Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, service animals are animals that assist people with disabilities in some way.

Dogs, Parrots, Cats, Snakes!
Service dogs that do a variety of tasks from pulling wheelchairs to alerting people with seizure disorders that they are about to have a seizure. Service monkeys become hands for the owner. Cats can alert their deaf or hearing-impaired owner to someone knocking or the phone ringing.

Emotional support animals- including dogs, birds, and even snakes- provide comfort to people with anxiety disorder and PTSD. Pictured is service horse Panda traveling in a car with his owner, Ann. Panda can guide, fetch, and ring a bell to be let out to relieve himself. There are organizations that train service animals for you, although some owners prefer to train their own service animal.

ADA Service Animal Laws
Under the ADA, trained service animals are welcome in restaurants, grocery stores, and public places. Store owners cannot ask what disability the animal owner has, and cannot refuse them service.

Under the law they can ask what three tasks the service animal does for the owner. For example, a mobility service animal's task can be turning on lights, picking up dropped objects, and getting help if the owner is in trouble.

Service Animals Always Allowed
Even with the ADA people often get hassled for bringing their service animals into public places.  Often store owners are not aware of the ADA or the range of animals that can be considered service animals. Some places outright refuse to serve people with service animals even though it’s against the law to do so. 

People with invisible disabilities (such as seizure disorder and diabetes) often have an even harder time since shop and restaurant owners sometimes think they are just bringing in a family pet. If a business owner out right refuses to let a person with a service animal in you can call the police to help the owner understand that what they are doing is illegal.

See the complete list of ADA service animal laws.

Photo by Rebecca Skloot.