Hi friends! I'm writing because I'm wondering how other venues policies surrounding comfort animals vs service animals work.
We have a clear policy on welcoming service animals. Our policy with comfort animals has been a customer friendly policy in that we allow patrons in with their comfort animal but let them know we may need to reseat them or ask them to leave if any disturbance occurs with their animal or other patrons.
The other evening we had a patron attend with what seemed to be a pet.. though they were adamant it was a comfort animal.. is there any way of obtaining verification of when an animal is a certified Comfort animal vs a pet? I don't want to have to change our policy to not allowing comfort animals in, but also know that it may be difficult to properly identify comfort vs pet... Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Laura
First things first, you guys are nicer than we are by allowing comfort / emotional support animals in the theater. We don't do that at all.
Because emotional support animals are not covered under the ADA, if you are a private organization, I believe you're within your right to ask for documentation/proof of emotional support animals. However, you cannot ask that of service animals. Just so you know though, pretty much anyone can get their pet certified as an ESA online, so you could be essentially getting a lot of "pets with papers."
As far as service animals go, you can ask questions of a service animal. I always stick with two because it tends to get me through: 1) Is this animal a service animal? 2) What service is this animal trained to perform? (The third is: Is this animal required because of a disability?)
Reminder: service animals in the theater can be dogs or miniature ponies.
If you have an animal who is disrupting the show, the first question that should be asked is "is their owner about to have a major medical episode and do we need to get EMS on site?" - you can absolutely freely ask this of any animal owner if the animal is disruptive. Most of the time, a service dog barking means something bad is coming.
However, if an animal is being disruptive and the owner says they are not alerting to a potential medical emergency, you can ask the guest and their animal to step out of the hall and into the lobby. I wouldn't kick them out, however, if that happens, you can ask them to watch the performance from monitor screens in the lobby because the animal is being disruptive to the other audience members.
Let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of more help!
The ADA guidance documentation for Service Animals is here. The 2010 guidelines have been updated last in Feb 2020. There are links to legal if you need that.
From the ADA on questions of service animals
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task the dog has been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.
More introductory information is on the ADA website here. Whilst service animals do receive special training they do not need to be certified or registered. "Emotional support" can be a service that an animal is trained to provide. In that circumstance the animal would be classified as a service animal.
Support Animals* have no specificity to the type of animal. It's worth noting that the rules applying to assistance animals are more specific in differing circumstances including Housing, Airlines, and Employment. There will often be a letter from the medical support professional outlining the need for the animal. From friends and colleagues with Emotional assistance animals they are experienced, or at least familiar, with this - which would be the potential point of certification. (for ADHD pals that follow How to ADHD - Jess McCabe's dog Chloe went through significant training and is a Support Animal (psychiatric service dog) - prior she has the letter, and he was classified as an ESA. She explains the difference briefly here)
On a personal note, I avoid using eu/dys-phemism's or broad statements about peoples support needs, including animal support. Thank you for being clear and understanding and making the effort to reduce the barriers. It's appreciated.
Best,Heath
(Autistic at large)
If anyone is following along from my country of origin these are worth a read
Assistance animals and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) | Australian Human Rights Commission
What is an assistance animal? – RSPCA Knowledgebase
* Which are also called assistance animals, emotional support animals, comfort animals etc depending on the industries governing body. e.g., USA Federal housing use the term Assistance Animal, but Industry practitioners may refer to them as Emotional Support Animals
Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. We are solid on our Service Animals policy but always happy for that confirmation from others, too. :) Comfort animals' topic is so tricky and I think that what I've been finding is that there truly isn't much guidance on it for organizations that would like to allow them in. I think the best way forward is to let our organization decide and be very clear about what we allow on our website, etc so folks can know in advance.