TERRE HAUTE —
Hannah Kirby wanted to enjoy a belated celebration of the birthday of a good friend, so she selected a Terre Haute restaurant she had heard has good food and which she had never visited.
As it turns out, she never made it past the counter of the Sunrise Family Restaurant near Fifth Street and Margaret Avenue on Saturday.
Kirby is blind and uses a guide dog to help her get around.
“They refused to let us in with Lanie,” Kirby said of her nearly 4-year-old golden retriever guide dog. “She is my eyes. She is what gets me around and through the stores. We go everywhere together.
“They would not let us in the restaurant,” Kirby said Monday. “We could only go in if we left the dog outside. I told him [the restaurant worker], ‘I have my leader dog identification card if you need to see it,’ but he said, ‘No, you cannot come in.’”
Kirby also said that a customer at the checkout counter agreed she should be allowed to enter the restaurant.
Kirby’s friend, Judy Sweeney, has worked for the past 40 years as an orientation mobility instructor, teaching skills for independent travel to visually impaired people.
“I explained that it was a service dog and that federal law had to allow it. He said no, we have to leave the dog outside. He said that the customers would not like it and that we could not come in,” Sweeney said.
Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, privately owned businesses that serve the public, such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theaters, concert halls and sports facilities, are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. The ADA law requires businesses to allow people with disabilities to bring service animals onto business premises in areas where customers are generally allowed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Pamela Kieft, co-owner of the Sunrise Family Restaurant, said the family-style restaurant welcomes service animals. “Service dogs are allowed, no problem,” Kieft said. “If there was a misunderstanding, I feel terrible about that.”
According to Kieft, the manager on duty – who “comes from another culture” and speaks with an accent – could not tell that Lanie was a service dog and told the women that the restaurant does not allow pets. Kirby noted that the restaurant worker “sounded foreign.”
To him, “It looked like two ladies with a pet,” Kieft said. When told the dog was a service animal, the manager wanted to verify this by asking what sort of service it provided, she said. The restaurant, which employs about 20 people, trains its employees to welcome service animals; however, it’s important to ensure the animals really are service animals, Kieft said.
“People try to bring pets in here all the time,” she said. “We definitely do not allow pets.”
Sweeney, meanwhile, said she “kept asking for [the employee’s] name or name of the owner or the manager and was refused the information. I just got a card for the restaurant. I got a little upset. I offered to put a blindfold on him and let him experience what it is to be blind.”
The two then left the restaurant to go to another place for lunch.
“Hannah was so embarrassed,” Sweeney said. “When we got out to the car, she said, ‘You know, I feel like I have leprosy,’’’ Sweeney said.
“I felt angry,” Sweeney added. “Working with visually impaired, life is not easy for them. Hannah has gone to a lot of effort, she lives alone and maintains her apartment, then to be humiliated like that. I see her as someone striving to be independent, and she was put down for it.”
“The manager said they were welcome to come in, but he needed to make sure clearly it was a service dog,” restaurant co-owner Kieft said Monday when asked about the situation. Kieft was not present when the incident happened, but was subsequently informed by the manager. “The lady got very upset,” Kieft said she was told.
Kirby started losing her eyesight when she was 9 years old and now only has light perception. “I can tell when it is light or dark,” she said.
Lanie was trained through the Leader Dogs for the Blind program in Rochester Hills, Mich., where Kirby trained with the dog for a month before assuming ownership.
Kirby said being denied access to a restaurant happened once before in Terre Haute, about two years ago when she went to a chain restaurant. She contacted that restaurant’s corporate headquarters, which “apologized all over themselves and said they would train their people to not ever do that again.
“That is the whole point of this. I am not trying to be mean. It is embarrassing and you feel dirty when they won’t let you in. You can see Lanie is clean and is taken care of,” Kirby said of her guide dog. “I just want to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else because there are several guide dogs in this town and it is the law.”
But Kieft said the restaurant manager would never wish to turn away anyone with a service animal and worries about potential bad publicity.
“From the bottom of my heart, if this woman was hurt by something that was a misunderstanding, I feel so terrible about that,” Kieft said. “She had to have clearly misunderstood or she was clearly so mad she did not want to have service.
“This is not me. This is not us,” Kieft said. “Something like this could really hurt a small business like ours,” she said.
After the incident, Kirby contacted the National Federation for the Blind. Kirby is secretary for the Terre Haute chapter, which has about 10 members, she said. The federation suggested she make a police report. Kirby said she contacted police, who instructed her to contact the Better Business Bureau or the media.
Sweeney on Monday called Mayor Duke Bennett’s office, which put her in contact with the city’s Human Relations Commission. Sweeney said she will provide Kirby with the information “and let her decide what she wants to do.”
Kirby said she’s had no other recent problems at other Terre Haute restaurants or retailers such as Walmart, where she is given individual assistance while shopping.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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