What’s wrong with this picture?

Can you find the hidden ADA violation in this picture?

I spotted this sign at the post office here in Tucumcari while I was out running errands this morning. Our local post office is pretty cool — midcentury modern building, midcentury modern fixtures, and a lot of old signage hanging around, including a decal of Mr. ZIP. The Helvetica font on this sign suggests it is of the same vintage as the rest of the building, but it is woefully out of date and needs to come down.

The Americans with Disabilities Act website clearly states that a service animal is “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.” It does not specify which disabilities the person must have or what tasks the dog must perform, and in fact, the website lists several examples that fall outside the limitations on this sign: pulling wheelchairs, alerting people to impending seizures, reminding people to take medications, and helping people through anxiety attacks.

This sign belongs in our local history museum, because it is an interesting historical artifact. It does not belong on the wall of the post office, because it is obsolete, and if it catches the attention of the wrong person at the wrong time, it could endanger somebody who comes in with a service dog.

It is vitally important that service dogs be left alone to do their jobs. Depending on the disability involved, a distraction could have dangerous repercussions for the dog’s handler. Petting the dog, talking to the dog, offering the dog treats, and confronting the dog’s handler with demands to prove that s/he really is disabled or that the dog really is a task-trained service animal are all great ways to get somebody hurt or killed.

In the interest of public safety, I will be reaching out to our local postmaster to ask that this sign be replaced with an updated version.