How the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Describes this Matter and Usage of a Service Animal:
An “individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of the impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.” This definition is somewhat loose and vague, but the main takeaway is that a person is considered to be disabled if their life is more difficult in some way when compared to the average person. Not every physical disability automatically qualifies an individual for a service animal, but physicians can assess the needs of each person on an individual basis and provide recommendations based on those factors. Here are some of the more common physical disabilities that can be aided through the use of service animals.
What is the difference between a Service Animal and an Emotional Support Animal?
Service Animal:
Service animals do specific tasks to aid a person with a disability. Service animals go through extensive training to perform this very important task for thousands of individuals in the United States
Physical disabilities that may qualify for service animals include but aren’t limited to:
• Blindness (partial and complete)
• Deafness (partial and complete)
• Paralysis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Autism
• Epilepsy
• Osteoporosis
• Scoliosis
• Allergies
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Seizures
Emotional Support Animal:
An animal that provides comfort to individuals by simply being with that person. Because support animals have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, they do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. However, some state or local governments have laws that allow people to take emotional support animals into public places. You may check with your state and local government agencies to find out about these laws.
Eligible mental disabilities include but aren’t limited to:
• Bipolar Disorder
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Mood disorders
• Eating disorders
• Neurocognitive disorders
• Psychotic disorders
• Substance Abuse disorders
For Service and Emotional Support Animals you must be qualified to be eligible and have your physician’s recommendation. Both Service and Emotional Support Animals must be registered and you need to make arrangements to travel with your animal. There are US Registries online or you can obtain more information from either your State or our US Government website. It is important to know that, a landlord cannot deny a Service or an Emotional Support Animals because they do not allow pets.
Source of Information: Various Google Searches
Until next time, stay safe and well
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