I know you can find one of these very easily online, but that still doesn’t mean my dog is just a pet in a fancy harness. They see me, they see her vest, and they see her doing as she’s supposed to in that environment yet still accuse me of 1.) Not ‘actually’ being disabled 2.) Buying a vest online just to bring my pet places or 3.) Just wanting to be ‘special’. These people have such a specific stereotype of disability that they can’t fathom that someone who looks healthy could possibly need a SD.

I didn’t bow to these people or prove myself- my personal medical info is none of their business, especially since they’re complete fuckin strangers. However, when my dog’s harness wore out and I needed to hunt down a replacement, I decided to go a different route. Instead of a harness marking her as an SD, I chose a less common method (at least less common in my area)

I got her a collar like this one. I use just a normal harness to attach her leash to, but have this collar on her to let people know she’s not just a pet, and I’ve dramatically had less people accuse me of faking or lying. I’m glad to get less grief just for having my SD with me, but also I shouldn’t have to go to such lengths just because I’m not visibly disabled :/

I wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from others when I got the collar cause neither I nor my dog changed at all, it was literally just the collar that changed. Her behavior was the same either way, listening and paying attention to my cues and helping me out, but her and I both were viewed differently simply because I no longer used the ‘easy to find’ vest.