Service Dog Denied from Diabetic Teacher's Classroom
Published October 5, 2011
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A USA Today report says a Mississippi school district has denied a diabetic teacher's service dog from the classroom.
According to a USA Today article, a Type 1 diabetic Mississippi teacher has been denied the right to bring her service dog, a Diabetic Alert Dog, into her classroom.
The teacher, 29-year-old Christina McCurdy, uses her female boxer, Jinx, as a Diabetic Alert service dog. The dog is trained to alert McCurdy when her blood sugar is dropping, something she says she cannot tell the majority of the time. The huge swings in McCurdy's blood sugar levels could lead to seizures, organ damage and even death.
As a result of her condition, McCurdy has continuously lobbied her school district to allow her to bring her pup Jinx into the classroom. She's been denied repeatedly, and she still has not received an answer as to why.
In McCurdy's estimation, her dog Jinx is purely a service dog in the same fashion that a seeing-eye dog is. While dogs have been helping the blind for many years, diabetic alert dogs are a relatively new trend. They rely on scent to sense when blood sugar is dropping.
Do diabetic alert dogs really work? McCurdy thinks so. According to her, Jinx has never been wrong about when McCurdy's blood sugar is about to drop. And, as a result, she thinks having Jinx in the classroom could potentially save her life.
So what's the deal with denying this service dog from doing it's job? It doesn't seem right.
But what do you think? Let us know your thoughts in a comment!
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Comments (42)
I had my service/alert dog (for hearing and panic attacks) with me in a hospital and during a meeting with other patients, my alert dog alerted another patient before she had a seizure, and the lady next to me before she passed out from, you got it: a huge sudden drop in sugar!
If there's a teacher ANYWHERE in the Mississippi school system who's allowed to bring their service animal into the classroom with them, this woman has a very good claim for discrimination.
Why cant she have the working dog help her? I have my own hearing dog he helps me coz, I dont hear thing at less he helped save my grand daughter from going out to the gate and if I didnt have him as a hearing dog then my grand daughter would be dead by then by a BUS just outside my house.
And goes for the blind guide dogs too.... come on people let some people have their working dogs with them where ever they go just to save their lives... cant u help AYE!school boards? dont be so selfish....
I highly disagree with the schoolboard's decision. This teacher has a right to have a dog that can warn her of any impending drop in her sugar levels. This is a registered service dog especially trained for this assistance.
As far as a distraction in the class room is concerned, personally I think that Jinx offers students the opportunity to learn more about what these wonderful dogs do and how important they are to folks with disabilities and illness. What a fabulous teaching opportunity!
If this teacher had to monitor her sugar levels frequently enough to catch changes in her sugar levels, seems to me that her leaving the class to test, or testing in the classroom itself, would be far more of a distraction and upset to students than a wonderful service dog.
As much as I love my dogs I have to agree with the schoolboard on this one. If she is that sick with diabetes then carry a sugar testing kit and check it periodically. A dog in a classroom is a distraction and not to mention lots of people are allergic to them. What would happen if a kid suddenly had an allergic reaction to a dog when they never should have been there in the first place. And as far as the argument that "What if it was a child that needed it?" Well usually a blind child would go to a special school that specialized in that disability. I think people will look for any excuse to go against the grain, start controversy and sue people.
If she is that sick I think she should be able to go on disability. Especially if it is or can affect her job performance, ex. dying on the job!!
Wow! Denying the rights to let this woman bring her dog Jinx to the classroom to protect her from any diabetic illnesses is unfair. The dog never hurt anyone! she's there to protect her owner and that should be alloud to be in her classes cause if I were that woman, I myself would take them to court if something serious happened to her and jinx wasn't there to protect her. I myself have dibetis and I've got a Pomerrainian and she follows me everywhere in my home,she is very protective of me as I am to her. Dogs or Cats are very smart indeed.