FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS "FAQS"

The ADA defines a service animal as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability, so long as the person’s disability falls under the ADA’s definition of physical or mental impairment or condition. An animal belonging to someone who is not disabled is not a Service Animal under the ADA.

Service animals perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform for him or herself alone. Guide dogs are one type of service animal that most people are familiar with; they are used by disabled individuals who are blind. But there are service animals that assist persons with other kinds of disabilities in their day-to-day activities. Some examples include: Alerting people with hearing impairments to sounds; pulling wheelchairs or carrying and picking up things for people with mobility impairments; assisting persons with mobility impairments with balance; assisting persons with mental impairments with tactile stimulation or buffering in crowded public places.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) generally prohibits privately owned businesses that serve the public (such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities) from discriminating against individuals with “disabilities.”  The ADA requires these businesses to allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals onto business premises in whatever areas customers are generally allowed. Unfortunately, Felicitails cannot give you legal advice or tell you whether you are legally disabled.

You may not think that you’re disabled - yet, you still may be legally “disabled” under the ADA.

The ADA imposes no requirement to certify or register a service animal.  In order to qualify you must fit the definition of being legally disabled and the animal must aid you in performing a major life activity.

The ADA grants broad accommodation to qualified people with a disability who need their service animal

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or “ADA” makes certain provisions to protect disabled persons and to ensure they enjoy the same access as people without disabilities, without being penalized or discriminated against in any way.

Check for specific rules in your state but in most cases, you can gain entrance to any public establishment, rent accommodation without the need to pay a “pet” deposit and use public transportation with your service animal.

If you have a disability, a service animal can accompany you to any beach or public space you choose to visit, not just the pet or dog beaches.

Most airlines require that you notify them when booking your flight that you will be traveling with your service animal.  Many airlines may also request that you present a note from your doctor and your service animal Identification when you check-in. Please visit your airline's website and/or contact them for more details.

Yes. The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination in air transportation by domestic and foreign air carriers against qualified individuals with physical or mental impairments. It applies only to air carriers that provide regularly scheduled services for hire to the public.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement, air carriers must permit dog guides or other service animals with appropriate identification to accompany an individual with a disability on a flight.

Identification may include cards or other documentation, presence of a harness or markings on a harness, tags, or the credible verbal assurance of the passenger using the animal.

Carriers must permit a service animal to accompany a traveler with a disability to any seat in which the person sits, unless the animal obstructs an aisle or other area that must remain clear in order to facilitate an emergency evacuation, in which case the passenger will be assigned another seat.  The traveler is not required to bring a medical certificate evidencing disability, except under certain circumstances (such as while traveling in a stretcher or incubator).

In addition, different airlines will have their own rules that complement federal transportation rules regarding transportation of animals. Larger pets normally have to travel in the aircraft’s hold for a fee.

However, service animals regardless of size are permitted to travel in the aircraft cabin, sitting with their handler. Most airlines will not charge an additional fee.

Landlords are not permitted to discriminate when it comes to service animals. Even if they have a strict “no pets” policy, they are not allowed to prevent you from living in their property with your service animal. By law service animals must be allowed to live anywhere their handler chooses. Even when apartments allow pets they often charge a pet deposit; it is against the law to charge a disabled person a deposit for their service animal.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) generally prohibits privately owned businesses that serve the public (such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities) from discriminating against individuals with “disabilities.”  The ADA requires these businesses to allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals onto business premises in whatever areas customers are generally allowed.

Yes. A service animal is not a pet. In fact, the ADA requires a business to modify its "no pets" policy to allow the use of a service animal by a person with a disability.

No. Neither a deposit nor a surcharge may be imposed on an individual with a disability as a condition to allowing a service animal to accompany the individual with a disability, even if deposits are routinely required for pets. However, a public accommodation may charge its customers with disabilities during or after the stay, if a service animal causes damage so long as it is the regular practice of the entity to charge non-disabled customers for the same types of damages. For example, a hotel can charge a guest with a disability, for the cost of repairing or cleaning furniture damaged by a service animal, if it is the hotel's policy to charge the same when non-disabled guests cause such damage.

Yes. Taxicab companies may not refuse to provide services to individuals with disabilities. Private taxicab companies are also prohibited from charging higher fares or fees for transporting individuals with disabilities and their service animals than they charge to other persons for the same or equivalent service.

Any animal, including a service animal, may be excluded from a facility when that animal's behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others. For example, any service animal that displays vicious behavior towards other guests or customers may be excluded. However, the establishment and its employees may not make assumptions about how a particular animal is likely to behave based on past experience with other animals. Each situation must be considered individually.

In addition, there may be a few circumstances when a public accommodation is not required to accommodate a service animal – that is, when doing so would result in a fundamental alteration to the nature of the business.  Generally, this is not likely to occur in restaurants, hotels, retail stores, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities.  But when it does, for example, when a dog barks during a movie, the animal can be excluded.

Although a public accommodation may exclude any service animal that is out of control, the businesses management should first have given you, the individual with a disability, the option of continuing to enjoy its goods and services without having the service animal on the premises.

Once they understand that your animal is a Service Animal, most business owners and their employees will welcome you. However, if that is not the case, simply present your Service Animal ID and repeat the following statement: “I am a disabled person and this is my service animal.  We are well within our rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to enter these premises.

This question can only be answered on a case by case basis. There are many rules and trained tasks that a Service Animal is required to follow, but no organized body of government at the state or federal level exists to monitor, train, and license or authorize a service animal.  If your doctor determines that you are disabled and a service animal would aid you in leading a more normal life, your existing pet may become your service animal with or without training so long as he or she is able to follow all of the rules and regulations set forth in the ADA (http://www.ada.gov/).  If your dog is hyper active, barks often, does not get along well with people or is not fully house broken, chances are your animal will need some training before  it will be able to  accompany you everywhere.

Visit http://www.ada.gov/

A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas.

Under US law an emotional support animal is a pet which provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are. They require only as much training as an ordinary pet requires in order to live peacefully among humans without being a nuisance or a danger to others.

In the U.S., two federal laws grant special rights to some owners of emotional support animals.

The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (42 USC 3601, et seq.) establishes a procedure for modifying "no pets" policies in most types of housing to permit a person with a disability to keep a pet for emotional support. The qualified applicant may either make a verbal request, or send a written request of reasonable accommodation to the landlord, in either case with a letter from a physician or prescription.[1][2] If the landlord refuses the request for accommodation, a complaint can be filed with the department of Housing and Urban Development or with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In housing that allows pets but charges supplemental rent or deposits for them, these fees must be waived. The ESA's owner can be charged for actual damage done by the animal, but they may not require the applicant to pay a fee or a security deposit in order to keep the animal.

Effective March 15, 2001, The Air Carrier Access Act establishes a procedure for modifying pet policies on aircraft to permit a person with a disability to travel with a prescribed emotional support animal so long as they have appropriate documentation and the animal is not a danger to others and does not interfere with others (through unwanted attention, barking, inappropriate toileting, etc.).

A psychiatric service dog is a specific type of service dog trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or schizophrenia.

Although Service Animals have traditionally helped people with disabilities such as blindness or more recently deafness or mobility disabilities, there are a wide range of other disabilities that an assistance dog may be able to help with as well, including psychiatric disabilities.

A service animal is trained to assist a disabled handler in completing major life activities as defined by the 1990 ADA.  Emotional support animals are intended to provide emotional support and so are not trained to complete a specific task intend to help the individual complete a major life activity.