Performing Arts Fort Worth (PAFW) adheres to regulations defined in the Department of Justice’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA only recognizes dogs as service animals and requires that they are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability, including but not limited to:
- Visual impairments
- Deafness
- Seizures
- Mobility impairments
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Service animals in training, emotional support animals, and dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
PAFW staff is trained to ask certain questions to determine if a dog is a service animal under ADA regulations. A service animal must be under the control of its handler at all times. Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless the individual’s disability prevents using these devices or these devices interfere with the service animal's safe, effective performance of tasks.