Oklahoma’s emotional support animal (ESA) laws are similar to those in other states, and they uphold federal regulations for ESAs put in place by the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It’s important to be aware of the laws that apply to your emotional support animal in Oklahoma, as this helps you understand your rights.
In this article, we will explain Oklahoma’s emotional support animal laws in detail in addition to giving you insight into obtaining an official ESA in the state via an ESA letter.
What Is an Emotional Support Animal in Oklahoma?
An emotional support animal is a companion animal that provides you with comfort, love, and support through their presence alone.
The species of animal doesn’t matter, and your ESA can be a dog, cat, snake, ferret, parrot, or even a mouse. As long as your animal helps boost your mood and benefits your mental health treatment plan, they are eligible to become an ESA.
Common conditions that an ESA might be prescribed to help with include depression, anxiety, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Furthermore, when your companion animal is an official ESA, they have certain benefits and rights. Keep in mind that you must talk to a mental healthcare provider licensed in Oklahoma to receive an ESA letter.
Your ESA letter is an essential part of establishing your companion animal’s status, and it allows you to access your protected ESA rights in Oklahoma.
How Do I Get an ESA Letter in Oklahoma?
As we mentioned above, obtaining an ESA letter is an essential part of ensuring that your companion animal is a valid ESA and that you can benefit from certain protected ESA rights in Oklahoma.
To start the process of getting an ESA letter, you must make an appointment with a mental healthcare provider licensed in Oklahoma, either in person or through telehealth. If you aren’t already seeing a mental healthcare provider in Oklahoma, we can help. Once you fill out our ESA consultation form, we’ll put you in touch with a mental health professional licensed in Oklahoma who can do an evaluation.
At your appointment, you can discuss your symptoms and concerns with your provider, and they will listen to your needs. They may provide you with a diagnosis if you do not already have one, and they will help you evaluate whether or not an emotional support animal is the right addition to your treatment plan.
If you are approved for an ESA, your provider will write you an ESA letter. This letter will state your need and contain details about your provider in addition to basic details about your emotional support animal’s species and age.
Once you have your ESA letter, you can use it to access your protected rights in Oklahoma, as this letter is proof that your companion animal is more than just a pet.
Oklahoma ESAs Versus Service Animals
Emotional support animals in Oklahoma are different from service animals. The two main things that distinguish these two types of animals are basic species requirements and the tasks they may perform.
Service animals perform disability-related tasks to assist their owners throughout their days, such as guiding people with visual impairments, helping people with mobility issues, notifying people with hearing impairments to sounds like alarms and doorbells, and helping their owners by turning on lights and opening doors.
ESAs, on the other hand, do not need to be trained, and they aren’t required to perform tasks for their owners. All they are required to do is give their owners emotional comfort and help them cope with their mental health issues.
Another major difference between ESAs is that emotional support animals can be any species of animal, while the ADA states that service animals can only be dogs or, in some rare cases, a miniature horse.
Do I Need Any Identification For My ESA?
Legally speaking, no form of identification except for a valid ESA letter is required for your support animal. However, many online registries give you an animal ID card and a certification upon signing up with them, but it’s important to note that just an ID card and certification are not enough to prove that your ESA is a valid emotional support animal.
Whether you should sign up with an online registry is a personal decision, and you should make sure you avoid scam websites when looking into a way to register your ESA for an ID card.
Oklahoma Emotional Support Animal Laws Overview
Oklahoma’s emotional support animal laws align with federal regulations for ESAs and service animals. There are three main regulations that govern your ESA’s right to housing, public access, and air travel access. We discuss these laws below so you have a better idea of your ESA rights in Oklahoma.
1. The Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) is meant to protect people from discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, mental and physical disabilities, and other characteristics in housing.
This law allows people who own ESAs and service animals to enjoy housing-related privileges in the same way other people do. They can request reasonable accommodations, giving their pets a chance to live with them even in apartments that have a no-pet policy or breed restrictions in place.
To make sure your ESA is able to move in with you, you have to show the landlord proof of your ESA letter when making the request for reasonable accommodation. The FHA prohibits landlords from charging people with ESAs a pet deposit, rent, or other animal-related fees
Keep in mind that your accommodations request may be denied in a few circumstances. For example, if your request causes undue financial hardship to your landlord or modifies their operations in some way, they could legally deny your accommodations. Similarly, if your ESA is dangerous, destructive, or out of control, you may not be able to live with them.
Your housing accommodation request under the FHA must be reasonable, which means that you cannot request to bring an ESA into a housing unit where they cannot be properly cared for, such as bringing a miniature horse into an apartment complex. Landlords can also charge you fees if your ESA destroys property.
Take note that the FHA may also give your ESA the right to live with you in on-campus housing, though they cannot accompany you to classes and campus buildings like a service animal would be allowed to. Check with your university directly for details on how to bring your ESA to campus housing with you.
2. The Air Carrier Access Act
The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) used to include both service animals and emotional support animals in its protections. Under this law, assistance animals could accompany their owners into the airline cabin without adhering to any pet fees or pet restrictions.
However, changes in 2020 aimed to discourage fake emotional support animals on flights excluded ESAs from these protections. Now, your ESA will likely be treated as a regular pet by airlines.
Before booking a ticket for yourself and your ESA in Oklahoma, we recommend contacting the airline to learn more about their ESA policy. You may be able to receive accommodations for your companion animal in certain cases, but be prepared to adhere to airline pet restrictions and pay pet fees when traveling with your ESA.
3. The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) outlines public access rights for service animals. Under this regulation, service animals can accompany their owner virtually anywhere needed, including restaurants, public transporation, and workplaces.
Unfortunately, emotional support animals are not considered service animals by the ADA, and they do not have the same wide-reaching public access rights. You can only bring your emotional support animal into public spaces where the area is pet-friendly, such as a pet-friendly patio or a pet store.
Keep in mind that if your ESA is an animal like a bird or a snake, it might be harder to bring them with you into public, pet-friendly spaces that generally allow dogs or cats.
Additionally, your employer is not required to make accommodations for your ESA, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t speak to them and see if exceptions can be made for your emotional support animal.
Familiarize Yourself With Oklahoma’s Emotional Support Animal Laws
Once you have familiarized yourself with Oklahoma’s emotional support animal laws, you are ready to speak to a mental healthcare provider licensed in Oklahoma to discuss your ESA needs.
Make sure to be honest about your symptoms and concerns, and your provider will evaluate the necessity of an ESA in your treatment plan.
As soon as you have your valid ESA letter, you can start accessing your protected housing rights with your emotional support animal, ensuring you get your companion’s comfort and support no matter where you live.