Woman with disabilities fights housing discrimination battle over small companion pooch

A woman with an acquired brain injury and serious physical disabilities is fighting an anti-discrimination battle after she and her pooch spent years on a social housing waiting list.

Generic dog.

A woman with an acquired brain injury and serious physical disabilities is fighting an anti-discrimination battle after she – and her small “companion” dog – spent four years on a social housing waiting list without any luck.

The woman lodged a complaint against two social housing providers with Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, alleging discrimination on the basis of her disability and family responsibilities.

After the Commissioner rejected her complaint, the woman appealed to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal – which has referred the case back to the Commissioner for investigation to decide whether she instead suffered indirect discrimination.

In its newly-published decision, the tribunal noted the woman had an acquired brain injury, an intellectual disability and a number of serious physical disabilities.

The woman said her housing was unstable, which limited her independence and put her NDIS plan at risk.

The woman said her ‘small dog’ was a companion rather than a pet. Picture: Toby Zerna

She asked two social housing providers, which have not been identified in the decision, for a house in any one of 14 suburbs that her two adult children and dog could live in with her.

The woman said her small dog was a companion animal rather than a pet, and that he helped her with anxiety and depression.

When the Commissioner first assessed the complaint, they found the dog was not a companion animal in the formal sense.

The dog was not professionally trained or had passed the Public Access Test – the minimum standard for an assistant or companion dog’s behaviour in public spaces for the purpose of federal and state laws.

He also did not wear a vest in public identifying him as an assistance or companion dog.

The woman said despite four years on the waiting list, neither provider offered her housing – arguing she wasn’t given a home because of her dog.

A disability support organisation told the tribunal a person usually only spent a year on the priority list for social housing.

Tribunal member Samuel Thompson agreed with the Commissioner that the case didn’t amount to direct discrimination, with no evidence that the dog was the reason the woman wasn’t offered social housing.

However, he returned the case to the Commissioner to reconsider the matter for indirect discrimination.

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Originally published as Woman with disabilities fights housing discrimination battle over small companion pooch