Because Alice and Teddy's story is much more than it seems

When Alice hugged Teddy again after 53 days of forced separation, her eyes finally lit up again and with them the desire to live, to eat, to hope. The story of Alice, 12 years old, was finally resolved, but it must remain a lesson for everyone to understand that often the rules are not walls that cannot be broken down, but whose interpretation requires humanity. She is Brazilian, but had to move with her family to Lisbon for work reasons of her father, a doctor. The little girl suffers from Non-Verbal Autism Spectrum Disorder, as diagnosed by the doctors in Rio de Janeiro who assigned her as therapy the closeness of a dog, precisely the Labrador Teddy, who provides her with the essential emotional support to live her handicap in the best possible way. And to convey with her looks, the movement of her hands and body what she cannot explain with words.

But on April 8, when Alice's family showed up at the Tom Jobim airport in Carioca to board a Tap flight, the Portuguese national airline denied Teddy the right to travel in the cabin next to Alice despite doctors strongly recommending it. There were moments of panic, a search for a solution, but the authorities were adamant: either Teddy traveled in the hold with the other luggage or he would be left on the ground. Not even the last appeal of Hayanne Porto, Alice's older sister, was accepted. The transoceanic journey without Teddy - 7,800 kilometers with a travel time of about 9 and a half hours - was very difficult for the family who had to resolve several crises in the little girl whose tranquility was only manifested by caressing the Labrador who responded lovingly with his paw.

Two more attempts were made to have Teddy fly as something other than just any baggage, both unsuccessful, until a few days ago when, after an order from a judge in Rio de Janeiro became enforceable, Tap had to take the dog on board with the other passengers, provided that he was accompanied by a professional instructor. The family could not have chosen better: accompanying Teddy was an officer of the Military Police stationed in Sao Paulo, Ricardo Cazarotte, considered the country's leading expert in dog training.

Her experience allowed the other travellers on the Tap A330 to “not feel at risk” as feared in the Onboard Operations Manual according to which the animal could have constituted a serious danger to the passengers. So on Friday night Teddy and Ricardo, and Hayanne herself (who had remained in Brazil to closely follow the situation) were able to disembark at Lisbon’s General Delgado airport and find Alice . At the time the little girl was sleeping and at the gate Teddy was greeted by her mother.

The reunion took place the next morning: the surprise for Alice was great as was the hug she reserved for her friend who is not a simple "service dog" as a not very empathetic regulation defines him. "They were wonderful moments – says Alice's father -; in these 53 days of separation my daughter was sad, she lost five kilos, her seizures increased. We feared the worst for her, but already on Saturday with the arrival of the dog we noticed a big improvement in her conditions. Teddy's contribution, in addition to the medical therapies, was indispensable".

The family, once the emotion has passed, will have to decide whether to continue with the civil lawsuit filed against the Portuguese national airline to which they want to charge the moral damages undoubtedly suffered. The compensation request is about 20 thousand euros. In the meantime, Alice's mother can finally celebrate and send a message. "Teddy is a vital support for my daughter's illness. My fight - she says - is for Alice, yes, but not only for her. It is a collective fight, a fight of various families, of various creatures and of many adolescents and adults, people who have deficits but see their rights denied all the time. As if they were invisible people. Alice was denied her right to have the service dog next to her on this flight and risked serious consequences for which those who made the mistake will have to pay".