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
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