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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a service animal as “any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government”.
Under the ADA, a qualified individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual; a record of such an impairment; or be regarded as having such an impairment.
An individual who is disabled under the ADA can use a service animal in a public place with public accommodations. While working, the service animal’s behavior must be under the control of its owner. A service animal should not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others. Feeding, walking, and general caring for the service animal is the sole responsibility of its owner/user.
Businesses that are open to the public cannot exclude a service animal from entering their establishments. Examples of businesses that are required to provide public accommodations to individuals with trained service animals are: restaurants, theaters, hotels, grocery stores, hospitals and medical offices, department stores/malls, health clubs, parks, zoos, sporting facilities, and all public transportation systems such as airlines, car rentals, trains/metro systems, buses/shuttles, taxi services, etc. Essentially, wherever any qualified individual with a disability under the ADA is allowed to enter, a working service animal should be allowed to enter.
Business representatives are allowed to ask if an animal is a service animal and what tasks the animal has been trained to perform. A business representative cannot require special ID cards for the animal or ask about the individual’s disability.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against an individual who is renting or buying property on the basis of a disability. An example of such discrimination would be: A blind applicant for rental housing wants to live in a dwelling unit with a “seeing eye dog”. The building has a no pets policy. It is a violation for the owner or manager of the apartment complex to refuse to permit the applicant to live in the apartment with a seeing eye dog because, without the seeing eye dog, the blind person will not have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
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