Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Emotional support animals — animals whose owners are diagnosed with a psychological disability and whose companionship is prescribed by a health professional — are gaining prevalence.
As the trend grows, however, so has controversy, particularly as stories surface of emotional support animals accompanying owners on airplanes or to restaurants only to be met with less-than-positive reactions.
In 2015, a woman and her emotional support kangaroo were kicked out of a McDonald’s in Wisconsin. The same year, a woman was told to disembark an airplane with her emotional support pig after the animal defecated in the aisle. And in 2016, pictures of an emotional support turkey went viral when it flew with its owner to the surprise of other passengers.
Along with such stories are examples of fraudulent uses of the service animal system to bypass travel restrictions or gain entrance to no-pet zones — as in the case of the Wisconsin woman whose kangaroo, it was later revealed, was not a prescribed emotional support animal — and the result has been distrust and skepticism.
Lack of understanding, and perspective shaped by negative media reports, may be fueling the controversy, according to researchers from North Carolina and Colorado state universities.
Inconsistent terminology, lack of standardized certification for assistance animals and overlapping regulations have contributed to confusion and made it difficult for the public to understand the roles of assistance animals, the researchers surmised.
The team conducted an online survey designed to explore public attitudes about service, therapy and emotional support animals in which respondents were asked to answer questions based on the following definitions:
• Service dog — a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.
• Emotional support dog — a dog that provides companionship, relieves loneliness, and can help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but does not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities.
• Therapy dog — a dog that provides people with therapeutic contact, usually in a clinical setting, to improve their physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive functioning.
Based on the results, people do see assistance animals differently depending on their roles.
Most respondents believed there was nothing wrong with a person having a service, support or therapy animal if they felt it was helpful to them, according to the June report.
They also expressed comfort with service dogs in public areas — almost 60 percent stated service dogs should be allowed on airplanes, in restaurants, dormitories and classroom settings.
However, by comparison, the majority opposed therapy and emotional support animals having access to public areas and 60 percent opposed emotional support dogs in airplane cabins, 54 percent opposed them in dormitories, and more than 65 percent opposed them in classroom settings.
Despite opposing access, however, 63 percent of respondents said they do not believe people are fraudulently misrepresenting their animals as emotional support animals to gain advantages — a portrayal resulting from media coverage, but not commonly held by the public, researchers stated.
Results such as these, researchers concluded, highlight that while a positive foundation exists in public opinion, if perceptions surrounding emotional support and therapy animals are to be changed, standardized definitions and certification processes for all types of assistance animals may be a necessary first step.
Sharna Johnson is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at:
