By: Dana Willis
What is a service animal?
According to the Americans with disabilities Act (ADA) a “service animal” is any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.
Now, the rules have changed, and this will affect many with disabilities!
The new rule as of September 15, 2010 , states that a “service animal” is now defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. The rule states that other animals, whether wild or domestic, do not qualify as service animals.
There are many people with disabilities that use other animals rather than dogs as a service animal. This knocks out the use of helping hands monkeys, ponies, parrots, and many other animals.
One person that this will affect immensely is Ann Edie. She has a seeing eye pony named Panda that has helped her for many years. Tabitha will no longer be able to use her. She will now have to retrain and bond with a service dog, even tough ponies have a longer life span and are known to be smarter then dogs.
One other example would be Sandie, the African grey parrot, who helps Jim Eggers. Egger suffers from a bipolar disorder. His parrot Sandie, helps calm him down and helps him be able to go out in public place. Whenever Eggers starts to feel anxious or uncomfortable, Sandie talks to him and tells him it is going to be alright.
These are just a few examples and now that the rules have changed, these individuals will have to make big changes in their life. The changes will not be for the better and it will cause major tension on them and their once called service animals. They will have to go through a long process on finding a new animal, training it, and bonding with it. This is going to cause a major stress in their life and may cause them to not even go out in public.
For more information on service animals and ADA
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