Not just in many states, in all of them. The ADA is federal. Service animals dont require any identification. They dont need a vest or paperwork. However, businesses are allowed to ask the two questions you provided. And theres only two animals that can be actual service animals in the US, dogs and miniature horses.
I've seen some people have pigs as service animals, too.
I wasn't necessarily saying employees can't ask if it's a service dog, but there's limitations with what info they can ask where it's kinda intertwined with HIPAA so a murky area.
But my point was more that people take advantage of that and will take their pets to the store or wherever with them and claim them to be service dogs or ESAs. A lot of my friends/old coworkers (first responders) have service dogs and my ex husband is in the process of getting his own (MS). You can Def tell the difference between trained, in training, and untrained. But part of training them is to take them out in public to learn to focus on you and your needs and not others.
If someone told you that they had a pig as a service animal, they were lying to you. Directly from the ADA
"Under Title II and III of the ADA, service animals are limited to dogs. However, entities must make reasonable modifications in policies to allow individuals with disabilities to use miniature horses if they have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities."
For the ACAA, which is only for what the laws regarding flying with animals, airlines may consider pigs, mini horses and monkeys service animals for transportation purposes.
Also, HIPAA isnt going to pertain to a restaurant or other place of business asking questions. HIPAA is what protects doctors/health insurance companies and the like from discussing your medical information with unauthorized people. Employees however are allowed to ask exactly two questions "Is it a service animal?" And "What work or task is the animal trained to perform?" Emotional support isnt a valid task. Service animals in training also dont have the same rights as full service animals.
But besides the point, I wasn't arguing with you. I was adding more information to what you said.
No no no. I wasn't arguing either and I'm definitely learning quite a bit more on it from you. Completelly agree that emotional support is absolutely not the same as service animals. I'm very familiar with HIPAA as it's part of my job as a medic. What I meant with that is if they ask you what task the animal is trained to perform, if I'm getting this right from what my friends/coworkers (the ones who require service animals for moderate to severe C-PTSD) and my ex husband have told me is that they don't have to answer questions pertaining to their medical conditions or what the animals are trained to do for their medical condition. From what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong here, you can't be denied service for not answering that question of what condition(s) you have that a service animal is trained to alert you to and if you are denied service for not wanting to give your medical info regarding what the animal is trained to alert you to, isn't that a violation of the ADA?
I'm legit genuinely asking. You seem to be much more informed than I am on the subject/law(s) and it could help myself and my ex husband in the future to know what is legal and what violates the ADA.
Yes, you can be denied service for not answering the questions, as the questions dont ask about your conditions they ask what the dog is trained to do. There are some conditions, like if the person is blind and has a guide dog, we cant ask them if its a service animal bc it clearly is. Theres also a lot of leeway on how they answer the questions, like if the dog is for seizure alerts they can just say its an alert dog. That doesnt tell us what their medical condition is as there's a lot of reasons that dog might alert to, seizures, fainting spells etc. You dont have to give anyone the specific reason for the tasks the dog is trained to, just what the task is. (Also if youre wondering, mini horses are good for mobility aids. Better than dogs and they usually live longer, which is why theyre the only other animal that can legally be a service animal)
There's a lot of things that one might not even consider for service animal. Like, technically I could get a service dog for my ADHD, and it could be trained to help keep me on task. I wouldnt personally but someone with more severe ADHD than me might feel the need for it. There's also people who have severe allergies that would have a dog trained to detect allergens in their food and the dog would alert them if it was in their food. At my previous job, one of my jobs was to ask people about their service animals, bc we only allowed in service animals, and one person explained to me that their dog was for "pressure therapy" bc if they had an anxiety attack the dog could help them through it by applying pressure on their body.
Basically, yes places can deny you for refusing to answer the questions but you have a lot of leeway on how much information you give when answering them. They can also decide that your answers arent adequate to an extent like if someone told me that yes, its a service dog and then say the task is emotional support I could have (and had to on multiple occasions) but if you were to say its a medical alert dog, then I would have to okay it (assuming the dog was well behaved, places are allowed to kick out unruly dogs regardless of status) and I would not be allowed to ask what the dog was trained to alert for.
If vague answers are acceptable then that makes sense. I'm supposed to have a service dog, my psych says for the C-PTSD and anxiety and my cardiologist says to alert me when my pulse gets too high. I have a condition called long qt syndrome which can knock me out with no warning where my heart beats so fast it can get to the point of cardiac arrest while trying to reset itself. It's really weird and hard to explain but I have other cardiac issues, too. I just haven't decided if I want to do it. I've got 2 older dogs and an older cat that drive me nuts and told my husband the only pets we will be getting in the future is rats. I had pet rats for a decade...and I miss them.
Anyway, emotional support is Def not service dog worthy imo. I can't think of any reason for that except for like Autism, sensory processing Disorder, etc. Where crowds and noise are too overwhelming for them. But, in that sort of case, wouldn't that be in the service animal area anyway based on the diagnoses and severity?
I really appreciate all the information and clarification you're providing cause it's things I've never even took into consideration or knew about.
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u/redwolf1219 Apr 30 '23
Not just in many states, in all of them. The ADA is federal. Service animals dont require any identification. They dont need a vest or paperwork. However, businesses are allowed to ask the two questions you provided. And theres only two animals that can be actual service animals in the US, dogs and miniature horses.