So You Have A Service Animal?
By Erik Provitt
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
[email protected]
Understandable confusion exists
between service animals, which
are specially trained to help people
with disabilities, and emotional
support animals, which usually
have no specialized training and
are used only to provide emotional
support. Under the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), state and
local governments, businesses,
and nonprofit organizations that
serve the public must allow ser-
vice animals to accompany people
with disabilities in all areas of the
facility where the public is normally
allowed to go. If you manage a
business and you run afoul of this
provision, you could find yourself
in violation of ADA and/or the state
or local law. In Georgia, denial of
access or interference with these
animals is a misdemeanor of a high
and aggravated nature punishable
by a fine not to exceed $2,000.00,
imprisonment for up to 30 days,
or both.
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April/May 2019
An animal that meets the legal
definition of "service animal" must
be treated in accordance with that
classification . A service animal is
defined as an animal, most com-
monly a dog, but also includes
miniature horses, which are indi-
vidually trained to assist people
with actual disabilities. Examples
include guiding people who are
blind, alerting people who are deaf,
pulling a wheelchair, forewarn-
ing and protecting a person who
is having a seizure, reminding a
person with mental illness to take
prescribed medications, or calm-
ing a person with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an
anxiety attack. that qualifies: dog and miniature
horse – that’s it.
The first step in determining wheth-
er an animal qualifies as a service
animal is to determine whether the
animal is a dog or miniature horse.
The definition is unambiguous
when it comes to the type of animal After it has been determined that
the animal is a dog or a miniature
horse, the law requires it be spe-
cially trained for a person with a
disability before it is permitted to
accompany people in all areas
Is the pig on a leash with the service
animal vest permitted to sit in the
lobby? What about the cat caus-
ing everyone to sneeze, cradled
in the arm of a patron? Well, the
law governing service animals
answers that question clearly, and
the answer is no! Service animals
are working animals, not pets. The
work or task a dog has been trained
to provide must be directly related
to the person’s disability. Dogs
whose sole function is to provide
comfort or emotional support do
not qualify as service animals under
the ADA.