Louanic experiences this scene regularly. “Once a month”, estimates people who suffer from autistic disorder. On November 8, when he had just attended a conference in Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine) as part of his thesis, the specialist teacher went to buy food at the Leclerc hypermarket in the city. At the end of his leash, his service dog Napo, is seven years old.
Service dogs and not guides. This nuance is why this situation is now well known to these residents of Limoges (Haute-Vienne). “Usually, I go to the security guards to explain my case to them. But there, they are busy and I am in a hurry. I have to take the train,” he explained. Except after a few steps inside the store, the agent called him. Louanic immediately knew why.
“I’m disabled, I need my dog”
“I took out my cell phone to take pictures because I knew exactly what was going to happen. And there was no shortage of it,” Limougeaude said. As he expected, he was told that he did not have to enter the store with his dog. “Because I’m not blind, the agent said I don’t need to bring a dog,” he whispered. Except yes.
Because of his autistic disorder, Louanic needs his dog every day. “He calms me down, he feels when I’m stressed. Sometimes I hurt myself, sometimes I scratch myself until I bleed. When I start to feel unwell, he comes between the people and me. And he guides me towards the exit, towards my car…” explained Louanic.
In the video, the security forces did not move. Louanic will not be able to enter the store. “I’m disabled, I need my dog. It’s like a blind man who needs his dog. He has his card and that’s the law,” Louanic answered. “Dogs no,” they answered. “If you’re not blind, then no,” added a co-worker even though Napo was wearing a vest.
Millions of views on TikTok
“Service dogs – Don’t separate us – Invisible disabilities”, we can read on the cloth, especially since Napo brought with him all the documents that allowed him to enter the premises with his master. “It was only when they saw me filming that I was able to step in,” explained Louanic, who posted the scene on his TikTok account, where he shares many of Napo’s videos.
“There are a lot of videos like that on the network. But I want to keep posting them so that people know what invisible disabilities are. And they understand that it’s not just blind or visually impaired people who need a dog. There is real educational work to be done,” Louanic said.
Since then, the teacher received a lot of support through the video and was contacted by the hypermarket management. In an email, the latter apologized for the “unacceptable and unlawful” behavior of the security agents. And added that the latter team, like all teams, was “strictly informed and reminded of the applicable regulations regarding access to companion dogs”, which we can read.
A response that pleased Louanic, “it’s good to see that this issue is being taken seriously”. “That’s how things develop, little by little,” he smiles. A call between the latter party and Leclerc’s management is also being prepared.
