Riverina residents have been urged to educate themselves on the rules of therapy dogs after an incident resulted in discrimination against a legally blind woman.
Wodonga's Micaela Schmidt and her guide dog, Ellie, were removed from Airbnb accommodation in Wagga earlier this month after having the Airbnb booked far in advance.
Ms Schmidt said she had travelled to Wagga with a carer to check out the area as a potential place to live, but was quickly left disappointed at the experience when a host at the Airbnb she booked asked her to leave.
"We're legally not required to let them know that I'm bringing a service dog," she said.
"The lady who owned the Airbnb saw us on her security camera and just asked us to leave straight away without kind of any explanation or answering our phone calls for a chat or anything.
"She was pretty adamant that she just wanted us out of there."
Ms Schmidt said Ellie played a crucial role with her mobility and independence.
"It makes me feel really disappointed because I think that education has not come as far as people think," she said, "when society is not understanding or accommodating to what I need.
"That makes it difficult. I think a lot more people think that guide dogs can be kind of treated the same way as pets. They don't realise the amount of training that's gone into the dogs. They don't realise that it's $60,000 and two years' worth of training."
Guide Dogs Victoria chief executive Nicky Long said it was significant that many Australians did not know it was an offence to refuse access for a guide dog and their handler.
"As a community we need to improve our understanding of the legal access rights of guide dogs," she said.
"Guide dogs' legal access rights over-ride a policy of a hotel restaurant or ride share driver.
"Refusal is illegal."
Ms Schmidt said it was quite sad that many people did not know the rules when it came to regulations around guide dogs.
"I would say that curiosity is really important, conversations are really important," she said.
"Make sure you ask questions and try to get to know a person before you make assumptions."
Airbnb was contacted for comment.
