An Ohio woman was recently booked to attend her nephew’s 2nd birthday party at an indoor playground. However, rather than simply walking in, the business took issue with her service dog, Teddy.
TiTok user Kyandteddy shared the video online, where the request for a service dog ID led to a heated back-and-forth with the employees.
In Ky’s TikTok video, the contentious moment was when she presented official registration for her service dog, Teddy. However, service dogs don’t have service IDs. That’s not how that works; the ADA doesn’t hand out paperwork. Ky tries to explain this to the employees at D&R Playground.
Ky tells the employee, “I’m trying to follow laws. You are currently breaking them.” At this point, another employee walks up to Ky. Ky shows her the ADA government website laws and tells them they’re not following the law.
To this, the employee replies, “I can look up anything on the Internet and it will tell me what I want it to say,” completely writing Ky off. “I told you the rules we have to follow,” an employee says.
In shock, Ky cries out, “This is the federal law! This is a government website!” When yet another different employee approaches Ky, she reiterates the same request: they’ll let Ky in if she “shows us a paper” stating her service dog is legitimate. Ky is just running in circles!
The reaction to Ky’s service dog kerfuffle
In the caption of her TikTok video, Ky shared more about the situation, saying it was the “first access issue” she’s had in the past two years. Even worse, she claims she spent “hundreds of dollars” to book the party in the first place. All of that culminated in expressed frustration from Ky and her viewers online.
Among the top comments, a TikTok user offered advice and information on filing a civil rights complaint, as well as the ADA info line. Ky responded that she did, with one viewer remarking, “I hope that party place likes their $75,000 fine.”
A few viewers were somewhat sympathetic to the idea of an ID, arguing it would weed out bad actors. Ky rejected that, saying, “Anyone can pay for a fake registration online and and vest it still wouldn’t change that the dog isn’t trained. That also isn’t an excuse to break the law.”
Ky is most certainly in the right to make a stink about her service dog, especially when employees disregard an official government website. The ADA is also very clear about what a service dog is and, most importantly, what it doesn’t need. Straight from the ADA’s official site: “Service animals are not: Required to wear a vest of other ID that indicates they’re a service dog.”
