Today I went to an open house for a home I can't afford. There's a development of one-level duplexes near me that look perfect but rarely change hands, and on my regular walk I saw one was on sale and that they had an open house this weekend, so I went to see what the layout feels like and how much space there is (not how much the real estate people want me to think there is using camera angles to exaggerate). I love the light and the space. None of the bathrooms have a tub, but that makes it easier to not stress about how I can't afford this one.
I moved to this housing development specifically because of my allergies, asthma, and need to be away from pets. This was the only place with one-level living that I could afford and that did not allow pets. In the last several years, I have been getting increasingly sick with more frequent serious asthma attacks. I went from having to use my emergency inhaler a couple times a year to sometimes a couple of times a day. I went on the more dangerous asthma meds, and I had side effects that sent me to urgent care and then had to take more drugs to keep the side effects manageable, but that still wasn't actually having much of a beneficial effect on my breathing and coughing. Nothing was. Well, except not being here.
After my most recent trip, I realized I only have this trouble when I am here at home. I had no problems when I moved to Canada for work for a year or to California for three weeks or even Chicago for 5 days. So it's not America, and it's not the Midwest, which made me start wondering what else could possibly be making me this sick. I also noticed on one of the days I could smell that the lobby smells very much of cat.
I hadn't been sick like this since the thick of the pandemic when I was working from home, and my neighbors were stress-smoking every substance they could get their hands on, legal or illegal, and there were visible clouds of smoke in the shared lobby. One day I heard an odd noise that I thought was a child crying, and it turned out there was a cat wandering around in our lobby. When I brought the cat to the association's attention, along with the problematic cat allergy and breathing, they said they would address it. (They refused to do anything about the smoke or the illegal substances, but pictures of a cat were another story.)
Only here for a short time, the neighbors said. Watching it for a friend. We'll find a new place for it to stay for friends right now!
Months later a different cat was sitting inside their window and a cat litter delivery was sitting on the front step for them. That was a pretty funny picture. I reported them again with reiterations that I am bringing this up because it's making me ill.
Watching it for a friend! We'll find a new place for our friends to keep it. Won't happen again. We promise promise for really real!
When I reported them (with the required photo evidence), they were fined, and they apparently lied. Over and over again. They told our other neighbors who asked that they did not have cats, even though, apparently, the neighbor's severe cat allergy has been making them miserable, too. I didn't know this because I've been away so much for work.
I finally decided to just bluntly ask in the group text because the only other explanation for why my breathing and health are getting this bad is some mysterious illness that is slowly killing me, and I should probably scrape together the energy to put my life on hold and get some testing done if that's true. That is how I learned that my neighbors, knowing I have terrible cat allergies, have been keeping cats, lying about them repeatedly, and now have designated them as Emotional Support Animals (they got a tag off the internet, so it's legit [eyeroll]) to get around the prohibition against pets.
They are not actual ESAs (any more than the dog they previously had was), but the neighbors sure like being able to get around the rules that prohibit noisy, barking, unleashed dogsin the city (they claimed they didn't have to follow those rules because it was a therapy dog/ESA) and pets in this building. They actually said that in the chat, that they know they have to do this to win the game. Which, yes, I did get screen shots of the chat with the date.
So they are claiming this is all legit and protected by the ADA and there is nothing shady going on here. But they did not tell the other people in the building or the association about the presence of the animals. Even though they have known for years that they are causing health problems for their neighbors. I am honestly shocked, as I just can't believe they would actively harm their neighbors like this and lie about it. (Why DID I believe them? Seriously. They have always lied and protested and broken the rules and acted hurt when they are called out for it.)
They are acting very hurt about being called out for this. As if us asking them to have some consideration for our health is a personal offense we are committing against them rather than a desperate attempt to stay employed with insurance and stop having scary, uncontrollable asthma coughing attacks.
The thing is, they have mellowed overall, especially over the years they have (apparently) had the cats. Less screaming and shouting. Less door slamming. Less rage. Fewer illegal substances. Fewer assaults in the shared hallway to the garages. Less blood on the tiles. There's at least correlation (if not causation) here. It's quite possible the cats ARE great for his mental health and thus should be protected under the ADA.
But my health should be protected as well. If the asthma caused by allergies is debilitating enough, it can be declared a disability, which in theory, requires accommodation under the ADA same as his PTSD. But I don't want to wait until I am in and out of the hospital and experiencing even more severe side effects from the serious drugs they put you on for uncontrolled asthma to also have to try to find the energy to do some sort of federal court case (especially now).
As someone with an allergy that can be very severe and could in theory kill me, it's strange in the world right now. Knowing that someone's right to bring their pet with them on the plane if they claim it's an ESA could kill me or someone else, and there's nothing we can do. There's no way we can have animal-free flights. People with allergies shouldn't be required to be rich in order to live without misery. But people with mental illness shouldn't be required to be rich in order to live without misery either.
I also think about this with peanut allergies and how peanuts were banned from school for years to keep kids safe, and now we've decided that's a lot of work to keep a few kids safe, so we're not going to do it anymore, and kids are on their own and hopefully have insurance that covers epi pens and hospital stays?
There's no way to keep everyone safe. But if you know a specific type of animal is dangerous to people you live with, and you could choose other types of animal that are not, and you choose the animal that hurts them most and and lie to them about it . . . I don't know, I just feel like there are definitely options that are more respectful of everyone's needs and health, and we who live in communities should try those first?
