service animals can help veterans and
other people with disabilities live more
freely and performs day-to-day
activities for example they can be
trained to help alleviate or anticipate
the symptoms of PTSD traumatic brain
injury or other mental health conditions
and can help lessen social anxiety or
service animals can work as guys for
people who are blind or have a vision
impairment I'm Leah an attorney from
Disability Rights Texas and in this
video we'll talk about the rights and
responsibilities of service animal
owners
but first what is a service animal
according to the Americans with
Disabilities Act service animals are
dogs that are individually trained to do
work or perform tasks for people with
disabilities they are not pets and they
are not animals commonly referred to as
support animals or companion animals
those animals cancer the needs of people
with disabilities so they are permitted
in certain places like residential
housing but they are not individually
trained to do work or tasks for the
person with a disability and therefore
are not considered service animals under
the Americans with Disabilities Act if
you have a service animal you have the
right to bring your animal just about
everywhere you go government buildings
businesses and nonprofit organizations
that serve the public are required to
accommodate your animal there are a few
areas where service animals are not
permitted such as in a hospital
operating room but the normal rule is
that service animals are allowed in any
area open to members up you also have
responsibilities when your service
animal is out in public you can be asked
to leave if your animal is out of
control and you are not taking action to
control it or if the animal is not
housebroken others can only ask you two
questions about you and your animal is
the service animal required because of a
disability and what work or task has the
animal been trained to do they cannot
ask you about your disability or any
other personal information and they
cannot demand proof that the animal is a
service animal thanks for watching those
are your basic rights and
responsibilities of service animal
owners if you want to find out more
check out the disability rights Texas
website at dr TX org or visit us on
facebook end with disability rights
texas thanks the Travis County Women
Lawyers Association for providing
funding to make this video possible
the information in this video is not
intended to and does not replace an
attorney's advice or assistance based on
your particular situation produce by
rooted in rights