Meet Cathy Burds | Service Dog Educator & Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cathy Burds and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cathy, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
If everyone was educated about the ADA law, service dogs, and civil rights, that are tied to visible and invisible disabilities, then my world would be completely living the American Dream. When I got my service dog, I realized that society doesn’t understand that it is the law that I get to have a service animal. So the inspiration for the business was to educate, so that I could have my freedoms back.

What should our readers know about your business?
Justice Speaks is the education of the ADA law around service dogs and visible / invisible disabilities. There isn’t anyone out there educating this. I’m most proud that I found a community of service dog handlers that have disabilities that are also invisible. It’s one thing to have a visible disability with a service dog, but when you have an invisible disability with a service dog, it’s different. So the community has been the key. Business is never easy, and in my case, I had to think outside the box. Nobody else has ever educated this in the lieu of change. It’s not to make money, so it’s a different business plan, and that’s why it’s a nonprofit. I guess the piece that motivated me the most was that my personal rights were violated, and I felt it was necessary to do this for the good of humanity. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way is that civil law is very different from criminal law. As personal as a crime against you is in a criminal law, civil law is a deeper, more personal violation. So the lessons I’ve had to learn are how to recover from those types of violations, how to overcome people’s ignorance to civil law, and how to give the chance to educate people, so they don’t stay ignorant. The brand is probably as pure as it could be – it’s civil rights and communication around service dogs. In my opinion, it’s a brand for the disability movement. This is a place you can go to educate and understand your rights, “Yes, it’s a service dog, yes it’s my civil right”. know your rights, and advocate for your rights. My story isn’t very different from others with invisible disabilities. Most people with invisible disabilities don’t talk about it, but my story has changed since I became brave enough to seek help and get a service dog. I had to step out and do it on my own. I had to find the right people, and businesses, and nonprofits along the way who would help me educate other people who were going through the same process. If you know you have a hearing impairment, PTSD, or other invisible disabilities, I think it’s important to have access to that tool (service dogs) to help you.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love to visit the Zen Garden in Denver, and afterwards I’ll go to the Brown Palace for afternoon tea. They are so welcoming, understanding, and warm there. I love hanging out in that area of downtown too, because I find that people are very educated around service dogs. My own area in Erie is also quite welcoming as well. I feel very invited into places. People aren’t skeptical. The other place I love to go is The Lazy Dog. Bar and Grill in Erie. I meet a lot of friends there. There’s another place called the Rails End Brewing Company that’s fun to go to too. They play live music and have good food trucks that come along. There are even some food trucks that make treats for dogs, like Tasty Paws, etc. I find that a lot of the small, one-off boutique shops in town’s like Lafayette or Louisville tend to be quite accommodating to service dogs, and that’s just nice to see.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Justice (my service dog) is my true inspiration behind this adventure, but to develop this to the point that it is: Jimmy and Sara. Finding Sara Tarr at Clear Alignment was key. I could not have done this unless she was able to take all my ideas and put them into a text that other people would understand. Sara is Justice Speak’s Curriculum Developer. Jimmy Burds is my loyal husband of 20+ years. He’s always the one, no matter what, at the end of the day who says, “remember, you still have a message”. “No matter how frustrating today was, having a service dog and a disability, there’s still a message, and you still have to educate and deliver that message, or nothing will ever change”.

Website: https://justice-speaks.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justicespeaks/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/justice-speaks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justicespeaks.org

Image Credits
Alexander Maness