What Are the Rules for Service Animals?

Learn more about the rules for services animals with Mia Ives-Rublee!
Subtitles available in English and Spanish. Subtítulos en inglés y español.
View video with ASL and Audio Descriptions: • [AD] [ASL] What Are th...
Produced by Block by Block Creative.
Transcript:
[Mia Ives-Rublee Speaking]:
Hey, I'm Mia, and this is Zini. Today we're here to talk about service animals.
What are the rules? How should you act around them? Everything you ever wanted to know. But first, it's important to know we're talking about service animals, not pets, not emotional support animals or therapy animals. There are different rules and different states for each of them, but a service animal is described by the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law, and the rules are the same everywhere in the US.
So what are service animals? They're dogs and occasionally magic horses. An important thing is that they help perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability. These animals play a crucial role in helping us navigate our daily lives and live independently.
For example, guiding someone who is blind or has low vision, providing physical assistance for those with mobility disabilities, detecting blood sugar levels or blood pressure drops, alerting someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, reminding someone to take their medication or helping reduce symptoms for conditions like autism, anxiety, OCD, or PTSD. Your service animal has to be trained to perform a specific task, but there is no specific paperwork or ID card that identifies a service animal. Service animals don't have to wear vests that say service animal, even though some do. Service animals are allowed in public places, even those that don't allow pets, like shopping malls, schools, government buildings, restaurants or grocery stores.
Your employer is required to work with you to allow a service animal accommodation at your workplace. However, there may be some restricted areas within these general places of public accommodation, such as sterile environments at a hospital or food prep areas in a restaurant.
But generally wherever I can go, my service animal can come with me. So how do you know if an animal is a service animal? Here are some basic questions you can ask: if my animal is trained to assist someone with a disability, and what tasks is a train to perform? But you cannot ask what my disability is or proof that my service animal is trained. It's up to me to make sure Zini is under my control when we're out in public.
And you can ask me to leave if my service animal is disturbing or causing destruction to a business until I get Zini back under control.
But remember, when you see me out with Zini, they're working. Please don't try to pet or distract them. So help us out by following these easy rules.