The "Whiny" Other Resident - Reasonable Accommodation

When I teach about reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, we talk about "whiny neighbors" - those folks who want to know why someone has an animal that is not pet policy compliant, or why they have a reserved parking space. I always advise not to say "it is a service animal" or "they have a disability", but rather to say something along the lines of "That person has that because, as always, this company/owner complies with the law."   While I always thought that to be a good response, it raised the question for many as to what should be the response when the next question is "Oh, yeah.  What law is that?"

I believe I am a good teacher; I also believe that a good teacher is always willing to learn.  I am fortunate to have a number of fine people in my “fair housing circle” to whom I can turn for insight and input.  So I posed to them the question: “If the whiny neighbor is persistent, what is the best thing to say at this point to, quite frankly, shut that person up?”  Now I admit that was not the most eloquent way to position my inquiry, but I did get back what I think is an excellent answer from D.J. Ryan with the law firm of Kimball, Tirey and St. John (I consider D.J. a friend as well as a colleague).  So a big thanks to D.J. for suggesting this response: “We don’t disclose private information about other residents, just as we wouldn’t disclose private information to other residents about you.”

Perhaps you will find this a helpful hint; perhaps you have good ideas on this to share yourself.  If the latter, please add to this post!