hours?

I had to be let off of a plane through the back end once on the runway I was so panicked. It is horrible and it is a fucking disability.

Have you ever had these symptoms?

- You feel unreal, like the world is a movie and you are not in it....it's terrifying.

-You feel like you are going to die - RIGHT NOW!

-You feel like you are going over a precipice where life as you know it is gone forever.

-You bite your fingers because the pain of that distracts you from the pain of the attack.

Let me know k?

[Confusious]

49. n' k'

3 months like that. On more then one occasion.

You may add to list the need to run away, anywhere, just not be there, right then.


Good enough?

[Voice for Peace]

25. meds is a crutch too.

I'd prefer a monkey to meds.

[Chulanowa]

38. I've met a few monkeys

I'll take the meds, if that's my option. Besides, the nasty little fucker should be out in Brazil or something, chowing some mango and getting his goofy-haircut-having self cared for by some lady monkeys.

[Confusious]

50. Maybe

But eating is a crutch to keep living.
Medication is a crutch to keep living.

and you don't have to haul a small dangerous animal around.

[AlienGirl]

34. A crutch is necessary when something is badly broken

I know people with MS who don't need wheelchairs, does that mean that all those other MS patients should just "find a spine" and quit relying on businesses to install ramps and accommodate their distracting and unsightly chairs?

Your anxiety and depression are not her anxiety and depression; and you aren't her psychiatrist.

Tucker

[Voice for Peace]

40. thanks tucker, well said nt

[Confusious]

51. MS is not the same as anxiety or depression, and you know that

does not equal.


"Your anxiety and depression are not her anxiety and depression; and you aren't her psychiatrist."

No they are not, but why do you need to have a monkey, when if you took some meds, life could be *SO* much better?

Sometimes you need to find your own inner strength to fight.

I've found "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger" to be *SO* true.

Even when, at times, I feel like it will kill me.

This entire thing reminds me of the 10 year olds that were still sucking on mommies breast. Would you support that for a crutch? At 20? at 30?

it's a security blanket. Part of growing and becoming an adult is being is letting go of those things.

And as far a me being her psychiatrist, I'm not. I'm just some guy on a board who has an opinion. I have kids. I would rather see them live their lives with inner strength and not rely on outer things, because soon or later, they are always taken away, either by death, wear or time. Inner strength will last them for the rest of their lives.

[joeunderdog]

52. I spank my monkey to relax. It relieves tension. nt

[mrbarber]

43. There is.

However, in this case, there is no discrimination because she doesn't have a mental illness.

[imdjh]

4. LOL.

[villager]

5. Well, there goes the entire plot for "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes!"

[Kansas Wyatt]

7. Well if I had an animal next to me that threw it's own shit...

I'd have a little anxiety myself.

[Ferret Annica]

39. Yeah, us hairless apes that destroy this planet and so much of the life on it

are so much more special. I prefer the monkey myself.

[misanthrope]

57. Young homo sapiens have been known to play in their own excrement...

...or are some primates more equal than others?

[Quantess]

8. I thought you needed at least an RN nurse to recommend a service animal

for your disability. I could be wrong, but, last I heard, prescribing service animals is not typically up to judges.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. Deciding whether or not someone is disabled is not

up to judges, either. Now, if you apply for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, you may eventually have to get a lawyer and go before a judge to argue your case. That would be after your initial application and a first appeal of denial of benefits have failed.

But doctors decide who is disabled and who is not, and although your doctor's decision will not necessarily get you SSDI, it should mean that you are covered by the ADA so far as service animals, workplace accommodations, etc., are concerned.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. But judges do get to decide what is best for a community, don't they?

And this one decided that the people in Springfield didn't need to sit in a restaurant with a monkey.

I had friends who had a pet monkey. I can't imagine an animal that would be a worse pet. That damn animal ran that house. I can't see how one could be trained to be a service animal. I know they are smart, but the one I knew was pretty willful as well.

[Hidden Stillness]

31. This is the Great Point; The Story Makes No Sense

This is probably the most important point of the whole strange story, and it has been totally lost. A judge cannot "decide" that an animal is not a service animal--and it would be easily proved that it is, from the psychologist or health worker's original recommendation, and from the service animal's organization's records. A service animal is not going to be disruptive in an indoor setting; that is what they are trained to get used to, and animals that cannot adjust are dropped from the program and adopted. Monkeys are service animals for people who are paralyzed and cannot use their hands, all the time. I just heard a story from a friend, who went to a very noisy, sound-effects play, and there was a service dog for a blind woman, and the dog lay there beside her seat the whole time, even when it was noisy. That is what a service animal is--trained to be calm.

The scary part is the totally ignorant statement from the stupid "judge": "The judge noted that Rose was able to marry three times, raise six children and work several jobs despite claiming to suffer from the disabilities since the 1970s." What the fuck does that mean? Most agoraphobics have jobs (because they are adults and have to, no disability check covers true living expenses), and most marry, and then divorce because of the problems. Most agoraphobics, as a matter of fact, stay at jobs they hate, and that cause intense stress, exactly because they are so afraid of change, and upsetting their lives. That would be like a judge so ignorant as to claim that a woman suffered no abuse during a marriage "because she went back." Where is the logic here? Asinine.

[Blue-Jay]

15. I wish I had a helper monkey.

That would be awesome!

[Stevenmarc]

19. I'd rather have a woman with a monkey in a restaurant than a lot of children I've had to endure

[Shell Beau]

48. Oh please.

[Lisa0825]

56. AMEN to that! LOL! nt

[misanthrope]

58. There's not a lot of difference in my mind**nm

**

[eShirl]

20. Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers For The Disabled

Looks like these particular service animals are trained for the physically disabled only. Still, it apparently proves they can be trained like other service animals.

http://www.monkeyhelpers.org/

[mitchum]

22. Masturbating at the table helps me deal with anxiety when in restaurants

I wonder if her attorney will represent me?

[peekaloo]

29. *snort* Only if the monkey services you.

and Gawd knows PETA's gonna be all over your arse.

[mitchum]

30. But the monkey enjoys it!

[Boojatta]

26. The truth has been distorted almost beyond recognition in this story.

"Richard" wasn't the name of the monkey, and the person claiming to be disabled wasn't a woman. "Richard" was the name of a man who had a disabling heart condition, and the monkey calmed him, but he was good about not taking the monkey into restaurants. He kept it mostly on a ranch in Texas. Nowadays, the monkey is part of a traveling circus.

[intheflow]

33. I was wonder when someone would bring

the former Chimp in Chief into this thread! :rofl:

[Morning Dew]

53. ROFL

:rofl:

[leanderj]

37. YouTube proof that monkeys can serve tables:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1DBuFgt_Ug

[WonderGrunion]

42. This story needs a lot more information.

Has a doctor diagnosed her with either condition? Has that doctor classified her as disabled? Has the monkey in question been trained by a certified service animal trainer? If any of these questions were answered at trial, did the judge consider them?

How many agoraphobes shop Wal-Mart anyway? I would think that would be the last place one would want to be with agoraphobia.

[undeterred]

44. Three husbands and 6 children aren't enough to clean up after?