* Original Area: BLINDTLK
* Original From: "Nancy K. Martin" (1:282/1045)
* Original To  : All (1:282/1045)
From: "Nancy K. Martin" 
Subject: Blind aid and guide dog refused entry to Senate chamber (fwd)
   
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 15:22:30 -0700
From: Kelly Ford 
Reply-To: SJU List for Families of the Blind
     
To: BLINDFAM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Blind aid and guide dog refused entry to Senate chamber (fwd)
>>Blind<< aid and guide dog refused entry to Senate chamber
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Only the select few people are allowed within the
sanctity of the Senate chamber, but Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked his
colleagues Monday to admit a dog -- and he was quickly rebuffed.
Wyden wanted his colleagues to allow Moira Shea, a >>blind<< legislative
fellow working in his office, to bring her guide dog, Beau, into the
chamber during a debate on nuclear waste.
When his request was rejected, Wyden said ``a guide dog is a person's
vision'' and accused the Senate of violating the >>Americans>With<<
>>Disabilities>Act>blind<< people.
A Democratic senator telephoned the Senate cloak room and voiced his
objection, blocking the request. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said that while
he personally had no objection to bringing in the dog, he was raising a
formal protest on behalf of the other senator, whom no one would identify.
That led Wyden to extol the benefits of guide dogs as ``working dogs'' that
should be given some leeway. ``The Senate should change its rules,'' he
declared. ``To tell someone like Ms. Shea she cannot come to the floor is
demeaning.''
``Ms. Shea is being treated differently simply because she is visually
impaired,'' said Wyden, adding that Ms. Shea, an economist who has worked
in the government for 20 years, has brought her dog into government
offices, Senate hearings and even to nuclear weapons facilities.''
Ms. Shea, 41, who has worked for Wyden since January and before that in the
office of Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky., as well as the Energy and Commerce
departments, waited in a nearby room after being barred entry to the
chamber.
The Senate has no formal rule prohibiting guide dogs onto the Senate floor,
but outside of senators, former senators, current House members and the
four Senate officers, anyone coming into the chamber must received formal
permission. Any senator can block someone not automatically allowed entry
from coming in.
Wyden said the inability of Ms. Shea to bring in her dog was an affront to
>>disabled<< Americans. He introduce a resolution that would require that
>>disabled<< people be allowed to bring with them to the Senate floor the
``supporting services including service dogs'' they deem necessary.
The four other senators in the chamber at the time -- Sens. Paul Wellstone,
D-Minn., Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, Richard Bryan, D-Nev., and Reid --
quickly asked to become co-sponsors. The resolution goes to the Rules
Committee, which deals with the operations of the Senate.
--- Maximus/2 2.02
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