Disability advocates worry about changes to service animal rules

From the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah:

The smell of raw meat or the chaos of Wal-Mart can launch Edward Carey back to a time when saving soldiers' lives in Iraq was his job. Now the former combat medic is home and Lexi, a border collie, is trying to save his.

A service dog-in-training, the 8-month old black and white puppy yanks the veteran back to reality with a tug on his pants when a panic attack begins. Often, Carey says, she knows one is coming before he does.

Plagued by anxiety, Carey hopes a new state law won't stop people like him from healing. Lawmakers have eliminated references to emotional support animals allowed in private and public places, leaving some Utahns with disabilities concerned about what the future may hold for their service.

The newly passed bill, SB 173, sponsored by Sen. Margaret Dayton would replace SB 192 (2007), sponsored by Sen. Scott McCoy. or comfort animal. They worry the law
will step on the rights of the disabled, preventing them from getting the animal
assistance they need.

"Our biggest concern is the confusion it's going to cause," said Alison Smith, an advocate at the Disability Law Center in Salt Lake City, noting that "service animal" under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is broadly defined.

Which animals are permitted and where they can go may leave their owners and businesses puzzled, she said. Emotional support animals had been broadly defined as one identified by a mental health therapist and needed in a specific location to address a mental health issue. Others see the new law as potentially exclusive, eliminating a disabled person's ability to take their animal out in public depending on its technical status.

"What the state is doing is they're trying to usurp a federal law, which is illegal," said Alan Rawley, a former public health inspector who lives in Bountiful.

But one specialist says the new law now just restates what's in the ADA. The prior law had been too broad and become abused, critics say.

"I think we have gotten out of control with allowing emotional support animals," said Linda Robinson, executive director of Gateway to Canine Partnerships, which teaches people to train their service dogs. "As much as I love cats ... I don't think a cat can be trained to go in public with you. I don't think a rabbit can be trained to be a service animal."

Trained service animals that perform tasks and emotional support animals that soothe and comfort are different, said Mary Ann Cowen, the Salt Lake County ADA coordinator.

"A lot of these people who claim they're going to be discriminated against ... they probably have the wrong name on their service animal," she said.

People like Carey would still be permitted to go out and about with their animal because the dog helps mitigate his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Cowen said.

That would be good news for the veteran.

"I now go everywhere with a battle buddy," he said. "She keeps me in the here and now."