DOT Form Only Available in Inaccessible Digital Format; Requires Demeaning, Repetitive and Unnecessary Paperwork To Fly with Service Animals

January 21, 2024 - Washington, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., urged the Department of Transportation to fix flaws in its system that create unnecessary burdens on Americans with disabilities who travel with service animals. 

The senators called on DOT to fix the form that the government requires people with disabilities to complete to fly with service animals. Currently the form is only available as a .PDF document, which is incompatible with many mobile browsers and with assistive screen reader software used by many people with disabilities. Wyden and Duckworth asked DOT to make the document available in an accessible digital format, to remove language that threatens applicants with fines and other penalties for filling out the form incorrectly, and reduce the amount of duplicative, unnecessary questions that need to be answered. 

“Our offices have heard from Americans with disabilities that both the current form and DOT’s updated version are poorly designed and needlessly difficult to complete, which violates both federal law and policy issued by the Biden Administration. We urge DOT to make the following changes to the form to address its failings and reduce the unnecessary burdens on Americans who travel with service animals,” Wyden and Duckworth wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

DOT solicited public comments on an updated version of  the service animal paperwork and expected to decide how to proceed later this year. 

The text of the letter is here.
Source: Senator Ron Wyden