Family claims Langley trampoline park denied them access over autism-trained service dog

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — A Maple Ridge family is speaking out after a trampoline park in Langley apparently told them a service dog couldn’t accompany a boy with autism.

In a now-removed social media post, Danica Dutt claimed her 11-year-old brother Kai was told his service dog couldn’t come into the Extreme Air Park. The family says the dog would have simply sat on the sidelines.

Extreme Air insists service dogs are welcome at the park, and the family did eventually get to enter the trampoline park after the dog was taken away.

Bill Thornton with B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs has spoken with the family. As someone who has been denied service for a similar reason in the past, he says it can be an upsetting ordeal.

“When you arrive and someone denies you access, it’s a shocking thing to happen, and it generally escalates very quickly,” he says. “It’s a very unpleasant situation, and so definitely I think they need to have a dialogue with myself and staff members, and we can help them so this doesn’t occur again.”

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Now he’s hoping the company looks at its policies around service and guide dogs to avoid similar situations from happening in the future.

“They’re clearly not identifying the difference between someone who has a dog who has an invisible disability, versus somebody who’s visually impaired, where it’s a more apparent disability because the dog is actually guiding them,” he says.

Accommodating dogs in this situation isn’t that difficult he says.

“The dog will escort the family in, could be a blind person or could be a child with autism, and the dog will then lie on the mat in a place where it stays stationary.”

 

Guide dogs legally protected in B.C.

The Guide Dog and Service Dog Act makes it illegal to deny a certified dog and handler team access or accommodation, with fines up to $3,000 if a person is convicted of an offense.

Tara Doherty with Pacific Assistance Dogs Society says autism service dogs are protected by legislation and allowed in all public places.

“Autism dogs are considered service dogs because they perform specific skills and tasks. A lot of kids with autism, if they start to get triggered will bolt… and put themselves in danger,” she says. “The dog is actually trained to anchor the child.”

She says she spoke with the same company six months ago for a similar incident in the hopes educating the employees.

“It’s pretty unfortunate in this particular situation that, not only did our efforts to educate kind of end in naught, but they’ve now gone on to refuse somebody who legally requires that dog, especially a child,” she says. “That’s probably the most difficult thing about this; this child should not have to defend their need for the dog. A lot of kids with autism have a lot of social anxiety, and being in a public place, and their enjoyment of a public place like that, it’s really dependent on having that dog with them and present.”

Trampoline park responds

Extreme Air Park in Langley responded to the claims the service dog was denied in an emailed statement:

Kai visited our facility yesterday and did in fact jump and enjoyed all the attractions in our park. His sister was offered a free admittance as is our policy with care providers, to assist Kai if needed. The incident arose from a dialogue about the dog going onto the trampoline area. Service dogs are welcome and we do our best to address and accommodate all our customers needs including those requiring special care. We reached out to Kai and Danica on DM through social media but haven’t heard back from them.

– With files from Monika Gul, Cole Deakin