BINGHAM, Maine — Devan Demmons was at the Bingham General Store on Sunday night with her parents, husband and service dog.
Demmons was asked to leave the store. Her family is now hoping to educate the public on laws surrounding service animals.
"Our goal is to education the general population and raise awareness of this situation in hopes of protecting other from the humiliation and embarrassment provided to our daughter," her mother, Sue Richard wrote on Facebook.
Demmons said her dog, Duke, "opened up a whole new world of possibilities."
Demmons suffers from dysautonomia, POTS and EDS. She adds that Duke helps get her get safely to the ground before she passes out.
"I do not know they're going to happen and he alerts me before and gets me down," she said.
This minimizes injury to her body.
"I do not like the perception that I look 100% healthy. Normal. That I don't need a service dog. Because you don't really know what's going on with a person just by looking at them," Demmons said.
Demmons and Richard say Duke has changed their lives.
"It's given her the freedom to be able to leave her home, o be able to go to a restaurant, to be able to get into activities," Richard said.
Timothy Earle, the owner at Bingham General Store also took to Facebook, but declined to provide comment to NEWS CENTER Maine.
According to ada.gov, staff of an establishment may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.