State laws Delaware
From Service Dog Training
State laws in Delaware.
Contents |
White Cane Law
(c) Every totally or partially blind person may be accompanied by a guide dog, especially trained for the purpose, in any of the places listed within this section without being required to pay an extra charge for the guide dog, provided that the totally or partially blind person shall be liable for any damages done to the premises or facilities by such dog. A guide dog may be excluded from any of the places enumerated in this section if the admission of such dog would create the clear danger of a disturbance or physical harm to other persons in such place. (16 Del. C. 1953, § 9502; 58 Del. Laws, c. 222; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1.)
This law only covers guide dog access. Because the ADA allows for public access for all service dogs, the ADA supersedes the Delaware state law in matters relating to service dog access.
Right to be accompanied by a guide or hearing dog
(a) Any person who by reason of loss or impairment of eyesight or hearing is accompanied by a dog described as a "seeing eye dog," or any dog educated by a recognized training agency or school, which is used as a leader or guide, is entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of all public conveyances, hotels, lodging places, all places of public accommodation, amusement or resort and other places to which the general public is invited and shall be entitled to take the dog into such conveyances and places, subject only to the conditions and limitations applicable to all persons not so accompanied; provided, that the dog shall not occupy a seat in any public conveyance.
This law includes hearing dogs as a type of guide dog in matters relating to public access.
Definitions and public access
"Disability" means a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits a person's major life activities, or being regarded as having such an impairment, but such terms do not include current, illegal use of a controlled substance as defined in Section 102 of the Controlled Substance Act (21 U.S.C. § 802) or Delaware Code, Title 16, Chapter 47, Uniform Controlled Substance Act. Discrimination against a person with a disability includes discrimination against the use of a support animal because of a physical disability of the user. Support animal means any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks to meet the requirements of a physically disabled person, including, but not limited to, minimal protection work, rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items.
(a) No person being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, director, supervisor, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, shall directly or indirectly refuse, withhold from or deny to any person, on account of race, age, marital status, creed, color, sex, disability or national origin, any of the accommodations, facilities, advantages or privileges thereof. For the purpose of training support animals to be used by persons with disabilities, all trainers and their support animals shall be included within those covered by this subsection.
Overview
This law prohibits discrimination based on a variety of factors including service dog use. It defines a service dog as any dog that provides a service to a disabled person. Also includes trainer access.
State laws may be superseded by the ADA. For the text of the ADA, click here. For general information about service dogs, click here. If you are looking for information on service dogs in places of business, check out our Information for businesses.
All opinions and summaries on this page are my own and should not be construed as legal advice. If you are in need of advice on the state or federal laws applicable to service dogs you should contact a lawyer. Last revised 9/26/2009
