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Dear Colleagues,

I have not seen any discussion of this on listservs but did see an
interesting story on, of all places, the program Geraldo: At Large.
It seems that in the state of New York the service dog of a high
school student who is deaf is not being allowed to accompany the boy
in school.  The dog alerts the boy to sounds he doesn't hear (cars,
sirens, alarms, sometimes people calling his name).  His mother
reported that due to the particular nature their relationship it is
important that they be in contact as much as possible to build and
nurture that relationship.  Obviously he feels like he needs the dog
and whoever provided it feels like he needs it as well.  However, the
school has been arguing that he does not need it in school.  The
environment, they claim, is free of the sorts of sounds the dog
provides assistance with.  Apparently the school is conducting an
investigation to determine whether or not he needs the god in their
building.  More than just denying rights to access it strikes me that
the school board is denying the boy and the service dog their
relationship, or at least the neccessary time to develop the sort of
relationship they should have.  I was unable to get too many details
from the story.  Has anyone else heard of this story or have any
thoughts on the matter?

regards,
Ryan

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