Before I go any further into this article, I would just to say if you're a person who has ever taken advantage of the emotional support animal title so that your pet can get free airfare or whatever, and you actually do NOT need an emotional support animal, you suck.
You are the reason why emotional support animals get mocked and why airlines are changing their emotional support animal (ESA) policies. Some people that suffer from extreme stress, anxiety, panic, or suffer any emotional distress are being stripped of their privileges because some people want to save money on a plane ticket for their pet.
People have been getting fake I.D.s and papers that claim their pet is an emotional support animal, and this bogus paperwork is leading airlines to rethink their ESA policies, and potentially shutting down the program altogether. This measure can have devastating effects for individuals that rely on the emotional relief their pets bring them during flight. More than a third of the population reports having issues with flying and getting overwhelming anxiety on planes from thinking the plane is going to crash, to terrorist hijacking, to being claustrophobic, to not being able to escape. If something is able to quell these fears and make traveling a more pleasant experience and can be documented by a mental healthcare professional, shouldn't they be allowed to?
Mental health strides in America have been slow and a rather difficult process, especially since there is a lot of stigmas still attached to mental disorders. Emotional support animals were one of the ways society was progressing and accommodating to the needs of people who suffer mental ailments, and now it is in jeopardy of being stripped because some people try to find loopholes in a system and abuse special privileges that have been set aside for people who need them.
If you are one of these people that is slick enough to do this my question to you is what gives you the right?
I hope that in light of this negativity, airlines and the government will reconsider ESA and create stricter guidelines so that only the people that really need them get the accommodations they need, and people who have committed fraud and exploited their pets face fines and some repercussions from the airline they travel.
