Hello, my name is Oti Berta. I'm 40 years old and I live in Edinburgh. My pronouns are they/them. My difficulty in engaging with the Scottish Parliament is that someone who is using an emotional support dog I couldn't even safely get to your door, get to the Parliament. In the sense that a lot of the time taxi drivers refuse to transport me because my dog is not a guide or a wheelchair assistance dog and as soon as that information is out they just say no to taking me to places. The other difficulties that I have is a physically walking through a space without people attempting to distract my service dog. I find this situation quite annoying with the public that there is so little information out there as for not distracting working animals and various types of service dogs. I think what would make it easier for me to engage with the Scottish Parliament is if there was more information out there that you know, every day people can access about how to be around assistance dog, how to behave, what to do, what not to do. Thank you.
Could the Parliament work with individuals to make sure the dog is wearing a vest to alert people it is working? Can Parliament have a supply?
This is a very solvable issue
Can the Parliament have tours early during weekends? There will be lower demand = less people in the building as well as less people on public transport. So even if they cannnot take a taxi they may feel more comfortable taking a bus
There is a very specific issue with Taxis that could be solved
There's not a lot of awareness about emotional support dogs.
How can you really stop people approaching the dog. A lot of people are not aware and around the Parliament there are a lot of tourists.
Visible signage that say "Guide dogs and service dogs are welcome"
Have never seen an advert telling people not to touch a service dog. It's difficult to cater for everyone's individual needs. Seems she is very focused on her own needs.
Consider having set days and times where people who want to bring dogs in can
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