Emotional Support Animal versus Allergies

[Nocontactgrief]

I think I will be in the minority here, but I want to know AIBU - I read a story about a little horse being allowed on a plane to support an individual:

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/emotional-support-horse-flight-american-airlines
(I don't know how to link!)

I have allergies to animals.
Asthma, hives & all the usual streaming eyes, coughing, sneezing etc.
I take antihistamines but they are not hugely effective against certain animals - obviously everyone is different & has different reactions.

AIBU in thinking a balance should be struck between animals increasingly in spaces where previously they wouldn't be permitted in the past.
Restaurants, cafes & hotels are increasingly dog friendly, with no regard for those for whom close proximity with animals is an issue.
Lots of companies now have office dogs.

Clearly there have always been guide dogs & people have to tolerate some animals in passing, but being in enclosed spaces for extended periods with animals...shouldn't people have a choice?

Whose needs should take priority where you get on a plane & there is a bloody tiny horse onboard?

Do emotional support needs trump physical allergies?

Yanbu. It’s not as simple as popping an antihistamine. My sister was in hospital for several days recently after being at a friends house in close proximity to a cat. She absolutely would not be ok on a plane with someone’s emotional support animal. It could kill her.

I dont know, if you know you have an allergy to cats and dogs you could mitigate it. I wouldn't expect a horse to rock up on a plane.It's not quite the same as 'please don't bring nuts on board'.

Streaming nose and watery eyes

If that’s all my dh suffered with when coming into contact with something that he is allergic to, he would be over the moon.

As it stands, it causes his chest to close up and a massive asthma attack.

Sometimes the inhalers don’t work and he needs a nebuliser.

Something that would be hard to get on a plane

If talking in terms of who trumps who, I would say person with a medical support animal then allergic person then person with an emotional support animal

The allergic person could then be more at risk (or as much at risk) as the person with the medical support animal. Allergies to animals can be immediately life threatening. People do die of asthma every year. I think the first two groups need to be of equal priority though sometimes the issue which the medical support animal is providing support with can be helped in a different way and if you're allergic to animals there is nothing you can do except be no-where near them.

particularly on a plane, where it will take time to get help if needed, like that poor girl who died of an allergic reaction on a flight a year or two back.

both United Airlines and Delta have cracked down on the wide range of creatures claimed as therapy pets. Such moves have been supported by the union representing flight attendants, which said in astatementthat the workers struggle to cope with issues like “biting, aggression, urination, defecation, allergic reactions, conflict and other disruptions”.

Poor bloody flight attendants. Reckon the bullshitters need to pop a valium and wise up. I was wondering about the lifespan of some of the ESAs thinking, if you are that dependent on an animal what happens when it dies? Major trauma, right? Then read about the "emotional support hamster" whose owner flushed the poor wee beast down the bog and "cried for ten minutes" after killing her own pet in this cruel way. Silly woman should have been prosecuted for cruelty.

As someone with anxiety (and who has previously had a panic attack on an aircraft that was so bad we landed with cabin crew sitting in the aisle to hold my hand) and allergies, allergies win. I am fortunate that mine are not life-threatening but they can be. For the poster upthread who said it’s “just watery eyes” etc, you need to google anaphylaxis.

Still, maybe I can take my full-sized horse on to my next flight as an emotional support animal. She only weighs half a tonne and only has a full on tantrum occasionally. She’s very sociable and would love to go round the cabin saying hello to everyone and sharing their food. What could possibly go wrong?

I wonder how much Ryanair would charge for having an emotional support animal? After all, Michael O'Leary owns several horses, and being put in a plane would be less cruel than the Grand National which some of them are entered for.

I like the idea upthread of passengers declaring when booking whether they have allergies or whether they need an assistance dog - because someone with a severe allergy to dogs can't be on the same plane as someone with an assistance dog (not an attention-seeking wanker's dog but eg a guide dog) yet both have the right to fly...

wonder how much Ryanair would charge for having an emotional support animal? After all, Michael O'Leary owns several horses

I would love to see O'Leary interviewed on the subject of emotional support hamsters and horses

ryanair goes for the legal minimum unless they can make money from it...

Assistance animals trump allergies, in my book. But only ASSISTANCE animals. That is, animals who have actually been trained to provide a specific function, like assisting people who are blind or deaf etc.

"Emotional support" animals are not performing any actual task that they have been trained to do. They do not trump allergies and they do not belong on flights. As other PPs have mentioned, the whole thing is a scam and people are turning up with random animals and "certificates" downloaded from the internet etc.

I am sorry for people who suffer from mental health issues, but there are alternative coping mechanisms which can be used instead of dragging a horse around with you. And I don't want dogs in any office where I am working--they smell.

When we've had someone with a (genuine) assistance dog in work, we've had to pick where they sit carefully due to allergies - I was one of the allergic people, you can't stop asthma!

I wouldn't work with an 'office dog' or go on a plane with a dog or cat as it would trigger my asthma. A shedding dalmation is a nightmare (know someone with one!).

I’m in the ‘that’s fucking ridiculous’ camp. Also, unknown allergies can newly develop very suddenly or be discovered at any point. At the age of 8 or so my cousin found out that he was allergic to horses (I think it was his first exposure to a horse, though not sure). He was rushed to hospital with an anaphylactic reaction and was treated successfully. If that had any occurred at 38,000 feet, I’m unsure that that it would have gone so well for him.

Littlecandle there is a big difference between a service dog and an "emotional support dog*. Anyone who has a pet dog and loves it could claim that it's an emotional support to them, and quite frankly I do think this is being abused in order to get dogs into places.
As for allergies there is no antihistamine I've ever tried (including prescription ones) that renders me able to sit in a room with a cat or a horse for more than ten minutes without my eyes closing up from swelling, having an asthma attack and a streaming nose.

Other Guardian article on the rise of “fake” ESPs in the US.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/12/fake-emotional-support-animals-service-dogs

”To promote your pet to the status of an “emotional support animal”, or ESA, all you need is a therapist’s letter asserting the animal contributes to your psychological wellbeing”

Which could apply to 99% of pet owners.

”n 2014, the New Yorker’s Patricia Marx gallivanted freely around the city with five successive fake ESA creatures, including a snake, an alpaca, and a pig named Daphne, demonstrating how easy it is to trick bewildered staff into letting random animals into their shops, museums, and restaurants.”

I’d laugh but there are potentially very serious repercussions for allergic people.

Interesting that there is a large call for allergies to be taken seriously on this thread but mental health issues are the biggest killer of men under 45 in this country and ways to support them are being dismissed in the same thread.

🤷🏻‍♀️

What about people that don’t like or are afraid of dogs or prefer to work in a more traditional office environment without family pets?

Maybe they should work in a more suitable office then?

Here’s the New Yorker article, featuring the alpaca, the pig called Daphne, the St. Bernard slobbering over the shallots at Whole Foods and the Rottweiler sitting third row, mezzanine, at Carnegie Hall. 🤣 but 🙄

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/pets-allowed

Assistance animals trump allergies, in my book.

Even though an allergic reaction can be fatal?

Interesting that there is a large call for allergies to be taken seriously on this thread but mental health issues are the biggest killer of men under 45 in this country and ways to support them are being dismissed in the same thread.

Fgs, nobody is dismissing mental health issues. They are saying that in the context of a plane flight, an allergy might kill you there and then, whereas a mental health issue will not.

a single assistant dog on the other end of the plane I can live with, taking preventative medication and hoping for the best.
they are so well trained and don't walk about.

I have anxiety, its severe enough to be classified as a disability.
I can only speak for myself but the faff of organising an ESA, everyone looking at us in the airport and on the plane, worrying about the smell and what to do with the poo, how does the poor animal pee, will the ESA be okay on the flight (would they be stressed, travel sick, how would I keep them safe in the event of an emergency, how would I prevent them hurting anyone else in an emergency, etc would be very triggering for me and would entirely negate the benefit of having a wee pal with me.

And I don't want dogs in any office where I am working--they smell.

I should actually clarify--I don't want a dog in the office, technically speaking, but if it is an actual assistance dog, that's that and obviously it's up to me to put up with its presence! But if someone just had a dog in for a frivolous reason, I would be pissed off.

Even though an allergic reaction can be fatal?
Well, to be honest I am thinking of the vast majority of allergies, which are not fatal. If it is a really serious allergy, that is a tricky one--some sort of steps will have to be made to accommodate both persons. In the case of a flight, people can just be put on different flights. If it is, say, a workplace, I really don't know which person would be expected to remove themselves from the workplace, but it would be a difficult dilemma.

That horse was not an emotional support animal. It was a service animal. There is a difference. That article is incorrect in calling it an esa, all other sources refer to it as a service animal.
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I guess the challenge is that whether a service animal or an ESA, they can still kill people. I guess airlines are going to have to find ways to negotiate this challenge in the future given the increasing rate of allergies.