Who qualifies
Psychiatric service dogs
There is no list of qualifying conditions, deliberately. The test is about function, and it can come back no.
The definition
A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having one. Major life activities include caring for oneself, sleeping, eating, concentrating, thinking, communicating, working and interacting with others, and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 directs that the definition be construed broadly.
There is no list of qualifying conditions in the statute, in the regulations or anywhere else. That is deliberate. A list would be a decision about whose impairment counts, made in advance by somebody who has not met them.
Why two people with the same diagnosis land differently
Because the test is about the effect, not the label. Two people can carry an identical diagnosis where one is working, sleeping and managing their own care and the other is not leaving the house. The first may not be substantially limited in the statutory sense; the second plainly is. The diagnosis is evidence toward the question and is not the answer to it.
One useful point in the other direction: the assessment is made without regard to mitigating measures other than ordinary glasses and contact lenses. A condition that is well controlled by medication is assessed as it would be without it.
What a clinician is actually assessing
- Whether an impairment is present, and how long it has been present.
- Which major life activities it limits, and how substantially.
- Whether a trained dog performing specific tasks would mitigate those limitations, as against doing nothing or doing something else.
- Whether anything about the handler's circumstances makes a service dog unsuitable, including the dog's own welfare.
- Whether there is an immediate risk that needs addressing before anything else.
It can come back no
A clinical assessment that cannot return no is not an assessment. If the answer is that the threshold is not met, or that a service dog is not the right intervention, that is the answer, and it is worth more than a letter that says otherwise and fails the first time somebody tests it.
What happens if the answer is no
Usually it is not a flat no. More often it is that the threshold is met but a service dog is not the intervention that fits, or that something else should happen first. Both of those are useful answers and neither of them means nothing can be done.
- An emotional support animal may be the accommodation that actually matches what your animal does for you, and it requires no training and no species restriction.
- The limitation may be better addressed by treatment that has a stronger evidence base than any animal intervention, which is worth hearing before you spend two years training a dog.
- The assessment may identify something that needs attention first, including an immediate risk, and that takes priority over any documentation.
- Circumstances change. An assessment is a judgement about now, not a permanent ruling.
Common questions
- What conditions qualify for a psychiatric service dog?
- There is no list. The test is whether an impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities, which is assessed on function rather than on the diagnosis.
- Do I need a formal diagnosis?
- A diagnosis is useful evidence but is not itself the test. A clinician assesses the functional limitation, which is what the statutory definition is about.
- Does medication that controls my condition disqualify me?
- No. The ADA Amendments Act directs that the assessment be made without regard to mitigating measures other than ordinary glasses and contact lenses.