A South Australian high school will allow a student to have his disability assistance dog onsite, after his mother was told the dog was not welcome on school property.
Logan Reese, who lives with both epilepsy and autism, uses assistance dog Hunter for support and to detect potential seizures.
His mother Murianna Reese said when he started at Murray Bridge High School this year, Hunter was denied entry despite attending primary school with Logan for three years.
Ms Reese started a conversation about Hunter's attendance at Logan's enrolment last year.
She said the school was "less than helpful" to support Logan, and that she was told Hunter needed to leave school grounds on the first day of term 1.
She said a teacher jokingly told her to remain in the car park with Hunter.
"It has taken too long ... too many times people have to fight [for changes]," Ms Reese said.
But now Hunter will be allowed at Murray Bridge High School after a compromise was reached: using a dog handler.
Principal Ruth Mussger said the school worked with the family to find a "positive" resolution.
"The school has been supporting Logan with a 1:1 student support officer and are pleased with how he has settled into high school," Ms Mussger said.
"The department will also provide a dog handler to look after his dog while it is onsite supporting Logan, the recruitment for this role has already begun.
"These instances can be complex, particularly at a school with 1,200 students, so it does take time to ensure other students' needs, for example allergies, are also met."
Ms Reese described the process as stressful and said there was a lack of education in the disability space.
"I did get an email back from the principal stating a heap of policies and they needed ... a checklist," Ms Reese said.
"Some of them actually breached the Disability Discrimination Act.
"One of them was to reveal all of Logan's conditions and disabilities to all the community and school.
"The initial reasons were cultural issues and allergies, which I fully understand being a teacher myself."
Hunter is specially trained to sense if Logan is going to have an epileptic seizure — sometimes up to 24 hours in advance.
Ms Reese said having Hunter on site helped lower Logan's anxiety.
"When Logan has a seizure, [Hunter] barks to get attention and lays down next to him to let him know he's getting help," Ms Reese said.
"He has been trained to detect Logan's seizures, he will start pacing around and coming back and forth from us adults."
'A lack of education'
Disability advocate Ellen Fraser-Barbour said such situations were common, particularly in learning facilities or restaurants.
"It really creates this environment where you don't feel like you belong or you feel constantly have to fight with teachers or principals who have a lot of power in that environment," Ms Fraser-Barbour said.
She said religion or allergies were often cited to try and stop assistance dogs in facilities.
"I think it's lack of education, but also attitude," Ms Fraser-Barbour said.
"You actually can't use that as a reason to discriminate against [an assistance dog] which has a very specific task, which is the safety of that person."
Hunter will be introduced to Murray Bridge High School to get used to the environment from tomorrow.
