Maryland hearing-impaired woman with service dog says Mall security asked her to leave

From The Frederick News-Post:

Denise Portis (pictured) of Frederick didn't think twice about taking her dog, Chloe, with her into the Francis Scott Key Mall last week to do some shopping with her husband, Terry, and her daughter, Kyersten.

It's her right under federal law, and she had been visiting the mall about two or three times a month without incident.

Portis is hearing impaired. She has an inner ear disorder called Meniere's disease, which affects her balance. Chloe is a certified hearing dog, trained to help Portis by picking up objects, alerting her to sounds she can't hear with her cochlear implants and helping her maintain her balance.

However, Portis said she was confronted by mall security on two separate occasions -- on August 9 and again on August 14 -- and asked to leave the building because Chloe was with her.

"It was disheartening and humiliating that this happened twice in such a short period of time," said Portis, who teaches psychology and American sign language at Chieftain Institute in Derwood.

Francis Scott Key Mall spokeswoman Christina Steinbrenner said Portis' experiences were isolated incidents and that mall management is taking steps to remedy the situation.

"The FSK Mall is familiar with and understands the Americans with Disabilities Act," Steinbrenner said. "We do welcome shoppers and their service dogs."

Chloe, a Vizsla mix, wears a red vest clearly identifying her as a service dog, and Portis carries information with her to clear up any potential misunderstandings, including a copy of the section of the Americans with Disabilities Act that allows her to have Chloe with her.

"Every once in a while, I'll have accessibility issues, but once I hand them a copy of the law, they're like, 'Oh, this is cool -- we just didn't know that there were anything other than guide dogs,'" she said. "When they discover that the law covers much more than that, they're usually very accommodating."

Portis said FSK Mall security personnel had little interest in her information. During Monday's incident, she said the guard would not even accept it at first, reiterating that she needed to leave, taking it only on her insistence, but not looking at it. On Saturday, she said the officer took it reluctantly after she shoved it into his hands, glancing only at the sections she pointed out to him.

When she asked to speak to the security manager on Saturday, she said the guard told her that he was in charge and that she would have to talk to him.

"I said, 'I would love to do that, because if I can get you information that will help you train your officers, I want to do that,'" Portis said. "It's not like he called me names or threatened me or anything like that, but he was intimidating. I was shaking and trying hard not to cry."

She said the officer tried to search Chloe on Saturday in violation of the law, claiming that he was trying to look at her certification tags. The ADA also protects home-trained service dogs, and there is no requirement that the dogs be officially certified. The guard eventually walked away after receiving a call on his radio, Portis said.

Joe Swetnam, executive director of Fidos for Freedom, which trained Chloe, said these types of incidents are common.

"It doesn't surprise me a bit," Swetnam said, adding that education is essential to making people aware of the range of disabilities for which people use service dogs.

Portis -- whose hearing impairment set in when she was 25 and rendered her legally deaf by 37 -- said she couldn't even go shopping before being paired with Chloe.

"I just wanted to be a normal mom shopping with her family, and Chloe provides that for me," Portis said. "It's so normal for me because Chloe makes my life normal, and to be singled out and to be reminded that I'm different made me feel disabled again."

Swetnam said he spoke with mall General Manager Bill DeTora who invited his organization to give a presentation to mall employees. Portis said she received an e-mail from DeTora asking her to contact him.

Portis said she isn't planning any further action. She just wants people to be more aware of people with disabilities and their use of service dogs.

"I just don't want anyone else to be treated the way we were," she said.