Talk:Emotional support animal

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 * Please take the time to read the Wikipedia manual of style, and please stop adding your personal "Edit summary/from group sandbox" thoughts to the article. Thanks. Arllaw (talk) 17:37, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Needs coverage of those with allergies
Article needs expansion to cover the problems/conflict this creates with those who have allergies. Allergies/asthma can constitute a disability, and are quite common. 66.212.65.6 (talk) 00:54, 28 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Currently ADA regulations do not consider allergies to pet dander be grounds for denial of access, but do mandate that the allergic person should likewise be accommodated by given them a place away from the animal. E.g. with college dorm roommates where housing is assigned, if one person has an ESA and other an allergy, they should not be placed in the same room, and college could get in trouble if they did so.Legitimus (talk) 19:24, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

ADA regulations are not applicable to this article. Emotional support animals are not covered under ADA law. Begone with your flim flam, Jack!

I removed the allergy section from the airline section. I felt like this was appropriate with the new DOT ruling- feel free to add it back but I really don't know whether the information holds up anymore.Suisaber (talk) 12:19, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

Proposed merge from Emotional support cat
I don't see why this should be separate from the main article - is there something special about cats as apart from other support animals? ... disco spinster   talk  01:41, 10 August 2017 (UTC) ... disco spinster  talk  01:41, 10 August 2017 (UTC)
 * No reason at all; let's merge. Happy days, LindsayHello 12:36, 26 August 2017 (UTC)

Other countries
Do emotional support animals exist in countries other than the United States? ParticipantObserver (talk) 16:35, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * As far as I'm aware they don't exist elsewhere besides possible Canada. In the UK they don't exist outside of a completely informal term and not legaly recognised.Suisaber (talk) 10:10, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

Service Animal Vs. Emotional Support Animal
This article seems to fail to hilight that the mere fact that the disability is a mental illness doesn't mean that the animial is an ESA vs. a Service Animal. Rather, it needs to be reinforced that if the animal is trained to do something other than exist that mitigates a mental illness, then the animal is a service animal under ADA. 67.78.69.82 (talk) 00:38, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Different animals
I added "According to emotional pet support, the different types of ESA (emotional support animals) that can qualify are: rats, rabbits, small pigs, birds, dogs, cats, ferrets, etc. These animals can be of any age. "

But I believe it was removed? What was wrong with it or how can I improve that statement?
 * When there is no restriction within the definition, a list of possible animals could effectively list all animal species. But even if the consensus view is that a list of some sort is helpful, you should support it with a reliable source. Arllaw (talk) 21:02, 23 February 2019 (UTC)

Stephanieannb5 (talk) 08:56, 23 February 2019 (UTC)

Delta
The name of Delta Air Lines has a space within it - see both https://www.delta.com/ and Delta Air Lines, or https://news.delta.com/corporate-stats-and-facts, or even https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/DAL:US

In any event, names are capitalised, and "Delta airlines" is definitely not correct.

Mauls (talk) 15:03, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

new edits
Replaced, In some US states, providing a letter, registry, or certificate to a person who is not disabled is a crime with,''' In some US states, providing a letter, registry, or certificate to a person who is not disabled is a crime. As of 2016, there were only 18 states that make it a misdemeanor to make false claims stating that your animal is an assistance animal or to say that you are a handler training an assistance animal''', from...https://heinonline-org.libproxy.unm.edu/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/jael8&id=94&men_tab=srchresults Mmontana61 (talk) 20:17, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Replaced, ''In the US, disabled people with emotional support animals are exempted from certain rules against having animals in most housing and travel situations. To be afforded protection under United States federal law, the owners of emotional support animals must meet the federal definition of disability and must have a letter from their healthcare providers stating that they are being treated for a disabling condition and that their emotional support animals improve or benefit some component of the disability. (citation needed) with, 'In the U.S., people with emotional/mental disabilities can be exempted from certain federal housing and travel rules if they own an emotional support animal. To receive that exemption, they must meet the federal definition of disabled and they must present a letter from a certified healthcare provider, stating that the animal provides significant benefits to the person and their emotional health.''' https://esadoctors.com/esa-laws/. Providing clarity and citation. Mmontana61 (talk) 20:20, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

replacing photo
Replaced black and white photo of a person with a mental disorder, to one of a little girl w/ESA, to better reflect the current caption. https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-dog-beside-little-girl-1364756/ This photo is free use. Mmontana61 (talk) 20:25, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Moving a sentence to a more appropriate section
Moving this section, While an airline is allowed to require a passenger traveling with an emotional support animal to provide written documentation that the animal is an emotional support animal, the same is not true for a service animal.[36][37], to Required documentation for airlines. Mmontana61 (talk) 20:34, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Added to Fair Housing Act Amendments
Added new information to the Fair Housing section...'''It is important to note, that though in most cases, landlords do grant ESA's the same reasonable housing accommodations as a service animal, there have been instances where they do not. There are some court cases, such as, In re Kenna (https://caselaw.findlaw.com/wv-supreme-court-of-appeals/1357837.html), where the court has said it is not a violation of Fair Housing rules for a landlord to require an assistance animal to have some form of training.'''  https://heinonline-org.libproxy.unm.edu/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/jael8&id=94&men_tab=srchresults Mmontana61 (talk) 20:45, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

added new sub heading
Added ESA's in the Workplace. Mmontana61 (talk) 20:59, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Added photos
Added photo of college girl studying with her ESA cat next to her. Mmontana61 (talk) 21:33, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Added photo to show an example of different types of emotional support animals. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/english-bulldog-puppy-2-months-old-113944555?src=Bx-h6O6zrOetzjJTxXZwlA-1-64 Mmontana61 (talk) 21:44, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Added photo of dog in the workplace. Mmontana61 (talk) 21:50, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

added some new information on laws
I added a list of the states that have laws about misrepresenting service/assistance animals. Mmontana61 (talk) 22:20, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose merging Emotional Support Animal Letter into Emotional support animal, specifically with a link to Emotional support animal. As a stand-alone article the Emotional Support Animal Letter article seems unlikely to ever develop beyond a stub. Arllaw (talk) 16:03, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Issues with Recent Changes
In relation to recent changes to the article, please keep in mind that this article is about emotional support animals, not service animals in general. The place to add content about service animals other than emotional support animals is the service animals article.

Editors should not delete content from Wikipedia based upon a personal belief that it the content, otherwise supported by a reliable source, is incorrect. See No original research. If the reference provided for the claim is a reliable source, editors should not attempt to independently assess whether or not there is a flaw in the source or its study design. If you can find additional reliable sources that question the referenced sources, you can add those new sources and their findings to the article to document the problems with the prior source and its conclusions.

Significant deletions from an article that are poorly explained or unexplained are likely to be reversed, and we need to be careful with deletions that may cause an article to become biased in one direction or another. See WP:NPOV. Arllaw (talk) 17:31, 20 October 2019 (UTC)
 * A link to the front page of the HABRI website does not constitute a reliable source. There may be content elsewhere on the site that constitutes a reliable source, or perhaps that identifies other sources that are reliable and could be used in the article, but the front page is not an informational page. Arllaw (talk) 17:50, 20 October 2019 (UTC)


 * When making changes to the lead of the article, please keep in mind the purpose of and appropriate content for an article lead. Manual of Style/Lead section. Thanks. Arllaw (talk) 18:00, 20 October 2019 (UTC)

Significant Issues With This Page
The information on this page is inaccurate and does not comport with federal law. I have been adding legal statutes as well as HUD and DOJ guidance memos which clearly state the legal requirements.

Many of the academic articles (the ones written by attorneys) were written before major changes in the law that occurred on April 25, 2013. The study cited by the therapist is not a reliable source. He sits on the committee that publishes the journal, cites to his own work, and uses the incorrect legal standard that confuses the legal standard with standards applicable to diagnosing a patient and prescribing medicine.

Please use the applicable legal sources and I won't have to keep correcting the inaccuracies on this page. AbbyNormal17 (talk) 18:07, 20 October 2019 (UTC)AbbyNormal17


 * There is already an open discussion for the changes. We do not need two.


 * You have been adding general information about service animals. This article is about emotional support animals. General information belongs in the article that is specifically about service animals. Further, the lead is not a place for such an exposition.


 * You have been making unexplained deletions based upon your personal disagreement with the subject matter. You have not been providing reliable sources that support your positions, nor have you provided a valid basis for your deletions.


 * It is not up to you to decide whether or not a claim supported by a reliable source is appropriate, and your personal analysis is not a basis to delete content from an article. As was explained above, you should look for reliable sources that contest the position, then document the disagreement with those reliable sources.


 * Please make sure that your edits comport with Wikipedia's policies. Arllaw (talk) 18:56, 20 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Please review Manual of Style/Lead section. Please stop adding off-topic information to the lead. Also, please keep in mind that the lead is a place for basic facts. Further details and examples can be placed within the body of an article. Arllaw (talk) 19:08, 20 October 2019 (UTC)

I am adding the legal requirements for assistance animals, of which emotional support animals are but one type. If a cat can detect seizures and alert his owner to them, that is an assistance animal, not an emotional support animal and not a service animal because it is not trained nor is it a dog. Please read the 2013 HUD memo. The concept that an emotional support animal is but one type of assistance animal allowed under the Fair Housing Act is a significant area of confusion that I am attempting to untangle. AbbyNormal17 (talk) 20:54, 20 October 2019 (UTC)AbbyNormal17
 * Again, this article is about emotional support animals, not assistance animals in general. General information about assistance animals is thus off-topic. If you want to add content about assistance animals in general, you should see if it is appropriate for addition to the assistance animals article, not here. See also the [editor's note] left by Alex Cohn. Please also take note of the three revert rule. Arllaw (talk) 21:09, 20 October 2019 (UTC)

I don't know how else to explain to you that assistance animals are not synonymous with service animals. If I were to edit the "assistance animal" page you pointed to, my edits would get knocked down for the same reasons you are doing so here. Assistance animals are not allowed under the ADA. They are only allowed under the FHA. Please read the 2013 HUD memo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AbbyNormal17 (talk • contribs) 21:20, 20 October 2019 (UTC)
 * This article is about emotional support animals, not assistance animals in general or service animals in general. Nobody here needs definitions of the latter types of animal. This article should remain on-topic. Arllaw (talk) 21:36, 20 October 2019 (UTC)

I18n
This article is almost entirely about the USA, which makes it mostly useless for other English-speaking countries. Even the summary paragraph focusses on a single state in the USA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ginister (talk • contribs) 20:54, 27 January 2020 (UTC)
 * That is correct, and there is a hatnote to that effect. If an editor has relevant information about similar laws from other nations, that information may be added to the article. Arllaw (talk) 04:40, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

DOT rule update
I have updated the information to be more accurate to the current rules and regulations. Nearly all edits were within the airline section and when in reference to airlines. If there are issues with my wording feel free to reword it. I have removed the 'conflicting' section to do with allergies due to the issues with clarity after this new ruling.Suisaber (talk) 12:19, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

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Needs better separation from service animal
This article has too much cross-over between emotional support animal and service animal, blurring the concepts. Counterpoints and differentiation are good to include, however a better distinction needs to be made in the article between the two classes of animal (at least from the USA standpoint) because some content is a little confusing. For example, the Canada section is mostly about service animals instead of ESA, so why is that even in this article. ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 00:42, 3 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I suggest you reword that paragraph to deemphasize "other animal species" and/or emphasize the difference between common household pets and unique animals, because of the "substantial burden" required re unique animals. Note that in this case, the source itself is conflating ESAs and service animals (under the umbrella term "assistance animal") and is not just talking about ESAs here, whereas this Wikipedia article is about ESAs, not service animals. The examples given for unique animals describe service animal tasks . It is the responsibility of the Wikipedia editor to identify appropriate sources, or parts of sources, when paraphrasing (writing in wikivoice) for a Wikipedia article.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀  07:12, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * If you have a source that goes into other animal species and the rules relating to when they can and cannot be ESAs, it would be a helpful addition to the article. See WP:NOR Arllaw (talk) 00:47, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I do not. My understanding from my readings is that acceptable species for ESA are common household pets. Service animals are regulated by a completely different class of rules than ESAs. Unfortunately, most articles cover both, and often mix and confuse the two. This Wikipedia article, however, is about one... ESAs. I will say that in the earlier days of ESA, almost anything went. But I believe those rules were tightened (reworded to clarify, and separate common from unique) after reports of pigs and peacocks and other barnyard or exotic animals were presented by tenants or airline passengers as their ESA. Numerous cases have been published where people claimed their pig was an ESA, but they lost their case, giving a strong indication that ESA laws don't include unique animals as regular ESAs. Could some barnyard animal become an ESA? Sure, if a landlord was okay with it. But if not okay with it, it would be an uphill battle for the tenant because I'm just not finding any law or regulation mandating landlords accept anything other than common household pets. I think the Wikipedia article should express the mainstream on this, and not the rare exceptions.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀  02:05, 5 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Under Wikipedia's editing guidelines, assertions made in articles should be supported by reliable sources. If we cannot source something, no matter what our impression from our own research, we should refrain from adding that claim until we can properly support it with a reliable source. Arllaw (talk) 18:07, 5 April 2024 (UTC)