DOJ Restrictions on Service Animals

The Americans with Disabilities Act is one of the main documents that gives people with disabilities access to the community and freedom from discrimination in the U.S. Even so, the act is not without controversy, especially in the area of defining service animals. While service animals are most commonly thought of as "seeing eye dogs," service animals for autism and other "invisible disabilities" also exist. Kristina posted on autism service dogs last week.

Just as the variety of people assisted by service animals is wide, so are the types of animals that provide the service. New York Times Magazine's article Creature Comforts by Rebecca Skloot digs deeply into the controversies surrounding who can have service animals, what tasks constitute "service" tasks, and what species of animals qualify as "service animals." Animals that assist people with invisible disabilities such as acute anxiety (or autism) have been one source of controversy. When a disability is invisible, and it's illegal to demand proof of disability in some situations, how can abuse of the service animal laws (i.e. people who don't have a disability posing as disabled in order to bring animals into public places) be controlled? (For my part, I wonder if this problem is wide spread enough for cost of controlling it to be worth the benefit?)

When the ADA amendment was proposed last year, public commentary was encouraged. Comments included an urging from some to make the ADA section on service animals more inclusive, as well as urgings from others for the inverse.

On January 6, it was leaked that the Department of Justice intended to make the service animal section less inclusive, not more. A summary of the DOJ's rationale for the restrictions is here.

What will this mean for autism service animals now and going forward?