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A disabled woman from Durbanville, Cape Town who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was shocked when denied entry to the Paarl Home Affairs office this week with her service dog.
Yvette Palm, her son and her 5-year-old service dog, Cooper, which assists with her anxiety attacks that form part of her PTSD, visited the Paarl Home Affairs office on Tuesday (9 April), where she was denied access to the building by the government institution’s security officials.
She said she accompanied her son to Home Affairs to apply for his identification document (ID).
However, as Palm wanted to enter the building to look for her son, who was inside at the time, two security officials stopped her in her tracks.
“This is not a guide dog, you are not blind,” one of them told a distraught Palm.
Even though she provided valid documentation showing Cooper was registered wit Paws For Life as a service dog, who also trained him, but she was still not permitted to enter.
According to Palm the security guards thought she was a client, but she explained to them she had come to look for her son.
This caused them to shift attitude, telling her she could not enter the building because she was not a client and must remain outside.
As if to compound matters, as she was trying to gain admittance a child came along and kicked Cooper, also slapping him on the nose.
This, Palm said, made the security guards order her out: “Get out or your dog will bite someone.”
Palm and Cooper’s paths crossed five years ago after she was diagnosed with PTSD and needed a service dog to aid her in stressful situations, which can potentially illicit anxiety attacks.
Part of Palm’s PTSD is that she finds public spaces, such as grocery stores, malls or, in this case governmental buildings, stressful due to the crowded atmosphere.
Cooper then serves as a support structure to keep her calm, or aid her through an anxiety attack should she get one.
Palm was employed in the police service, where she worked under severely stressful situations.
She said the incident at the Paarl Home Affairs office is a violation of her human rights.
Section 9 of the Constitution, Act no 108 of 1996, stipulates “no person may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on the grounds of disability.”
Additionally, according to an Equality Court ruling in 2019 by judge Vincent Saldanha, a service or guide dog cannot be prohibited from entering any public spaces.
This includes the buildings of government, which was also the respondent in another case, when Amanda Bester took Home Affairs in Mossel Bay to the Equality Court for refusing entry to her and her guide dog, Leo.
In the ruling, the judge ordered then Minister of Home Affairs Siyabonga Cwele to issue a public apology to Bester as well as educate Home Affairs staff about the rights of all disabled people as well as their guide or service dogs.
Consequently, it is inconceivable that Cooper’s and her access was denied, Palm said.
“Instead of talking nicely to me, they made me feel like a criminal for wanting to take my service dog inside.”
After this stressful situation she started having a panic attack outside the office, an occurrence she describes as “humiliating” and a challenge she has worked hard to overcome for years, with Cooper’s assistance.
Palm said she would report the incident to the relevant bodies, for it was important for her to ensure such an incident did not repeat itself.
Paarl Post reached out to the National Department of Home Affairs for comment, but had not received a response at the time publication.
