ESAs vs Service Animals: Everything About Assistance Animals

Assistance animals assist people with disabilities in coping with their medical issues. These can include mental conditions like anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Different types of assistance animals exist, such as ESAs and service animals.

ESAs are animals that provide their owner with emotional support, affection, and companionship. These animals are considered pets under federal laws like ADA and ACAA, and are recognized by PSD or ESA Letters. Note that service animals, mostly dogs, are specially trained animals.

These animals are trained to perform tasks related to an individual’s disability. Service animals have more legal rights as they are considered working animals. This article will discuss the difference between ESAs and service animals. Let’s get started!

Legal Definition of Assistance Animals

Assistance animals are animals that assist an individual with a disability. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) and Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSDs) are considered assistance animals. These animals perform specific tasks related to the handler’s disability. They get certain legal rights under federal law when their handlers provide proof of their status, such as PSD Letters or ESA Letters.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) protects service animals from housing discrimination. The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) grants them air travel rights. And they are also given the right to access public facilities under the ADA.

Many people consider Therapy and Companion animals assistance animals because they provide emotional support to people with mental health conditions. However, these animals don’t have the same rights under the ADA, FHA, and ACAA and don’t have the same legal protection.

What are Service Animals?

Service animals are specially trained to perform tasks directly related to a person’s disability. Their purpose is to assist individuals with disabilities. These disabilities can include PTSD, anxiety, depression, blindness, deafness, and others.

Service dogs can perform different tasks depending on their training. These include:

• Assist an individual with visual impairment in safely crossing roads and navigating obstacles
• Alerting people who are deaf to important sounds like doorbells and alarms
• Open and close doors and push elevator buttons
• Provide deep pressure therapy (DPT) during panic and anxiety attacks
• Retrieve dropped items
• Detect and alert to drops in blood sugar
• Assist individuals during or after a seizure

Service animals are considered working animals under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). They have certain rights under the federal law. They have rights to housing accommodation under FHA. Landlords have to accommodate these dogs without extra fees.

Air travel rights under the ACAA allow service dogs to travel with their owners in the cabin without any additional fees. Service animals also have public access rights under the ADA.

Recognized Species for Service Animals

According to ADA, only dogs can be service animals. However, miniature horses can sometimes be considered service animals, depending on their training. Here is the list of the most popular dog breeds trained to be a service animal:

	Labrador Retriever
	Golden Retriever
	Bernese Mountain Dog
	German Shepherd
	Poodle
	Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Types of Service Animals and Their Roles

There are different types of service animals depending on the type of tasks they can perform. Here’s a list of different types of service animals:

Service animals are specially trained to assist individuals with various disabilities. Each type fulfills a unique role tailored to specific needs. Here’s an overview of common types of service animals and the support they provide:

Guide Dogs
These dogs are trained to help blind individuals and people with significant visual impairments. They help their handlers cross streets or roads safely and navigate obstacles.

Hearing Dogs
These dogs assist people with hearing disabilities. These include deafness or difficulty in hearing. They alert their handlers to sounds like alarms and doorbells.

Mobility Assistance Dogs
These dogs perform various tasks to help people with physical disabilities. These tasks can include pushing elevator buttons, opening doors, retrieving items, and more.

Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSDs)
PSDs are trained to assist people with mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. They perform different tasks to help mitigate psychiatric episodes. For example, they can provide deep pressure therapy during panic or anxiety attacks.

Diabetic Alert Dogs
These dogs can sense blood sugar levels. They are trained to alert their handlers to drops or spikes in blood sugar.

Allergy Detection Dogs
These dogs can detect specific allergens in the environment. These include allergens like gluten or peanuts that can cause severe allergic reactions.

Emotional Support Animal Definition

An emotional support animal is any domesticated animal that provides emotional support to their owners. These companion animals help deal with mental health issues like depression, PTSD, and anxiety.

ESAs don’t need to be individually trained to perform tasks for the benefit of an individual. Instead, they provide support and comfort with their presence, companionship, and affection.

Emotional support animals aren’t considered service animals. They are treated as pets under the ADA and ACAA.

Types of Emotional Support Animals

There is no defined rule regarding which species can be considered an ESA. Any domesticated animal can be an emotional support animal regardless of its age and type.

Here’s a list of some of the most common emotional support animals:

• Dogs
  An emotional support dog can be a great companion. They provide emotional stability and comfort with their furry touch and affection.
• Cats
  Many people prefer cats as their ESAs because of their soothing capabilities and calming presence. Cats are also low-maintenance care. Their furry touch can provide happiness and ease anxiety.
• Rabbits
  These little buddies also make for great ESAs with their joyful and playful behavior. Rabbits are a great choice for individuals with small living spaces.
• Birds
  Birds offer unique companionship through their soothing vocal interaction. They can help enhance social interaction skills and help deal with loneliness. Common bird species that make for great ESAs include parrots, cockatiels, and parakeets.

Emotional Support Animal Definition

An ESA is any domesticated animal that provides emotional support to their owners. These companion animals help deal with mental health issues like depression, PTSD, and anxiety. ESAs don’t need to be individually trained to perform tasks for the benefit of an individual.

Emotional support animals provide support and comfort through their presence, companionship, and affection. They aren’t considered service animals; they are treated as pets under the ADA and ACAA.

Types of Emotional Support Animals

There is no defined rule on which species can be considered an ESA. Any domesticated animal can be an emotional support animal regardless of age and type. Here’s a list of some of the most common emotional support animals:

• Dogs
  An emotional support dog can be a great companion. Its furry touch and affection provide emotional stability and comfort.
• Cats
  Many people prefer cats as their ESAs. This is because of their soothing capabilities and calming presence. Cats are also low-maintenance care. Their furry touch can provide happiness and ease anxiety.
• Rabbits
  These little buddies also make great ESAs with their joyful and playful behavior. Rabbits are a great choice for individuals with small living spaces.
• Birds
  Birds offer unique companionship through their soothing vocal interactions. They can also help enhance social interaction skills and deal with loneliness. Common bird species that make great ESAs include parrots, cockatiels, and parakeets.

Legal Protections for ESAs

Emotional support dogs and animals don’t have as extensive legal rights as service animals. For example, they don’t have public access rights as the ADA considers them pets. With the changes in the ACAA, airlines now also treat ESAs as pets.

ESAs can no longer travel with their owners in the cabin for free. However, depending on the specific airline’s pet policy, ESAs can travel in the cabin for an extra fee.

ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) regarding housing accommodations. Landlords must provide reasonable accommodations for ESAs without any extra fees.

Therapy Animals

Therapy animals or therapy dogs provide comfort and affection to people other than their owners. These dogs visit settings where a group of people need affection, love, and comfort. These include hospitals, retirement homes, schools, rehab centers, nursing homes, etc.

Therapy dogs are trained to provide love and affection. However, they are not trained to perform specific tasks like service animals. Thus, they don’t have the same legal rights as service animals.

Therapy animals also differ from ESAs in providing comfort and affection to people other than their owners. ESAs, on the other hand, provide emotional support to their owner and live with them.

Comparing Legal Protections for Assistance Animals

Different types of assistance animals have different legal rights and protections. Service animals have the most extensive legal rights. These include Public access rights under the ADA, Air travel rights under the ACAA, and housing accommodation rights under the FHA.

ESAs only have housing accommodation protection under the FHA. The ADA considers them pets. It doesn’t grant them public access rights like service animals. With the DOT rules and ACAA changes, airlines now also consider ESAs as pets.

This means they can’t travel in the cabin for free. However, many airlines allow ESAs in the cabin for an additional fee. Therapy animals are also not considered service animals. They can only visit public places or facilities where therapy animals are specifically allowed.

Benefits of Emotional Support Animals for Mental Health

ESAs offer significant mental health benefits for those facing emotional or psychological challenges. These animals provide comfort and companionship. They help to reduce anxiety and ease symptoms related to conditions such as PTSD and depression.

ESAs can make daily life more manageable by offering a constant, calming presence. ESAs help improve overall emotional well-being.

How to Qualify for an ESA or Service Animal

To qualify for a service animal, the individual must be diagnosed with a disability defined by the ADA. Specifically, service animals must also be properly trained to perform tasks related to the individual’s disability. This is not a requirement for Emotional Support Animals.

To qualify for an ESA or service animal, you must follow a simple procedure. First, an LMHP must assess the individual. If the individual is diagnosed with a mental illness or disability and qualified for an ESA or service animal, they will issue an ESA or service dog letter.

You can obtain an ESA or PSD letter without struggling with ESA Pet. It offers an easy 3-step process to get an ESA or PSD letter online from a licensed mental health professional in your area.

ESA and Service Animal Housing Rights

Under the FHA, both service animals and emotional support animals are granted housing rights. Landlords must make exceptions to pet policies for ESAs and service animals. This includes waiving pet fees and permitting the animal even if the property has a “no-pets” policy.

You must have an ESA letter from an LMHP to exercise housing rights for an ESA. The letter should confirm that you have a disability. It should also state that the ESA is necessary to help deal with the disability. With an ESA letter, you can get housing accommodation for your ESA.

For service animals, you’re not legally required to get a service animal letter to exercise housing rights. However, having one can make renting a house easier for you.

Common Misconceptions about Assistance Animals

Assistance animals play crucial roles in supporting individuals with disabilities. However, there are many misconceptions about them. Here are some common myths clarified to help better understand assistance animals:

1. Many people believe that assistance animals must be registered or certified. However, the federal government does not recognize an official service animal registration or ESA; only PSD or ESA Letters are required. The ADA does not mandate formal training of service animals by any specific program.
2. Some people confuse ESAs with service animals and believe ESAs also require training. ESAs are not required to have any training to assist their owners with mental health issues.
3. Many believe that ESAs have the same public access rights as service animals. However, ESAs don’t have public access rights as the ADA considers them pets.
4. There’s a misconception that specific dog breeds can’t be service animals. However, the ADA does not specify any breeds for service dogs.

FAQs about Differences Between ESAs and Service Animals

What Is the Difference Between an ESA and a Service Dog?

An ESA is any animal that provides emotional support to people suffering from mental health issues. These include cats, dogs, birds, and rabbits. A service animal means an animal specifically trained to perform a task directly related to its handler’s disability.

Is a PTSD Dog a Service Dog or Emotional Support?

A PTSD dog is a service dog if it is specifically trained to perform specific tasks that help manage post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. It is an emotional support dog if it provides general comfort and emotional support without specific training.

What Are the New Federal Rules on Emotional Support Animals?

Significant changes were made in the Department of Transportation (DOT) rules on ESAs. According to this new rule, ESAs are considered pets for air travel. Airlines are no longer required to provide free travel rights to ESAs. However, the FHA still protects ESAs from housing discrimination.

What Are the Rules for ESA in Washington State?

There aren’t exactly any state-specific ESA rules or laws in Washington state. However, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) applies to houses in Washington state. This law grants housing rights to ESAs and their owners.

Conclusion

An ESA can be any animal that provides emotional comfort to an individual with a mental illness. These animals are not specifically trained. However, a service animal is specifically trained to perform a task related to an individual’s disability.

There are major differences between their legal protections. Service animals have public access, air travel, and housing rights under the ADA, ACAA, and FHA. ESAs only have housing rights under the FHA.