Therapy Animals are Service Animals Too Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Therapy Animals are Service Animals Too - Essay Example However, some therapy animal provide assistance in the form of alerting of an imminent panic attack or even simply providing emotional support to their owners (SKLOOT). These types of therapy animals should be considered service animals and provided the requisite legal protections that this label guarantees any other service animal. Service animals, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, include â€Å"any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability.† People traveling with such service animals must be allowed access to any public building without being segregated from other customers and without being required to show any kind of proof of their disability. In fact, these requirements supersede county health requirements that only guide dogs may be permitted into certain businesses (U.S. Department of Justice). The ADA's own definition of service animals is extremely broad. According to the previ ously cited definition, the animal must only â€Å"provide assistance† to be considered a service animal (U.S. Department of Justice). Assistance can take many forms, including the provision of emotional support for those with psychiatric conditions.