Autistic man’s complaint over Parliament House assistance animal issue

Queensland’s Human Rights Commission is investigating Parliament after a Sunshine Coast person with autism was questioned over their assistance dog, sparking a panic attack.

Scott Daniel and assistance animal, Reign, at the Buderim Village Park on November 9.

A person invited to Parliament House to talk about assistance animal accessibility issues in travel claims they were confronted by parliamentary staff about their dog.

Palmview resident Scott Daniel was invited to Parliament House in August to meet with Buderim MP Brent Mickelberg and a Tourism Queensland representative about travelling with assistance animals.

Mr Daniel, who has autism and anxiety, and their dog Reign are frequent travellers and Mr Daniel wanted to highlight their personal experiences.

This year has been coined the Year of Accessible Tourism by Tourism Queensland.

They said they arrived at the Brisbane building early to try and feel comfortable as they were in an unfamiliar place.

Scott Daniel's assistance animal, Reign, in the Whitsundays.

Mr Daniel claimed they were approached by two parliamentary staff members who asked why they were there.

“I don’t class that as being discrimination,” Mr Daniel said.

Scott Daniel and their assistance animal, Reign, at the Buderim Village Park on November 9.

“For someone with autism and high anxiety, the approach is not so great.”

The 43-year-old, who was diagnosed with autism in 2018, claimed they were then approached by a third staff member who started asking questions about Reign.

Mr Daniel said they tried to explain to the staff member that their dog was recognised as an assistance animal under a federal law and she was asking questions more relevant to Queensland law.

Mr Daniel said they did have paperwork to show why they were visiting and relevant identification for Reign.

Assistance animal, Reign, wearing a harness labelled “assistance dog”.

The Palmview resident then said they began to have a panic attack.

“This led to me having issues with breathing and I had to drop to my knees because I felt like I was going to pass out on the concrete in front of the building,” they said.

Scott Daniel and their dog, Reign, at Parliament House in August.

“As I was on the ground, Reign kicked into her task training which is to try and alleviate those symptoms of the attack.”

Mr Daniel said Reign started to apply pressure to their chest and use distraction techniques, which she was trained to do, to help them calm down.

The Palmview resident claimed the parliamentary staff member then said that she could “see it is not a trained assistance animal”.

“It shocked me at the time because I was currently undergoing an anxiety attack and to hear someone be so ignorant to a dog completing a task for someone that’s in a vulnerable situation like that was terrible,” they said.

“There was no empathy.”

They said the experience has left them feeling as if they may not be able to visit Parliament House again.

Mr Daniel has lodged a complaint with the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

In a response from Parliament House, a spokesman said it had not been notified of a complaint.

“Parliamentary (staff) have knowledge of the Guide, Hearing and Assistance Act 2009 Qld and the contents of the Act are consistent with our own policy on which our (staff) are trained,” he said.

“The requirements of the Federal legislation Disability Discrimination Act 1992 aligns with the State legislation.

The spokesman said Mr Daniel‘s claims did “not match the facts determined internally”.

He said it was not unlawful under the disability discrimination act to “politely ask” for evidence from a person that their animal is an assistance animal.

“It is lawful to refuse access to premises to a person who is accompanied by an animal if no evidence is provided by the person seeking entry with the animal, when requested, which shows that it is an assistance animal,” he said.

“The dog did not have an identifying coat and the complainant was not displaying (their) ‘identity card’ nor able to show anything to identify (themselves) as a person who is accompanied by an assistance dog.”

Mr Daniel said they had evidence of Reign’s assistance animal status under the federal act and the parliamentary staff member was asking for evidence under the Queensland act.

Mr Daniel said Reign was wearing a harness that stated she was an assistance animal, even though under the federal act she was not required to wear any identifying material.

The parliamentary spokesman said that if the incident was subject to a Queensland Human Rights Commission complaint, it was “not appropriate” to comment further.