Service Animals Then & Now

1. Service AnimalsThen & Now Fiscal Year 2012

2. Service Animals • It’s all about DOGS!!! • What questions can/can’t be asked & what boundaries can be set? • What about miniature horses? • What about other animals? • Are housing or airplane laws different?

3. Key changes include the following: • Only dogs will be recognized as service animals. • Service animals are required to be leashed or harnessed except when performing work or tasks where such tethering would interfere with the dog's ability to perform. • Service animals are exempt from breed bans as well as size and weight limitations. • Businesses are generally required to accommodate the use of miniature horses under specific conditions, though they are not considered service animals.

4. What is the new definition of service animal? • Effective March 15, 2011, “Service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability.

5. Examples of types of tasks… • Tasks can be for people with physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or mental disabilities. • Assist during seizure. • Retrieve medicine or otheritems. • Help individual withdissociative identity disorderto remain grounded. • Prevent/interrupt impulsiveor destructive behavior. • Assist with balance, stability. • Provide non-violent protectionor rescue work.

6. Questions That CAN Be Asked • Only two permissible inquiries: • Is this a service animal required because of disability? • What work or tasks is the animal trained to perform?

7. CAN’T ask a person… • Can’t ask about disability. • Can’t request documentation (no formal training or certification required). • Can’t ask for additional payment (no surcharges). • Can’t exclude from most healthcare settings (except operating rooms and burn units).

8. What about emotional support or protection animals? • Dogs whose sole function is “the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship” are not considered service dogs under the ADA. • The use of service dogs for psychiatric and neurological disabilities is explicitly protected under the ADA. • “The crime deterrent effects of an animal's presence” do not qualify that animal as a service animal and “an animal individually trained to provide aggressive protection, such as an attack dog, is not appropriately considered a service animal.” • Public accommodations/entities still required to allow handler even if animal is excluded.

9. Emotional Support v. Service Animal • Unless the animal is individually trained to do something that qualifies as work or a task, the animal is a pet or support animal and does not qualify for coverage as a service animal. A pet or support animal may discern that the handler is in distress, but it is what the animal is trained to do in response to this awareness that distinguishes a service animal from an observant pet or support animal. • DOJ states “that an animal that is trained to ‘ground’ a person with a psychiatric disorder does work or performs a task that would qualify it as a service animal as compared to an untrained emotional support animal whose presence affects a person’s disability. It is the fact that the animal is trained to respond to the individual’s needs that distinguishes an animal as a service animal. “

10. Example of Service Animal v. Emotional Support (pet) continued… • According to the DOJ, “the process must have two steps: Recognition and response. If a service animal senses that a person is about to have a psychiatric episode and it is trained to respond, for example, by nudging, barking, or removing the individual to a safe location until the episode subsides, then the animal has indeed performed a task or done work on behalf of the individual with the disability, as opposed to merely sensing an event.” • Tasks performed by psychiatric service animals may include reminding the handler to take medicine, providing safety checks or room searches for persons with PTSD, interrupting self-mutilation, and removing disoriented individuals from dangerous situations. • Remember the difference between an emotional support animaland a psychiatric service animal is the work or tasks that theanimal performs.

11. When can a service animal be excluded or removed? • The animal is out of control and the animal´s handler does not take effective action to controlit, or • The animal is not housebroken. • Public accommodation/entity is not responsible for care or supervision of a service animal.

12. Miniature Horses • Allowed if: • Reasonable • Individually trained • Make reasonable modifications to permitif appropriate

13. Miniature Horses (continued) • Use assessment factors: • Type, size, weight (whether facility can accommodate) • Handler’s control • Whether housebroken • Legitimate safety requirements of specific facility

14. Miniature Horses (continued) • Many service animal provisions also apply: • Admit individual without animal • Care and supervision • No surcharges • Other laws may apply

15. What about monkeys or other wild animals? • DOJ “has decided to make clear that all wild animals, whether born or bred in captivity or inthe wild, are eliminated from coverage asservice animals.” • DOJ “believes that this approach reduces risks to health or safety attendant with wild animals. Some animals, such as certain non-human primates, including certain monkeys, pose a direct threat; their behavior can be unpredictably aggressive and violent without notice or provocation.”

16. Service Animals: Other laws and requirements • Other laws or codes may call for admission of animals: • Other than dogs • That provide emotional supportor comfort • Examples • FHA (housing) • DOT (transportation) • State Law A.R.S. 11-1024(see attached)

17. Service Animals: Other laws and requirements (continued) • DOJ: ADA rules don’t affect coverage of other animals under other laws. • FHAA and Section 504 go “beyond” ADA. • Allow emotional support animals. • Allow more intrusive questions. • Air Carrier Access Act is similar.

18. QUESTIONS ?????????