A TWIC card is security clearance to secure ports and certain government buildings. It's issued by the TSA.

I know what a twic is and no, its not. I mean as in getting secret or top secret clearance. Your mental health is definitely a consideration for those.

The pictures just don't do them justice, glad OP brought this to my attention truly a game changer.

W0F0X I actually enjoy the aroma of horse manure. Not sure if being in an enclosed space such as an airplane would change things, I'd imagine any horse that flies as an ESA would have it's horse diaper securely fastened.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

LOL

Yes if you end up working for the CIA i'm sure mental health screenings are standard. I'm obviously refuting the OP's absurd and incorrect assertions.

I mean, you could say this about any pet really. Ever had a dog or watched one? I took care of one for a few weeks a while back and going out for a walk is so different, so many more social interactions.

A few weeks back I was at a bar and a friend's dog decided to rest her head on my lap and nap right there. I didn't want to disturb her so I sat there by myself for a while and had literally five girls walk up for a chat and even made out with one.

Losing their dog would be a detriment to basically all dog owner's social lives. Don't really see how ESAs make this any worse or different.

I was just refuting your assertion that no jobs require any knowledge of your mental health. The 3 million people in the US with security clearances all had to divulge mental health info, and plenty of other jobs have psychological screening. For most jobs it doesn't matter, but there's plenty where it does.

So IYO is someone with anxiety/depression unfit for security clearance?

Didn't even know this was a thing. Fortunately the law in the UK makes it unlikely that it will become common over here...

Note that they don't even consider the possibility that the animal in question might not be a dog.

LOL 'mericans

I'm neither a psychologist nor a security clearance expert. Its a factor in the decision-making process. If you have mental health problems it doesn't help I'm sure, but I don't know if people fail security clearance checks for mental health issues allow.

I know depression and other mental issues aren't something to think off lightly and I'm sorry gobbo had them. But the idea of a miniature horse boarding a plane is just hilarious, but also pretty cruel to the horse. I'm guessing it's scared ****less on a plane.

That said, I think the idea of a pet helping with depression is great, but should have his limits. I was bitten by a pitbull when I was young, resulting in a fear for dogs during my teenage years, and still am a bit anxious around big dogs. Atop of that I'm allergic to them. So imagine I still have this crippling fear of dogs and I'm eating in a restaurant in which dogs aren't allowed. Then someone brings their emotional support Stafford with him... I'm not very happy with that. And handing me a card which explains this is all lawful does not change that in any way. So then what? Should I leave, or continue eating but having a bad time because of allergies and fear, or should that person not want to eat in a restaurant that does not allow dogs?

I don't know but the latter seems pretty reasonable to me, and I'm leaning towards it.

Does this mean hookers can fly for free?

But now it's basically your mental health issue versus theirs. Maybe you should deal with your fear of dogs?

I'm not overly sure what the problem is here. Personally the more animals around the better IMO, the only proviso should be that the animal is well behaved. I'd rather go to a restaurant that had well behaved dogs scattered all over then screaming babies and kids running riot (and no I am not suggesting babies and kids be excluded from restaurants).
I think Gobbo made some very valid points and just because some people abuse the system doesn't mean that ESAs aren't a hugely positive tool for many people. FWIW I hadn't heard of an ESA before this thread, only service animals.

The real question here is, why do you all hate cute animals so much?

The only place for cute animals in a restaurant is on my plate.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...0/pets-allowed

There was a highly entertaining article about this in the New Yorker last fall.

IMO the problem isn't that people with legitimate mental health problems shouldn't be allowed to bring their animals, the problem is that other selfish people have caught on that they can fake having a "problem" so they can take their animals everywhere. People that actually need emotional support animals are so rare that if they were the only people doing this we wouldn't even be talking about it.

No, but someone that can't get through basic day-to-day situations without an animal around probably is during that period of their life.

And I still haven't really heard why relieving one person's anxiety is worth causing anxiety to many other people. The link W0X0F posted seems like a pretty good example of a situation where an emotional support animal created a pretty big net gain in anxiety.

This. I would probably try and request a refund if this happened in a restaurant that isn't McDonalds. Get your dirty animals away from me.

The problem is that apparently 40% of the USA are mentally challenged depressed hyperactive obese who need to cuddle with animals to feel good about their overworked uninsured lives.

That article is indeed highly entertaining. Although the paragraph about dog owners who feign anxiety so they can keep their beloved dogs with them all day was rather infuriating. I can't imagine what kind of a douchebag you must be to feign a serious illness and thereby screwing people who do have a serious illness, just so you won't have to spend 5 minutes away from your pet.

I guess anxiety presents itself differently to different people. For me, an anxiety attack means the onset of extreme self awareness. Sometimes I can predict when its going to happen, like at a wedding or a job interview. Sometimes its just random, like at a shopping mall. Anyway, it makes me feel like everyone is looking at me, and I get very flushed and nervous.

When I see these dogs in public places where you wouldn't normally see animals, I can't help but look at them and their owners. They're often engaged in conversations with strangers about their animals etc. For me, drawing attention to myself, and making a normally routine situation more awkward would be counter-productive in terms of my anxiety issues. But that's just me. Taking lorazepam as needed works a lot better IMO.

If any pilot anywhere has this setup I really hope they have bought the monkey a pilot's uniform.

That's why the medical community needs to lobby for legislation making dogs, cats, birds and, especially monkeys, controlled substances. Need to have some stiff penalties for over-prescribing, too.

I wasn't referring to actual service animals. I was referring to animals that are used for "emotional support". I have no problem with an actual service animal like a seeing eye horse. You seem to think an emotional support animal is the same thing as a service animal when they are not. Service animals do an actual service while ESA's are just emotional crutches. Just like Oscar was a crutch for you and not needed once you worked through your problems. Did you try to work on your problems before you resorted to taking your dog every where?

How do you feel about people that have allergies to animals? Do they not matter because someone has "anxiety" and can't be with out their dog?

Yes I'm well aware that anyone can buy a vest. Did you not read my post?

You can even buy your prescription here http://www.cptas.com/ for $160.