The Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodations to be made for legitimate service animals that are “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” You don’t have to show a service animal certificate, but people are allowed to ask whether your animal is required due to a disability, and what tasks she is trained to perform.
Note that these accommodations do not explicitly apply to emotional support animals, who aren’t required to undergo any specialized training and are not entitled to public access rights. Inquire about a location’s policies before bringing your emotional support animal along.
“A service animal is trained to support the owner. Emotional support animals are completely different,” Cook says.
