#33: Explore the unique roles of Disney sidekicks as they dissect how these beloved characters from classics like ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Cinderella,’ and ‘The Lion King’ relate to mental wellness. Engaging discussions reveal how these animated companions, could don the titles of emotional support animal or service animal. Unravel the therapeutic significance of these animal sidekicks, blending childhood nostalgia with a deeper understanding of mental health support.

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HPOE33

Ariel Landrum 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to The Happiest Pod On Earth, I’m Ariel, a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:21
And I’m Stef, I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:28
And here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:33
Why do we do that? Well, because we’re more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums that we consume. So what Disney experience or Disney topic are we discussing today, Ariel?

Ariel Landrum 0:44
We’re going to talk about the famous Disney sidekick animals

Stefanie Bautista 0:49
Sidekick animals!

Ariel Landrum 0:50
Usually, we see them accompanied with princesses. But now we’re just seeing them more and more in general, with a variety of characters.

Stefanie Bautista 0:59
And we all know we have our favorites, right? If you go off the top your head my the will obviously the first one that comes to mind is Flounder just because he’s cute. He was like, you know, the best friend that always got your back always was just like your number one fan. And you know, we identify a lot of these sidekicks so readily with whatever princess or whatever main character that they themselves have become main characters in their own right. Much like we love our pets, me and Ariel are big animal lovers, and we do have pets of our own. We wanted to talk about the relationship between the sidekicks, these animal sidekicks and their main character, their friend, or whoever, and categorize them in a way that’s a little bit more suited to the real world with Ariel’s help.

Ariel Landrum 1:47
Absolutely. So we’re gonna do some definitions first. And for some of you who may not know, part of one of the things that I do as a mental health clinician, is I can provide assessments to see if someone qualifies for an emotional support animal. That qualification needs to meet very specific criteria. And the first one being that the individual must have a mental health disability. The disability has to match the definition for a federal ADA, including that there are functional impairments. And it significantly limits at least one or more life functions. So I have to assess for all of those things. The other thing I have to assess is, if the emotional support animal has what’s called a Nexus that’s a legal term or a relationship, where their relationship with their owner mitigates or lowers the symptoms of that disability. So it’s a lot of assessing.

Stefanie Bautista 2:46
it really is something that I feel people have embraced a lot more in, you know, the past decade or so. And knowing through the pandemic, through all of these hard times that we’ve gone through, they really do make a difference in how we live our everyday lives, how we treat ourselves how we treat the world. Me as a mother, I know that having a pet around teaches my kids responsibility. And it also teaches them to care for, you know, animals and the things around them. So let’s get into it. We want to identify exactly what categories we’re working with, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:22
Absolutely. So we all know they’re sidekicks. But Stef and I were talking and it seemed like some of them serve more functions and purposes than the other. So with these definitions, keep these in mind as we’re we’re essentially rating and grading. The first one is a pet or companion animal. So this is an animal that provides leisurely companionship to its owner. They’re kept primarily for a person’s company, often an extroverted display, amusement or entertainment. They’re usually domesticated or have a domestic breed. And they have close daily relationships with humans, they are not considered an assisted animal. So in assisted animals an umbrella category. An assistant animals and animal that works, provides assistance or performs tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. So an assistant animal is not a pet. Very big distinction.

Stefanie Bautista 4:19
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 4:19
Is not there for just leisurely enjoyment. An assistant animal is technically a working animal. And the difference would be that some working animals or livestock, so if you think of an animal that is agricultural, for labor, it will produce like eggs or milk or a wool. An assistant animal is sort of doing like a job so they could technically be a working animal.

Stefanie Bautista 4:43
Okay, that would include like a sheep dog, right that like herd sheep and things like that.

Ariel Landrum 4:47
Yep. But an assisted animal specifically, its work involves an owner or a certain relationship arou...