Veronica Morris

Part 1: My psychiatric service dog has been specifically trained to recognize signs of a panic attack or bipolar mood swing. He is trained to alert me, and to ground me with deep pressure therapy and tactile stimulation until the episode passes, or until I can get to a place where I can take my "rescue" medications, which cause me to sleep for four hours. Using a service dog I need my "rescue" medications every 1-2 weeks. Before, I was using these medications daily. The last time I flew before having a psychiatric service dog, I fainted twice due to extreme anxiety, requiring medical assistance and oxygen, and nearly causing the plane to divert to another airport to let me deplane. Use of my service dog in the cabin has enabled me to fly without issue ten times since then. A psychiatric service dog is very different from an emotional support animal. A psychiatric service dog has been trained to do work to mitigate the handler's disability, and to behave in public. Emotional support animals are not specifically trained to do these things. They are a class of pet that DOT has granted special access to. It takes 1-2 years to train a psychiatric service dog to mitigate the handler's disability and to behave in public. Your average emotional support animal has had as much (or little) training as your average pet. The changes to the ACAA require psychiatric service animals (and only this type of service animal) to provide advanced notice and documentation. No other type of service animal is required to do these things. Additionally, these changes lump psychiatric service animals with emotional support animals. Emotional support animals are pets, psychiatric service animals are not. The purpose of the ACAA is to ensure nondiscrimination in air travel. Requiring people with one type of disability using a service animal to provide additional documentation, whereas no person with another type of service animal must provide it, is extremely discriminatory!