The ADA has changed one of its rules, resulting in great hardship for many disabled Americans. Cats were recognized as service animals until a change on March 15, 2011. There are numerous cats helping people perform daily functions. Cats can be trained to perform tasks and some begin doing things, such as alerting someone before a seizure begins, all on their own without special training.
Revoking cats' status has been devastating! Cats are no longer allowed to go in some public places to assist their person. Going to the store is now a life-threatening situation. In addition to terrible physical symptoms, severe anxiety plagues the person due to the fear of not being warned of an attack or assisted with necessary tasks.
Traveling anywhere provides huge challenges. Hotels do not have to allow a cat to stay there, if they have a "no pets" policy, without service animal recognition. What if you need to stay in a small town and the only hotel has a "no pets" policy?
Use of public transportation creates great problems. Airplanes, buses, trains, and cruise ships do not have to permit a service cat onboard. Without a necessary helper, the person would likely not even be able to go on this journey. Very few cruise ships have a kennel onboard, so pets are excluded on most cruises. The ones that have a kennel would require payment, for a cage, and would not allow the cat in the cabin with its' person without recognition. Cats receiving their status back would require they stay in the cabin and go where needed with their person. No fee can be requested for a service animal, that a pet incurs. Why should disabled people be prevented from public transport because their helper is banned? This is not right.
Cats help many disabled people, having outstanding eyesight, hearing, and olfactory abilities. My cat, Elijah, was my service cat alerting me to the presence of spiders before I stumbled upon one. I have Arachnophobia. Cats are domesticated animals that are highly intelligent, very sensitive, and are very helpful to humans. Dogs and miniature horses are the only animals currently recognized by the ADA. A horse, but not a cat? Let's get cats re-instated as service animals.
