i wanna go to Kent State (cheapest zoology college in my state and I have $0) but they told me there was no way i could bring my pets on campus and I'm too far too commute... pls educate me more on esa and how to get one, etc?

kai-ni:

kaijutegu:

An emotional support animal is… basically, think of it as a pet prescription. You have to see a licensed mental health professional and they have to write you a letter that says that having an emotional support animal is the best solution for a mental health issue like severe social anxiety or bipolar disorder or something else (those are just two examples I know of off the top of my head). ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act, which means you can take them on airplanes (dunno how that works on international flights) and have them in animal-restricted housing. Online registries for such companions are a scam- avoid them! To have an emotional support animal on campus, you will need to work with your school’s disability office and see what documentation they need. 

However, there’s some issues with people just “getting” emotional support animals if they don’t have actual mental and/or emotional needs. There’s a real issue with people attempting to misrepresent their ESAs as service animals. My alma mater just published a story about a girl who has an ESA- a dog- and she jokes in the article that her dog is just now learning sit. She later clarified with her dog being trained to stand until she’s comfortable, but she also regularly calls him a service dog for her bipolar disorder. Emotional support animals are not service animals. They are allowed in housing and on airplanes, but don’t have public rights and honestly if people try to drag their animals places where they really shouldn’t be, I worry about the protected status of legitimate service animals and their handlers, as well as the continued US Fair Housing protection for ESAs.

‘Pet perscription’ is a great way to put it.