Support Beyond the Office: What We Can Do For Those Who Use Service Animals

By Bailey Harmon

Part of my journey to audiology began with training mobility service dogs. Before that, I was a music performance major with a subtle draw to healthcare without knowing which direction to take it. Training service dogs solidified my passion for healthcare and inspired me to combine my love for music with my love for helping others. Now, advocating for those with service animals is a life-long passion of mine.

In honor of this, let’s discuss service animals, the laws that protect them and ways we can best advocate for those who use them.

Americans with Disabilities Act

The specific law that supports and protects service animals is The Americans with Disabilities Act under Title II and III (ADA.gov, 2011). This law states that service animals are allowed to go in any space where the public is allowed when accompanying a person. They are also allowed in housing arrangements that do not typically allow animals. However, there are still some rules and regulations when having a service animal in a public place. For example, service animals need to be well-behaved, house-trained, and leashed (unless the leash prevents the animal from completing certain tasks). If the animal is not, management does have the right to ask the individual and service animal to leave the premises.

Under the ADA, service animals do not need to be vested or show proof of formal training to be allowed in public spaces. However, many service animals are vested when in public to inform others that they are working and not to disturb them. To help protect an individual’s HIPPA information, the only two questions you can ask someone with a service animal are:

1. Is this service animal required because of a disability?
2. What tasks does this dog provide for you?

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal law. So, even if someone has allergies, animals are usually not allowed, it is a food service establishment, etc., someone’s right to have a service animal present cannot be prohibited.

What is a Service Animal?

A service animal is an animal that is trained to provide a specific task for an individual with a disability. Animals can be trained to retrieve items, open and close doors, alert those with hearing loss, guide those with visual impairment, etc. Service animals can also be trained as medical alert animals for individuals with diabetes, allergies, etc.

As of 2020, the Americans with Disabilities Act restricted the use of animals besides dogs as service animals – with the exception of miniature horses! That’s right, you can have a miniature horse as a service animal! Because of their stature and quick learning ability, mini horses have been used as service animals for many years and are protected by law.

Emotional Support Animals vs. Service Animals

Emotional support animals are not the same as service animals. Because emotional support animals have not been trained to perform specific tasks, they are not allowed in public spaces in the same way as service animals. However, they do receive housing accommodations. Meaning, if pets are not allowed in certain housing situations, emotional support animals are exempt from this and allowed in the house. Another distinction for this is that emotional support animals do not have to be dogs, whereas service animals have to be dogs or miniature horses. (adata.gov, 2024)

Service Animal Etiquette

In the presence of someone with a service animal, how should you act? The best thing to do when around a service animal is to ignore them and give them some extra room when possible. Cooing, petting, talking to the animal, etc., distracts them from the important work they are doing for the handler. Distracting the animal can cause them to potentially miss important signals from their handler and can make a situation dangerous for them. While these animals have been trained to ignore distractions sometimes it is hard to resist, so the best thing we can do is ignore them and let them do their job!

How We Can Help Advocate

One of the easiest ways we can help advocate is to educate. Be a good example when out in public on how you should act around a service animal and help inform your friends and family on appropriate behavior. As future providers, we should also be well informed of the laws that protect the use of service animals. Many of our patients may use service animals, and it is important we know how to best support them and their medical needs. Lastly, do not say animals are service animals when they are not. I understand that we all want to bring our pets with us everywhere (I know I do!), but saying an animal is a service animal when it is not only makes it harder for those who actually have service animals. Fake service animals promote skepticism from the public on the legitimacy of service animals and can make going into public spaces difficult and anxiety-inducing for handlers.

For more information on the ADA, please visit their website.

References

ADA Requirements: Service Animals. ADA.gov. (2024a, February 2). https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/#inquiries-exclusions-charges-and-other-specific-rules-related-to-service-animals

Service animal or emotional support animal: What’s the difference? ADA National Network. (2024, February 20). https://adata.org/service-animal-resource-hub/differences

Resources

Interested in a career working with animals that is hearing health-related? Check out these SAA blog posts on animal audiology!

• When Audiology Goes to the Dogs: An Inside Look into Animal Audiology
• Becoming an Animal Audiologist: Tina Study, PhD