The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects disabled people from discrimination. It applies to governments, schools, most businesses, and anyone who offers goods or services to the public. Its protections require that reasonable accommodations be made for disabled people in all of these spaces. This extends to employment as well. Regarding service animals, it protects the privacy of handlers by only allowing two questions to be asked to determine if their dog is a service animal. The questions are: (1) Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?  Service animals are NOT required to be registered, from a specific training organization, or of a certain breed or size. In addition, they are not required to wear any form of identification, including a vest. However, many handlers use vests and identifiers to deter people from engaging with their service animal and to prevent access issues in public spaces. Although non-disabled handlers commonly train service animals (not protected under the ADA), the ADA protects disabled people who decide to train service animals for themselves (owner-trainers). 

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The Fair Housing Act protects all people from discrimination when seeking housing, whether private, public, or federally funded. It extends to disabled people and service dog teams. For service dog teams it prevents landlords from charging additional fees and preventing access, and it requires them to waive pet fees. In addition, it ensures that any banks or mortgage lenders do not discriminate against future homeowners. 

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California Civil Code, specifically the Disabled Persons Act (DPA), extends the public accommodation rights of service animals to service animals in training with non-disabled handlers. 

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Confused about the laws or any of the language here? Ask us questions at collarscholars@ucla.edu!