Conditions that Qualify People to Have a Service Dog

Jake the Service Dog In Training at a Grocery Store

Just about everyone who has had a service dog for any length of time has encountered some resistance. Sometimes it’s a comment like this: “You’re obviously not blind. Why do you need the dog?” Sometimes it’s a restaurant that refuses entry to the dog. Or maybe it’s a bus driver who won’t allow a person with a service dog to board.

Informing commercial establishments and the public about the rights of having a service dog is a continuing challenge. Here are some critical elements the MobilityDog continues to advocate and provide.

What is a “Disability?”

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) broadly defines “disability.” The law states that you qualify to have a service dog if you have any physical, mental, sensory, intellectual, or emotional condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The condition may pose a constant problem, like paralysis, or a periodic one, like low blood sugar.

The ADA defines physical disabilities as any anatomical loss, physiological disorder, or cosmetic disfigurement affecting one or several body systems. These include the:

• Musculoskeletal.

• Neurological.

• Respiratory.

• Cardiovascular.

• Special sense organs.

• As well as the reproductive, genitourinary, endocrine, hemic, lymphatic and skin.

Service Dog Team June and Monty

Among the specific physical disabilities that may qualify an individual for a service dog are:

• Multiple sclerosis.

• Parkinson’s disease.

• Spinal cord injury.

• Muscular dystrophy.

• Arthritis.

• Cerebral palsy.

• Chronic pain.

• Vertigo.

• Seizures.

• Fibromyalgia.

Service dogs can also be trained to help individuals who don’t have mobility issues, but have other medical conditions. Some of these include:

• Diabetes: Diabetic alert dogs are trained to warn their handlers about chemical changes in their blood sugar before their levels become dangerous.

• Epilepsy: These service dogs assist their handlers during and after an epileptic seizure. They may use deep pressure to shorten the seizure, help their partner regain consciousness, or find help for their person. They can also bring medicine to their person after a seizure.

• Allergies: Allergy detection dogs are trained to pick up the scent of a harmful allergen and alert their person before they encounter it. These service dogs are frequently paired with children who have severe allergies.

• Asthma: These service dogs are trained to remind their owners to check their oxygen and medication levels and respond to shortness of breath. They can also retrieve medication, wake up a person suffering from shortness of breath, or call for help in an emergency.

• Heart Disease: Cardiac Arrest Service dogs are specially trained to use their acute sense of smell to recognize chemical alterations when the heart rate or blood pressure changes. They warn their handlers or notify a family member when they recognize such changes.

Not All Disabilities Are Physical

Service dogs can also provide vital support to people suffering from mental or psychological disorders, organic brain syndrome and specific learning disabilities.

Non-physical disabilities that may qualify an individual for a service dog include:

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

• Panic attacks.

• Anxiety disorders and phobias.

• Mood disorders.

• Schizophrenia and psychotic disorders.

• Age-related cognitive decline.

• Neurocognitive disorders.

• Bipolar disorder.

• Dissociative and personality disorders.

Service Dog Training at a Local Mall

Where Service Dogs Can Go

Sometimes, having a dog around just makes people uncomfortable. But to what extent can this discomfort be used to exclude a service dog from a public space? Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a service dog and someone with an allergy to dog dander must share a space, every effort should be made to place them within different rooms or different locations within a room.

Restaurants and markets that sell or prepare food must generally allow service animals in public areas even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises. People with service dogs cannot be:

• Isolated from other customers.

• Treated less favorably than other patrons.

• Charged fees that are not charged to other patrons without animals.

Staff are not, however, required to provide care or supervision of a service dog.

Despite the profound benefits service dogs provide their handlers, the world at large is still coming to grips with how to respond to - and accommodate - these special animals. We ask that handlers be patient and informative when confronted with resistance to their service dogs but also firmly insist their rights be respected. We hope that, over time, the presence of service dogs will become normalized so they can smoothly - and without hindrance - perform the duties enriching the lives of their handlers.

A good discussion of service dog qualifications can be found here: “What Disabilities Qualify for a Service Dog? - The Goodwin Firm.”

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF MOBILITYDOG.ORG.

Save the Date for the Poodle Palooza 2024!