Emotional support animals (ESAs) are becoming increasingly common as more and more people with disabilities or chronic pain seek assistance from them. 

So what’s the difference between an ESA and a service animal? 

ESA And Service Animal

Here’s a quick primer: An ESA is an animal that has been individually trained to provide assistance to a person with a disability. Unlike a service animal, which is a dog that has been trained to perform a specific task for a person with a disability, an ESA is a dog that has been trained to provide emotional support to a person with a disability.

Emotional support animals are defined as dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, monkeys, rabbits, ferrets, and rodents (other than rodents of the rodentia order), as well as other animals. The purposes for which they may be permitted to accompany their owners are broad, including to assist particular individuals with disabilities, to provide comfort or companionship to children or adults with disabilities or mental illness or emotional conditions, to provide companionship for the elderly, to provide behavioral counseling, and to help lessen symptoms of psychiatric illnesses.

Since Congress passed the federal law that made it possible to legally own a service animal in 1990, the number of people with a disability who have turned to service animals for support has grown significantly. This growing need for support animals, however, has also expanded the pool of potential support animals. As more and more people turn to service animals for support, many are not certain whether their support animal would qualify for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

If you need a service dog to help you cope with a serious illness or disability, many people with a trained service dog can take advantage of a federal law that exempts the dog from most of the legal requirements of public accommodations, such as public transportation. But there are some exceptions. For example, a dog that is an emotional support animal must be specially trained to provide emotional support and comfort without causing a person to feel bothersome, fearful, threatened, depressed, or angry.

Many people with mental illnesses can benefit from the help of a trained service animal, but not all do. Some people don’t qualify for a service animal, and some choose not to use a service animal. The truth is that the ADA recognizes that the relationship between a person and their service animal can make a big difference in their lives. In fact, a study from the University of Pennsylvania found that those who received a service animal were more likely to report improvement in their quality of life, as well as a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Final Words

Emotional support animals (ESAs) are pets who accompany people with mental health conditions, to help with symptoms like anxiety or depression.

To know more about emotional support animals (ESAs), attend the Compliance Prime webinar.