 Disability defined
There seems to be a misconception about the definition of a disability for purposes of the service dog laws.(A post on another thread indicated this)
A disability is defined as a current or previous condition which impedes the completion of daily tasks.
As you can see this is very broad and covers everything from minor psycological problems like "fear" and anxiety to blindness. Some examples are obesity, high blood pressure, severe headaches, deression, arthritis, minor hearing impairment, fainting spells, diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, MS, MD, etc.
Not many people have perfect health and the healing powers of animals, and dogs especially, is well documented.
As this article points out, the more animals that become working animals and assist their owners with daily tasks and become service animals the more accepted they will become in society and everyone benefits, especially the animals and the more severely disabled.
Please do not criicize people or judge them if their disability is not as great as someone else's. The law is there for anyone who wishes to use it and there is no down side to it! |