Well, I’m about to say something that’s very controversial for the service dog world, I also help with ESA‘s. I’ve seen both anxiety and depression so severe that they are completely debilitating as well. I just don’t want to draw a line in the sand for people who their own individual struggles and say that they’re suffering doesn’t count. If you want to talk service dog stuff, message me!
My pic is my service dog Ivy, now a 7 yr old standard poodle (in the pic she’s a puppy). Though where I am, in Australia, we call them assistance dogs instead of service dogs. Where are you from? I’d be curious to know if training or regulations differ to here and how.
You train service dogs, I used to volunteer training service dogs so I could learn how to train my own as it is so hard to get them assigned and I knew I would need one as I have a degenerative disability.
I do totally get what you mean with how the physical injury/disability ultimately affects the brains ability to to function. My degenerative disability leaves me bed bound 50-75% of my awake time, it’s why I spend so much time reading, so I really get it.
I was simply surprised after reading the summary to see the physical stuff. And although I consider my autism neurodivergent and my disability differently abled, I have never considered my depression or anxiety (though mostly caused by the above) to belong to either of those categories. The reason being is that for them to be classified as differently abled they must first be classified as disabilities which is a difficult, long and costly process that most medical professionals like to avoid.