Not reading deep into the article, I'll give my view then.
So... If I said I was depressed my dog could sit next to me on the plane? For free? No matter how depressed I am though I'd never admit it (I like to think people should just deal with things and keep on pushing), so my buddy has to stay behind. It makes you think though about how much depression and anxiety is over-diagnosed these times, so if that's how it is then I don't understand what's the problem with emotional support animals as long as you are not giving blind people wild dogs.
If you are diagnosing everyone with depression and anxiety, then the problem isn't that they choose to certify their pets as emotional support animals.
Wait, do police dogs count as service dogs? If I got into a K9 unit does that mean I could take the dog on planes?
For after I read article intently:According to the Fair Housing Act, tenants are welcome to keep assistance animals, as "No pets" policies don't apply, since such animals aren't pets. Landlords can't even charge extra fees or a pet deposit. Ashley was welcome to keep it, so long as it was never documented being aggressive and required no unreasonable accommodations.
I would expect for an assistant pet that they should actually test them, not just "oh, no recorded incidents so it must be fine". Like if you keep a yappy dog inside all day, never socialising it, then it would be feral but since there was never any "recorded incidents" then it's an assistance animal.
They should do behavioral testing for the pets in different situations, so it's confirmed they are not dud animals and depending on how they act then restrictions can apply on where they would be allowed (eg, if a dog barks constantly then it wouldn't be allowed in quiet spaces). Like how you usually see really docile and calm dogs in retirement houses that are not just going crazy.
More importantly, they gotta quit the diagnosing people with every damn thing. The fact that healthy people can "fake disabilities" means that obviously there needs to be reform on what is perceived as a disability, if that woman says she is depressed and that the dog was her grandma's and that gets her in, that's not faking it. That actually is what happened if you perceive these definitions as subjective and constantly changing.
I don't know, I just think don't believe that people "faking it" is the problem and think that doctors are too easily diagnosing it.