How did this Happen?

How did this Happen, and what to do about it. 

I started this blog with dogs in mind, and since service dogs are near and dear to my heart I knew I wanted to start out strong with something about them. But because everyone wants to start with something epic (Okay maybe I set my sights too high for a first post) I pondered and stressed over what to start with. But as a member of a large number of service dog groups, forums and follower of many dog blogs it was only a matter of time before a subject would jump out at me.

Tonight while answering questions for one of the groups one of those subjects did. And in a big way to boot. In order to understand where the subject is coming from let me start off with the fact that service dogs are covered under more than one law, the American's with Disabilities Act is the big one that people site most often because it covers most situations, but isn't the only one.

The whole point behind disability law's like the ADA, are to provide people with disabilities with the same opportunities as other non disabled people. They are laws that are written specifically with the purpose to limit or eliminate *discrimination against disabled people... So how did the ACAA (Air Carrier's Access Act) manage to get away with such a dozy of discrimination against one segment of the population, and why did it happen?

The Law in Question  

§382.117 Must carriers permit passengers with a disability to travel with service animals? 

(a) As a carrier, you must permit a service animal to accompany a passenger with a disability.  

(1) You must not deny transportation to a service animal on the basis that its carriage may offend or annoy carrier personnel or persons traveling on the aircraft.  

(2) On a flight segment scheduled to take 8 hours or more, you may, as a condition of permitting a service animal to travel in the cabin, require the passenger using the service animal to provide documentation that the animal will not need to relieve itself on the flight or that the animal can relieve itself in a way that does not create a health or sanitation issue on the flight.  

(b) You must permit the service animal to accompany the passenger with a disability at any seat in which the passenger sits, unless the animal obstructs an aisle or other area that must remain unobstructed to facilitate an emergency evacuation.  

(c) If a service animal cannot be accommodated at the seat location of the passenger with a disability who is using the animal, you must offer the passenger the opportunity to move with the animal to another seat location, if present on the aircraft, where the animal can be accommodated.  

(d) As evidence that an animal is a service animal, you must accept identification cards, other written documentation, presence of harnesses, tags, or the credible verbal assurances of a qualified individual with a disability using the animal.  

(e) If a passenger seeks to travel with an animal that is used as an emotional support or psychiatric service animal, you are not required to accept the animal for transportation in the cabin unless the passenger provides you current documentation (i.e., no older than one year from the date of the passengers scheduled initial flight) on the letterhead of a licensed mental health professional including a medical doctor specifically treating the passenger’s mental or emotional disability (e.g., psychiatrist, psychologist, licensed clinical social worker) stating the following: 

(1) The passenger has a mental or emotional disability recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM IV);

(2) The passenger needs the emotional support or psychiatric service animal as an accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at the passenger’s destination; 

(3) The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional, and the passenger is under his or her professional care; and 

(4) The date and type of the mental health professional’s license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued. 

 What does it mean?

I would like you to read the section I've highlighted in red. Most people wouldn't blink twice at this, but it is a very discriminatory section of the law.  They have singled out disabled service dog handlers with mental or emotional illness's and required them to present paperwork pertaining to their disability. Something that no other disabled handler is required to present.

See section (d) if you doubt what I'm saying. So my question's are, how did this happen. How did a law that is written to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities managed to do exactly that. And how can we fix it?

Service Animals Vs Emotional Support animals

I'd like to take a moment here to make a point to clarify something that this law has managed to make more confusing that it should be. And that is the difference between a service animal, and an emotional support animal.

A service animal is specifically trained to assist a person with disabilities. They are trained to do either tasks or work in direct correlation to their handler's disability. Thousands of hours of training, go into these dogs to make them safe and comfortable in all public spaces.

And emotional support animal isn't a service animal, it actually is barely a definition at all. They are nothing more than pets that are granted rights to live with, and sometimes fly with their disabled owners. There is no special training required. I won't say that they aren't something special, because everyone with a pet knows that there is something very special about them. But they aren't a service animal. Service animals are specifically trained medical equipment. They are their handler's door to the rest of the world.

A service animal trained to assist someone with a psychiatric condition is no different than a service animal trained to assist someone with seizures, hearing problems, vision problems, or mobility issues. They all are trained to do the same types of tasks, are trained to the same high standard of behavior, and all Assist someone with a medical disability.

Here's where part of the problem starts

Psychiatric conditions Are medical conditions. They are conditions where part of the body isn't functioning correctly. Yes they Generally (not always) start in the brain, but so do a lot of other conditions. Many vision problems arise from the brains inability to correctly read the information that is being sent to them to the eyes. Most seizures are caused by the brain, many nerve problems have their roots in the brain.

So why do we treat psychiatric conditions like they're something different than other medical problems?

There is no characteristic of psychiatric conditions that can't be found in other medical conditions, including behavioral and emotional changes which can also occur with imbalances in other parts of the body. There is still a stigma in this country associated with psychiatric conditions, a stigma rooted in ignorance.

Why a Psychiatric service dog isn't a Psychiatric service dog

If we've established that Psychiatric conditions are medical conditions, and service dogs are trained to assist with medical disabilities why is the ACAA trying to pretend that they are a different thing all together. This is a question I would love to see answered and unfortunately Don't have an answer for yet.

I know that the tasks that a service dog for psychiatric medical conditions are trained to do are often no different than any other category of service dog. Things including medial alert for their conditions. Responses such as retrieving medications, retrieving water. Guiding work similar to that of a guide dog. Hearing alerts,  and even traditional 'mobility' based tasks.

Who does this affect

You may be asking your self who this affects and why you should even care? An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric condition in a given year. And while the number of those that are actual disabled by their psychiatric condition is likely far less it is still a sizable chunk of the population. I'll add to those numbers that many of our returning veterans who are diagnosed with PTSD and other war related trauma's every year. I would hazard to guess that everyone knows at least one person with a mental illness whether they know it or not. Someone you love and care about. Discrimination is real, but it isn't right, especially when it is done by the very laws meant to prevent it. 

Why did this happen? 

Anything in this section is purely my opinion based off observations. In this country there is a problem, and the problem lies with lack of education. Education on what a service dog is, what a service dog does. Who qualifies for a service dog?  And the training required to become a service dog. There is I'll admit a group of pet owners who for one reason or another have decided that it is easier for them to pretend that their pet is a service dog. There are also people with disabilities who don't understand what a service dog is, or how to train them. And this can and does cause some problems over dogs that are not as well trained as they should be. 

This is especially a problem when people want to take their pets with them on vacation and don't want to have to pay to fly with them, or have to search to find pet friendly hotels. It is unfortunately easy at this point for people to pretend their dogs are service dogs because most business's don't know their own rights. They don't know when they can and should require a person to take out a dog that is causing a disturbance. 

This has lead to groups of people clamoring for the laws to change, for the government to crack down on 'fakers'. Unfortunately their proposed solutions largely involve making things more difficult for people with disabilities and do nothing to actually remedy those who are taking advantage of the lack of education surrounding service dogs. Their proposed solutions are clunky and largely hinge on the government keeping registries and databases. I'll go into why these proposed solutions won't work in another blog post at another time.

What can we do about it?

First thing we can do is talk about it, rather than ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away. We need to educate ourselves, and our friends and family. We in the service dog community need to train business's in proper service dog law because like it or not the problem with people bringing their pets in public is part of the problem here. Offer to talk to airlines and airports to properly train airport personnel in how to tell if a dog is or is not a service dog. 

Reaching further than that we need to contact our state representatives, let them know that this law is unacceptable. Organize ourselves with local and national disability rights groups, and local and national mental illness awareness groups. Likely this law has been allowed to stand so long because the people that it affects have put their heads in the sand and hoped it would go away, or just dealt with the discrimination as best they could. Rarely do we as singular's make a stand, and one voice in the crowd is rarely going to be heard.. but until someone says something nothing will change.

Last thoughts 

As the handler of a dog who does some psychiatric related tasks this is a law I should be interested and concerned about. And I am, but like you I always seem to have something else on my plate to deal with. I don't fault myself for that, but I do hope that I can do better. Because while one voice may not change the world it has the ability to change the minds of the people around them, and the more minds that are changed the more voices are added to the crowd. So even if you feel like your voice isn't important or you won't be heard, try. Speak out.. mention it to your neighbor, sister or brother. Be the voice that causes change for the good. 

* discrimination

noun

1. 1. the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, esp. on the grounds of race, age, or sex.