The ADA deals with public accommodations, such as hospitals, but not private dwellings, such as group homes. These are covered under the Fair Housing Act. In addition, the facility in question may also be bound by Section 504 of the Rehab Act if they are receiving government funds. My understanding is that the facility may not exclude your daughter’s service dog under either regulation. I’ve included links to information below that should be able to help you should the facility try to discriminate against your daughter. I hope this helps with your situation. Please let me know if you have further questions and do let us know what happens!

• New ADA Regulations and Assistance Animals as Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (PDF)
• Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice: Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (PDF). Question 6, Example 3 applies directly to your situation.
• Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines
• Disability Rights in Housing
• People with Disabilities: Section 504 FAQ.
• Fair Housing: Equal Opportunity for All (PDF)
• Key Provisions and Regulations Implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
• A Guide to Disability Rights Laws

There are a few things anyone who uses an assistance animal should know regarding housing:

• The animals are defined differently under the Fair Housing Act than under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Fair Housing Act does not restrict the breed of the animal (except in narrow cases (PDF)) and does not require the animal to be trained but the animal must directly mitigate the disability. Because of this, you may hear these animals referred to as service animals, assistance animals, therapy animals, companion animals, aide animals, working animals, etc.
• The animals are not considered pets and may not be treated as pets. This means facilities may not deny them due to a no pet clause and they may not charge a fee, deposit or rent specific to the animal.
• The Fair Housing Act interprets “dwelling” and “dwelling units” broadly and it also applies in all housing transactions (renting, sales, homeowners associations, etc.).

Thank you for your help, insight, and suggestions.
Tracy

I’m sorry your health is doing so poorly but it sounds like a miniature horse might not be a suitable service animal for you even if you could afford the upkeep. I had looked into using a miniature horse myself but quickly came to the conclusion that it was not a suitable choice since I needed to use my service animal indoors 24/7 and a miniature horse needs to spend ample time outside for health reasons (at least overnight). I sometimes need help to get out of bed during the night or morning and this would not be possible. In addition, the area where I live is not zoned for farm animals and there was no guarantee that this would be waived for a service miniature horse. It’s simply untested waters and if any neighbor complained, I’d likely lose. Unless you live in a rural location, I fear you may discover the same thing. Also, remember that you need to check with each facility you plan to visit ahead of time to see if they can accommodate the miniature horse. Accommodation is based on the type, size, and weight of the miniature horse, the handler’s control of the miniature horse and whether the miniature horse´s presence compromises safety requirements necessary for the facility’s safe operation. There’s no guarantee that all facilities will be able to accomomodate the animal.

Regarding the expense involved in upkeep, there is expense involved with owning any type of a service animal and the cost is greater if you choose to train your own. Please see the current post titled, Is a Service Dog the Right Choice for You? You may also be surprised to learn that in researching a miniature horse as an option for myself, I discovered that the upkeep (vet & food bills) was actually less expensive than a service dog’s. Assuming you live in a place zoned for farm animals, you would need to build a small shed for the miniature horse (or purchase a pre-built one from Lowes or Home Depot). Food of hay and oats can be cheaply purchased from any feed store. Horse vets in this area tend to charge less than regular vets. One reason is probably because they generally don’t need to pay for upkeep on a veterinary hospital.

If you would still like to consider a service miniature horse, there’s no reason you need to train your own. You may be able to find a non-profit willing to train a horse for you and it shouldn’t cost you anything. I highly recommend going this route over training your own, regardless of the species, because of the issues involved with training your own. For example, what will happen to the miniature horse if the miniature horse doesn’t work out or if you find that you don’t have the background or stamina needed to train one?

But dogs and miniature horses are not your only options. These are your options federally but some states still allow other species to work as service animals. Be sure to check your state laws to see if this is the case where you live. It would mean that whenever you left the state, you may not be able to travel with your service animal but if you don’t do much interstate travel anyway, it won’t matter. Perhaps a pig may be a more appropriate animal for you to consider? I understand that they are quite smart and despite their reputation, clean.

I don’t know your situational needs but if your main need is help inside your house, you can use any animal as a service animal. The issue only arises when you need to leave. If you live in a situation where someone else handles the majority of your non-household needs, then research what animal you’d like to use to see if it’s feasible for you.

Whatever animal you choose to use, please be sure to contact a qualified trainer to discuss the feasibility of this kind of animal working as a service animal and to help you find a suitable one. If you have never trained this type of animal, it will also be helpful to work with a trainer if you decide to train the animal yourself.

Best of luck! I hope you’ll find an option that works for you.

Rebecca

Did you get your dog through a program or train your own? Mine was trained by Summit Assistance Dogs but as you know, training never stops! I’m always working on new tricks and honing her current skills.

A therapy animals (not necessarily a dog) are trained to work with many people unlike a service dog which is individually trained to work with a specific individual. What training they receive depends upon the type of work they will be doing. Most people are familiar with are the therapy animals handled by volunteers that visit with people in hospitals and nursing homes or sit with kids while the kids read to them. The type of training these animals receive is similar to what’s needed to pass the Canine Good Citizen test: good public behavior. Other kinds work with professionals such as occupational therapists, physical therapists and psychotherapists. These animals sometimes receive specialized training beyond good public manners to help the professional’s clients perform tasks. For example, they may be trained to stand still while a person combs them. This can be very helpful for someone who has injured their hand, arm or shoulder and is receiving occupational or physical therapy. While therapy animals may help someone with a disability, it is not a requirement. These animals are not covered under the ADA.

Assistance Dog is an umbrella term for any kind of dog that offers assistance. Emotional support dogs, service dogs, therapy dogs, search & rescue dogs, etc. all fall under this umbrella. The FHAct refers to assistance dogs, which caused some confusion on the part of emotional support dog owners since many service dog owners often refer to their dogs as assistance dogs. I believe this is one reason why some emotional support dog owners incorrectly thought they were covered under the ADA. This was never the case and to make this clear, the wording in the ADA changed.

Some people refer to their service dogs as aid dogs. Are you confused yet? This means you’ll see people referring to this type of dog as service dog, assistance dog or aid dog. There are likely other terms people use, too. If you are a business owner and are not sure, you may ask the person two questions: 1) Do you have a disability & is this your service dog? and 2) What tasks has your dog been trained to do. The person should be able to name three tasks the dog has been trained to do. Anything that a dog does without training is not considered a tasks. Remember to never ask a person about their disability. This is both rude and illegal.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Also what the different between a Service Dog / Assistant Dog

Also whats the different between a Service dog / Aid Dog

I’m seeing more people having a vest on with this type of patch Aid Dog.

Please help! Me understand

1. The loom used is listed in the first line under Pattern Information. Decor Accents was purchased and I’m not sure if this loom is still sold and if it is, if it’s made the same way. As a reminder, what loom was used isn’t nearly as important as the gauge. I’m sure you realize that we could both use the same loom and yarn but our knitting styles may be different — you may work your stitches much tighter or looser than mine so you’d need to change the pattern accordingly or use a different loom to make sure that the size of the garment stayed the same. As you know, this isn’t as important when you’re knitting a scarf or a blanket but when you move to fitted garments, it’s essential! This holds true whether whether knitting with a loom or needles. If you can’t remember how to do this, there are directions on Loom Knitting Help under how to substitute yarn. Even though the title may seem like it’s not related, the concept is the same for both.
2. As I responded to you privately yesterday, the pattern assumes that you are already familiar with standard knitting vocabulary. Loom Knitting Help does have a small primer on abbreviations as well as a glossary if this is new territory for you. The Craft Yarn Council also has information on How to Read a Knitting Pattern as well as a Knitting Abbreviations Master List. I hope one of these links will help you with your questions.

While the sweater is marked as easy, as noted in the post’s opening paragraph, it assumes that you have already learned the basic stitches so it’s not an appropriate pattern for someone who is relatively new to knitting. You can learn more about skill levels for knitting and crocheting at the Craft Yarn Council‘s Skill Levels page. Reviewing the information presented about each stitch in this section as well as the ones noted below should also help answer the bulk of your questions.

1. the single rib stitch pattern
2. the twisted stockinette stitch pattern
3. the bar increase stitch
4. the knit two together through the back loop (k2tog tbl) decrease stitch
5. the slip slip knit through the back loop (ssk tbl) decrease stitch
6. the crochet cast-on method
7. the provisional bind-off method

The offer to join the preliminary project is still open if you’d like to participate. I think it would help give you a strong background that will help you work this pattern and future patterns with confidence. I think you’ll find the other ladies involved to be very supportive and lots of fun to knit with. Please contact me privately to learn more about it.

I am sorry the pictures and Knifty Knitter converted pattern weren’t posted but I’ve had some very serious health issues over the past four years as well as family business to attend. This is why I pop on the blog so infrequently. I will try to get both of these done but they will need to wait until after the project I’m working on is near completion as this will help prepare loom knitters to work these patterns.

Best of luck and happy knitting!

Emotional support animals and therapy animals have never been covered under the ADA. I believe much of the confusion with emotional support animals was due to the fact that they are referred to as assistance animals by FHAct so some assumed this meant they were also covered under the ADA since many people with service animals also refer to them as assistance animals. I discuss this in more detail in the next post.

Therapy animals are in a different category altogether. While many have received task-based training, not all work with people with disabilities to help mitigate their disability. The work you describe is one such example. Those that have received such training are usually used by physical or occupational therapists as part of therapy they perform. The animal may or may not be used with an individual with a disability in these situations. More importantly, you need to remember that the law covers individuals with disabilities only, not able-bodied individuals who use animals as part of their work. The law offers service animals as an option of assistive equipment to an individual with a disability and these animals must meet the definition put forth in the ADA. In addition, ADA § 36.302(c)(4) and (5) require that the individual with the disability be solely responsible for the handling of the animal. This is simply not the case for a therapy animal. The ADA has never covered able-bodied individuals and therefore has never covered the animals they own, no matter how well they’re trained. While it’s possible that a physical or occupational therapist has a disability and is using their service dog to also do therapy work, this is usually not the case. In such cases, the physical or occupational therapist is the one covered under the ADA to use the service animal.

The type of work you are describing is support via the presence of the animal and this has never been defined as a task under the ADA. Please see the next post for more detailed information. The work you are doing is wonderful and I sincerely hope that you will continue but again, emotional support and therapy animals have never been covered by the ADA.

Rebecca

Emotional support animals actually are of great benefit, however, they have never been covered under the ADA. I do agree with you that some training organizations are not training their dogs appropriately which is why I recommend people get dogs through Assistance Dogs International (ADI)- member organizations. ADI requires the facilities, their trainers and the dogs to comply with standards. I don’t know if you have looked into ADI accreditation for your program or not. If not, I hope you will have a look and give some consideration to become a member program. I think you might be surprised by how much is required (PDF) as part of their minimum requirements. To be clear, this is not to say that all non ADI-member organizations do a bad job training. Many do do a good job; it’s just not guaranteed.

I don’t believe it will be that big of a cost issue, either, especially since once standards are in place and certification is available, insurance companies will be willing to consider covering the cost so you won’t need fundraisers. Service animals are considered medical equipment after all, just like wheelchairs. The reason why most insurance companies won’t cover these expenses now is because they can’t tell how well the animal is trained and if it has been trained to help mitigate the individual’s disability. I discuss this more in the next post.

Rebecca

Please remember that the mere presence of the animal would is not enough for the animal to be considered a service animal and under the ADA would be considered a pet. However, FHAct and the DOT does make accommodations for emotional support animals and these animals do not have to be dogs. This is discussed in more detail in the next post. If you are curious what dogs can be trained to do to help someone with PTSD, please see Service Dog Tasks for Psychiatric Disabilities.

From what I understand, one of the reasons why birds of any sort are not permitted is due to the health issues with the birds droppings. It is important that immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women not be near these droppings and I’ve been told that it’s not easy to potty train a bird like a dog.

Taking up room at a public accommodation isn’t usually an issue unless we’re talking about a very large dog such as a Great Danes or Irish Wolfhounds or miniature horses. While it’s true that some facilities are unable to accommodate a miniature horse due to it’s size, most dogs are generally able to curl up so they don’t take up much room. For example, my first service dog was an Australian Shepherd and he was able to curl up and fit under the chair in front of me on an airplane!

Rebecca

Nutritional yeast is essential to the recipe and plays a big part in the flavoring. This is a deactivated yeast, however, if that makes a difference for your diet.

Rebecca

This is a substitute for chicken boullion. Here is one for beef boullion:

Rich Yeast Flavoring Powder

Ingredients
1 c Red Star nutritional yeast maxi-flakes
3 T dried parsley
2 T salt
1 1/2 T dill seeds
1 1/2 T onion powder
1 1/2 T dried basil
1 1/2 T celery seeds 1
T dried thyme
2 t dried rosemary
1 T freshly ground black pepper

I hope this helps!

Public transportation falls under Title II of the ADA and privately operated transportation (hotel shuttles, taxis, limos, etc.) falls under Title III of the ADA. The ADA applies to all states and territories in the US. Oregon may have laws that grant greater protection to individuals who use service animals (e.g., laws regarding interference, laws permitting animals other than dogs and miniature horses to act as service animals, laws permitting service animals in training to receive the same benefits, etc.) but at a minimum, transportation is required to comply with the ADA.

If you need to know specifics about Oregon’s laws, I’d recommend doing a search of Oregon.gov as well as Oregon State Legislature. In addition, you can call Disability Rights Oregon, which is Oregon’s designated protection and advocacy agency. Those agencies are there for both the individual who has a disability as well as businesses to help answer questions. I’d also recommend checking out Assistance Dogs International’s Guide to Assistance Dog Laws, which can be ordered for a small fee (book format) or downloaded (PDF format). Please keep in mind that this was last updated in 2006 so the changes to the ADA are not covered and it’s possible that states have updated their own laws within the last five years. Even though it may be out of date, it’s still an excellent start since the chapter numbers of the laws generally stay the same so you can look them up to see how they’ve been updated. New legislation will not be covered, of course, but sometimes there are pointers to them when looking through the laws.

Rebecca

I think you’ll find the legitimate service dog handlers feel the same way about people posing as having a disability so they can bring their untrained pets in to places. Currently, a public accommodation cannot ask for certification or documentation that the dog is a service dog but they may make the following two inquiries:

1. Is the animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the animal has been trained to perform?

While it’s true that someone can lie about the animal being needed because of a disability, most people can’t come up with specific tasks the dog has been trained to do to help mitigate the disability. It’s not a perfect solution but it is better than nothing. I personally would like to see national certification some day but I’m in the minority of those working with a service dog who want this. I discuss this in more depth in the next post.

Rebecca

What exactly has your dog been trained to do? Has it been individually trained by you or someone else to do a task that helps mitigate your disability? From your description, the dog hasn’t been trained to do anything, only reacts to a situation, and therefore would be considered a pet or an emotional support animal instead of a service animal. This is discussed in more detail in the next post. I have also responded to your comments with suggestions via e-mail. Please let me know if you need further help.

Rebcca

While I can’t speak for Jaime, usually when people want proof, they’re looking for national certification of service dogs so businesses and the public can be assured that the animal has been trained to certain minimum standards. Public accommodations may not ask for certification or other proof that the animal is a service animal. The only inquiries a public accommodation may make are:

1. Is the animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the animal has been trained to perform?

Even these questions may not be asked if it’s readily apparent that the animal is trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, e.g., you see the animal guiding an individual with a visual impairment.

Rebecca

Not all service dogs wear vests nor are they required to wear vests. From the ADA’s Commonly Asked Questions About Service Animals in Places of Business:

3. Q: How can I tell if an animal is really a service animal and not just a pet?

A: Some, but not all, service animals wear special collars and harnesses. Some, but not all, are licensed or certified and have identification papers. If you are not certain that an animal is a service animal, you may ask the person who has the animal if it is a service animal required because of a disability. However, an individual who is going to a restaurant or theater is not likely to be carrying documentation of his or her medical condition or disability. Therefore, such documentation generally may not be required as a condition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal. Although a number of states have programs to certify service animals, you may not insist on proof of state certification before permitting the service animal to accompany the person with a disability.

And from The ADA and Emergency Shelters: Access for All in Emergencies and Disasters:

How can a service animal be identified? Service animals come in all breeds and sizes. Many are easily identified because they wear special harnesses, capes, vests, scarves, or patches. Others can be identified by the functions they perform for people whose disabilities can be readily observed. When none of these identifiers are present, shelter staff may ask only two questions to determine if an animal is a service animal: (1) “Do you need this animal because of a disability?” and (2) “What tasks or work has the animal been trained to perform?” If the answers to these questions reveal that the animal has been trained to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability, it qualifies as a service animal and must generally be allowed to accompany its owner anywhere other members of the public are allowed to go, including areas where food is served and most areas where medical care is provided. Questions about the nature or severity of a person’s disability or ability to function may not be asked.

If you look at the ADA §36.104 Definitions, you won’t find a requirement for how the animal must dress to be identified as a service animal. The closest thing you’ll find for this is under ADA §36.302(c)(4) Animal under handler´s control. From the ADA Update: A Primer for Small Businesses:

Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents him from using these devices.

As you can see, even the presence of a harness as an identifier is not guaranteed. Sometimes, it will be obvious that the animal is a service dog because you’ll observe the dog guiding someone who has a visual impairment, pulling a wheelchair or providing stability to someone with an observable mobility impairment. There are many invisible disabilities, however, so the best thing to do if you see a person with an animal in a public accommodation and are not sure if the animal is a service animal is to ask the manager or other employee of the public accommodation to make an inquiry. This is discussed in more detail in the next post.

Rebecca