Service Dogs

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OK so this is a tough topic for me. I have very high-functioning ASD. I'm in graduate school and do well academically, but stress is really getting to me. I also have anxiety, depression, PTSD, and ADHD. I do not want medication. I have tried them and they do not work. I am also very sensitive to chemicals so my body goes crazy. What does work, is animals, specifically dogs. I can't have a dog because my apartment does not allow pets. I live in my apartment because it is on-campus and it helps keep me organized to be right on campus. Living on campus makes a huge difference, and so does having a dog.

So here is my problem. I have looked into an emotional support animal and I qualify for that or a Psychiatric Service Dog in EVERY way possible. I really feel like it would benefit me. That said, I've made it my mission in life to appear normal. I don't tell anyone about depression or sleeplessness or anything else. I hide as much as I can. To have a dog here, everyone would know. People would see a dog and assume disability. I am not sure if I am ready for that. I have an offer to move off-campus and have a roommate and have pets, but that requires a roommate. It would also require me driving to campus which puts me further from the harp building and able to lose my car in the parking lot much more often. Right now I can easily walk to campus. I feel trapped in this. I know what i need, but I don't know how to get it. I should add that my university is GREAT about working with service animals. I'm just not sure about how I feel about everything being more noticeable. I like being a secret Aspie, but it's hurting me. What should I do?

It's a hard decision to make. I guess it's a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. 1. The benefits of having an emotional support animal (ESA) or the freedom given by a service animal (SD). or 2.keeping your disibility more invisible. There are drawbacks to either side.

One thing about having just an ESA is that it wouldn't go in public with you so the majority of the time people wouldn't people wouldn't know that you have a disability. (darn it. The layout of the site is starting to agrivate my sensory issues again which makes language difficult, so I apologize if my wording is strange or unclear)

I have a housing accomodation at college so that I can have a single room. My college doesn't have singles so naturally people are curious as to why there is only one person's name on the door. As far as I know, people don't assume disability in my case. Some people assume I just got lucky. If people ask me, I just usually say that I got a special accomodaton for it. I honestly don't think people even then assume I have a disability. They just know that there is some sort of special circumstance that housing allowed me to have a single room.

Next semester I'm hoping to be able to get permission to have an emotional support rat. Even animals as small as a rat can lower my anxiety level from a near panic attack to feeling perfectly fine in a matter of seconds. I know I will get more questions from people though luckly I'm fairly open about having autism. There are times however, when I don't want someone to know. I plan on saying something like "it's a long story, but I got special permission to have my rat.

I've thought about getting a psychiatric service dog. There are just so many things I can't do or places I can't go because of anxiety and sensory overload. There are things a dog could do so I could go to difficult places without getting stuck somewhere waiting for someone to come help me because I'm having a panic attack or in sensory overload. But I'm not ready and part of it is because I don't think I could handle people staring at me yet. There is no way around that part. However, I know a fair amount of people assume that a person with an invisible disability is training a service dog for someone else and that the handler themselves is not actually disabled. I don't know how often that is actually the case, but I know it does happen.