Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Service Animals and Postsecondary Education conference call. Currently at this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. Should anyone require assistance at any time during the conference, please press star then zero on your touchtone telephone. Also as a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Peter Berg. Sir, you may begin.
Thank you very much, and welcome to everyone joining us today. I am the project coordinator of technical assistance with the Great Lakes Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Center, and we coordinate the ADA Audio Conference Series on behalf of the ADA National Network. The ADA National Network is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The ADA National Network is a premier leader in providing you with information on the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are able to do that in large part due to the relationships that we have with the federal enforcement agencies responsible for enforcing the ADA and providing technical information and technical guidance on the law, and we have a great example of that in the speakers that we have with us today, and we''ll get to introducing them in just a moment. I''m going to do some quick housekeeping here as we go to slide 2 for those of you that are following along in the webinar room or for those of you on phone that have printed out. We have, as I mentioned, folks accessing today''s audio conference session through a variety of means. We have folks on telephone as well as folks who are in the webinar platform. If you are having any difficulties with your audio sound in the webinar platform, you can access the audio setup wizard, run the setup wizard to make sure that your computer is properly configured to hear the sound, and if you can''t hear me telling you to turn on your speakers will not do you any good at this point, but perhaps if your speakers are turned off, you are looking at the captioning and you''ll see that you should turn your speakers on. Going on to slide number 3, a new feature that''s great for folks that are out on the go and still want to connect to the ADA Audio Conference, the Blackboard now supports apps for iPhones as well as for Droid phones, and those can be accessed through iTunes or through the app store on the iPhone and also can be found on amazon.com. One of the limitations of the mobile application is that it does not support captioning. That is not visible through the mobile app. And there are some limitations with regards to screen reader users or voice-over users with the mobile application. Slide number 4, just real quickly, for those of you requiring captioning to access today''s session, captioning is provided through the webinar platform. To access that, click on the captioning icon in the webinar room, and that can be sized to fit your specific needs. Slide number 5, for those of you in the webinar platform; you can submit questions in the chat area by clicking on the chat area or by control-M. That will place focus into the chat area for you to submit questions. While you will not see the questions you have submitted, they are viewable by the moderators and presenters, and we will address those when we get to that point in today''s presentation. For those of you participating by phone, you will have an opportunity to ask questions as well, and when we get to the end of the formal presentation, we will bring back Dalem, who will give you instructions on how you can ask questions. Slide number 6, you can customize the view for those of you in the webinar room. You can customize the view of the PowerPoint presentation. It can be sized, it can be made bigger, and it can be made smaller, depending on your particular needs. Slide number 7, all of the panels, the chat panel, chat, participants, those can all be resized within the webinar platform, and they can be attached by clicking on the icon located next to those chat panels. If you require any technical assistance during today''s session, those of you in the webinar room, you can submit a message. You can go to the participant list, click on "Great Lakes," and send a private message to us, and we will attempt to assist you. You can also send email questions, so if you are on phone or in the webinar platform, you can send a question to webinars@ada-audio.org. Or you can pick up the telephone and give us a call at 877-232-1990. Moving on to slide 9 and getting to what all of you have joined us for today, and that is the tremendous list of speakers that we have with us today. We have five presenters. From the U.S. Department of Justice, Disability Rights Section, we have Deputy Chief Sally Conway. We also have Special Litigation Counsel Kathleen Wolfe. From the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, we have Staff Attorney Ramin Taheri. Last, but certainly not least, from the United States (US) Department of Housing and Urban Development, we have Associate General Counsel for Fair Housing JeanineWarden. Also Cheryl Kent who is the Special Advisor for Disability Policy. You can find all of todays speakers full bios on the ada-audio.org website and thats also where you will be able to access an archive of todays session. The audio version of todays session will be available tomorrow, and an edited transcript of todays session will be available in three weeks time. So with that I would like to turn it over to our speakers from the US Department of Justice, Sally and Kathleen, take it away. SALLY CONWAY: Thanks Peter, This is Sally Conway, and Katy who you see as Kathleen on your slides. And I will be talking to you a little bit about the service animal provisions under the Americans with Disabilities act. So if you would go to the next slide 11. One thing that I think you probably already know is that in 2010, we published revised regulations for both Title II and Title III. And we made some changes in our requirements for service animals. And one thing that is really important to know is that. what we did, we learned from a lot of experience, over twenty years.
We lost our Captioner here for a moment here so if we can hold on here so we can get our Captioner back online. We want to make sure we are providing access to all participants. I apologize for this. Unfortunately every once in a while technology does not want to work. Ill just take a moment here, and while were waiting for our Captioner to get running again its an opportunity to remind you of our July session of the ADA Audio Conference. The July Audio Conference is one of the most popular sessions in the series that we do. We will have representatives from the US Departments of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And we will get updates regarding their enforcement efforts. And also hear of any new initiatives in technical assistance materials that will be forthcoming from those departments. It''s an opportunity for you to have access to representatives from Department of Justice (DOJ) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and be able to ask them questions. Information about that upcoming July session as well as our August and September sessions can be found on the audio conference website, www.ada-audio.org. All right! We are back up, Sally, I''ll turn it back over to you.
Thanks, everybody. Okay, talking about the revisions to the provisions for service animals under both Title II, which applies to state and local governments, and Title III, which applies to public accommodations. As I said, we learned a great deal over the past 20 years in both enforcing and providing technical assistance, and way, way back when I came to the Department in January of 1994, we thought back then that the easiest problem or issue or provision to fix quickly in the Americans with Disabilities Act was going to be service animals. I''m hoping that some of you are rolling your eyes, and I hope some of you are chuckling, because it made perfect sense to us because it wasn''t usually going to be a money issue. It was an issue of education. And it is now 2013, and we are still having webinars and audio conferences, and I''ll tell you, the folks on our information line were answering between 1100 and 1200 calls a week, and by far, the most frequent topic is service animals. So what we''re hoping to do today is to help provide some guidance and clarification as people might need it. The other thing, when we''re talking about the ADA, I want to be very, very clear that the revisions in the rules under the ADA have absolutely no effect on other federal laws that may provide more expansive definitions of service animals and may provide protection for folks who use other kinds of animals or dogs. So I just want to be very clear about that. One of the first things we did is we went and looked at the definition of "service animal," and over the years, it''s been very difficult because for those of you who remember, the prior definition really was a service animal was any animal that has been individually trained, and it wasn''t limited. And it was very difficult for cover entities to work through all this and figure things out. We had calls, and I''m sure all of you out there have had calls or talked to folks who have had service iguanas, service goats. We truly did have service bees and snakes and a number of different kinds of species. And our experience was, was what was happening to folks who were using service dogs is that there really was a backlash, and covered entities simply threw up their hands and said how can you expect us to make any good judgments? So we''re just not going to let any kind of a non-human on our premises. So when we did our proposed rulemaking, we got lots and lots of comments, and we ended up changing the definition to say very simply and this is slide 12. I''m sorry, Peter. That a service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability; including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. And we added at the end of this slide, you are going to see: The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual''s disability; that language was nowhere in the original Title III reg. The other thing that we did is we also added the definition of service animal and service animal provisions into the Title II of the reg. So the next slide, Peter, number 13. What does this really mean? The first big thing is it limited the species of service animals to dogs. We did not place a breed limitation or a size restriction or limitation on the kind of dog. We also wanted to be very clear that we were clear and put in writing that people who have psychiatric or psychological disabilities absolutely can benefit from the use of a service animal. And we also really, for the first time, although it really has been our position all along, we made it very, very clear that comfort, emotional support, therapy animals, companion animals are not service animals for the purposes of the ADA. The other thing that is really important and it may sound obvious, but it''s the individual with a disability that has coverage under the ADA; it''s not the animal. And I think it gets confusing sometimes for folks. So we''re talking about a person with a disability under the ADA who uses a service animal that has been individually trained to perform a specific service, work, or task -- and it may be several tasks -- for that person with a disability. And the tasks have to be related to the disability. In terms of the individual training requirement, there is no language anywhere that requires that the animal, that the dog be trained by an organization that trains guide dogs, hearing alert dogs. It can be trained by an individual him or herself. And so there isn''t a requirement that that animal has to be trained by some organization that people may know about. And I think a lot of that is because a lot of the tasks that these dogs are performing, may be so very specific to a particular person with a particular disability that has particular manifestations of that disability. So again, the individually trained means that that dog has been trained. The next slide we were asked to speak quickly about miniature horses. And one thing that I need to say is that miniature horses are not considered service animals. It''s a separate category under the requirement to reasonably modify policies, practices, and procedures. You know, and at first when I heard about, miniature horses I didn''t know anything about them, and I thought, well, this doesn''t sound right to me. But the reason why people do use miniature horses is, number one, a lot of folks has really significant allergies to dog dander, and they can''t use a service dog. And the miniature horses are really pretty hypoallergenic. And the other thing is that a lot of -- when folks use a service dog, the working life of a service dog -- and Jeanine, you can correct me -- is usually somewhere between six and eight years. And then if you use a service dog, you need to go through the process of getting another service dog and working with that animal for a long time so that it becomes effective for you. Miniature horses, their work life can go 20 or 25 years. The other thing that I did learn for folks who are of larger stature and may have difficulty walking, may have gate issues, may have balance issues, the back of that miniature horse provides a firmer, almost a platform to help stabilize someone in their gate. We are talking about miniature horses. We are not talking about ponies. We are not talking about any kind of a horse other than a miniature horse. And generally, they range between 70 and 100 pounds, and height-wise, usually it''s between 24 inches and 34 inches right to the base of their neck where the mane ends at the top of their shoulders. So they are not ponies, and people need to understand that. And we did clearly talk about the assessment factors that you need to look at to determine if you are a covered entity, whether you can reasonably modify a policy to allow someone with a disability to enter your premises with a miniature horse. And that would be slide 15. And it''s pretty similar to the analysis that you go through for a service animal. You have to consider the type, size, and weight of the horse and whether the facility can accommodate those features. You also need to make sure that the handler has sufficient control of that horse. The horse should not be walking around on its own. It would be just like a service animal where folks who use service animals are required to keep control, and that service animal stays in that general vicinity. The horse has to be housebroken, and usually it''s pretty easy to figure out if a horse isn''t housebroken. And whether the horse''s presence in any facility or a building or a covered entity compromises any legitimate safety requirements. That analysis is really pretty similar to the analysis you would turn to in figuring if we can modify our policies to allow someone with a disability to enter our premises. I know that was a real quick trip for some of you down memory lane, and a very quick discussion of the high points. With that, what I''m going to do is I''m going to turn this over to our friend, Ramin Taheri, from Department of Ed. Ramin, you''re next.
Thanks Sally. My name is Ramin Taheri, part of the Program Legal Group in the Office for Civil Rights. I am probably going to be even a little more brief than Sally was. I want to just kind of give you a feel for what OCR is and where we fit within this service animals issue. OCR is, as you know, part of the Department of Education. We are head quartered in Washington. We have 12 enforcement offices across the country. The office in the Program Legal Group where I work is generally responsible for leadership, policy development, and coordination of enforcement activities. If you look at slide 18, I''m just going to try to get into some of the disability laws that OCR enforces. So OCR enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the ADA. And as Sally mentioned, Title II is enforcement. We share enforcement authority with DOJ. Of course, Title III of the ADA is something that DOJ enforces, and that applies to virtually all private colleges and universities. If you look at slide 19, I''m going to discuss just some general provisions of Section 504 and Title II. With respect to Section 504, we at OCR enforce Section 504 with respect to colleges and universities that receive federal financial assistance from the Department. And Title II, as I mentioned, applies to all state and local governmental entities, including public colleges and universities. In general, both laws prohibit disability-based discrimination, and what that means is a qualified individual with a disability may not, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation, denied the benefits, or otherwise subjected to discrimination. If you look at slide 20, because Sally went over some of the basics of Title II and the ADA in general, I am going to focus on some 504 principles. In general, 504 states that postsecondary institutions may not discriminate on the basis of disability. Colleges and universities must modify their academic requirements to ensure that they do not discriminate on the basis of disability. Postsecondary institutions must ensure that individuals with disabilities are not discriminated against due to the absence of auxiliary aids for students with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills. Now, what that means for service animals in general. As Sally mentioned, service animal is a term of art that''s defined in the ADA regulations. The Department of Education Section 504 regulations, which are fairly ancient, do not define service animals. The only real relevant mention is to dog guides, and that''s in 34 CFR 1044 4B, in the section about academic guidance, may not impose rules such as the prohibition of dog guides in campus buildings that have the effect of limiting the participation of students with disabilities. Now, in practice, nearly all institutions subject to Department of Education Section 504 jurisdiction are also covered by the ADA, either Title II or Title III, and in the context of housing, also the Fair Housing Act. What this means is that postsecondary institutions should consider the specific requirements of the ADA when creating service animal policies or considering individual requests to use a service animal. And of course, it''s relevant in the housing context as well, where the ADA also applies, but the Fair Housing Act, which could be more liberal in some senses, applies. And again, colleges and universities would do well to keep in mind the requirements of the Fair Housing Act and the ADA in designing housing-specific policies with respect to service animals. To give you some sense of OCR''s work in this area with respect to service animals, since October 1, 2010, we''ve had 26 cases in the postsecondary context involving service animals. Of those 26, 3 are currently open, and of those 3, 2 are public colleges that would also be subject to Title II. That''s essentially what I wanted to go through. Of course, I''m happy to answer questions later on. The final slide, 21, just kind of has our address and our email and phone number. We are happy to, of course, provide technical assistance or answer any questions that you might ask but other that than that, I am going to turn it over to Cheryl Kent.
Good afternoon. This is Cheryl Kent, and thank you. I will be talking about the Fair Housing Act today. I would like to mention that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act in terms of our programs and services. Receive money from HUD. (Inaudible). Were focusing on the Fair Housing Act Today. The Fair Housing Act, so we are focusing on the Fair Housing Act today. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. The Fair Housing Act applies to virtually all types of housing, regardless of whether or not the housing is linked to federal funding. In addition to the more typical types of housing, like apartments, condos, shelters, supportive housing, covered housing also includes college and university housing, including dormitories and faculty housing. A recent court decision held that the university housing is covered by the Fair Housing Act. This is U.S. v. University of Nebraska at Kearney. It''s mentioned on your slide with the specifics. Could we go to the next slide? Slide 24, under the Fair Housing Act, housing providers have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations, rules, policies, practices, and services so that people with disabilities may benefit from and may use and enjoy their dwellings to the fullest extent that they can. Reasonable accommodations must be made for individuals with disabilities who are applicants, tenants, or residents. This also includes their family members. And it also includes other persons associated with residents, tenants, and applicants. Next, slide 25, assistance animals. You will notice I use the term "assistance animals" because, again, we are talking about a broader type of animal here, and that''s the terminology HUD has traditionally used. Assistance animals are not pets; an Assistance animal provides assistance and performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability. Assistance animals also may provide emotional support that alleviates symptoms of a person''s disability. Assistance animals and the tasks that they do include: guiding individuals who are blind or have low vision and alerting people who are deaf or hard of hearing to sounds, providing protection or rescue assistance is another example, alerting people to pending seizures or providing emotional support to people who have a disability-related need. Assistance animals are not just dogs. This is different, again, from the ADA. Under the Fair Housing Act, assistance animals can include dogs; it can include cat, bird, guinea pig, miniature horse, capuchin monkey, and the like. Next slide, please. Now, under the reasonable accommodation provisions in the Fair Housing Act, the assistance animal must be permitted if the individual has a disability as defined in the Fair Housing Act, and there is a relationship between the disability and the assistance provided by the animal. One thing to keep in mind is if you look at these two provisions, if the person does not have a disability or they don''t have a disability-related need for an assistance animal, one or the other, then the housing provided would not have to modify a no pets rule and provide a reasonable accommodation. Again, they must have both. If they have both a disability and there is a disability-related need for the assistance animal, then the housing provider must permit the assistance animal to live with the person and let that person use the assistance animal in all areas of the premises where a person would normally be allowed to go. This includes all of the public use areas on the premises, for example. Next slide, please, slide 27. Now, in applying the principles here, under the Fair Housing Act, an oral request is sufficient. A person with a disability could make a written application. It''s not a requirement, however. We believe the process should be easy and quick. One thing we pointed out in some of the guidance material we put out is where disability and the need for the disability -- the need for the animal, rather -- is obvious, the housing provider may not request any additional information about the disability or the disability-related need for the assistance animal. For example, you see a person who is blind using a Seeing Eye dog, you may not ask for evidence that the person has a visual disability or evidence that they have a need for a guide dog. Now, if the disability is not obvious, the provider may request verification of the disability. We state that that verification can be provided a number of ways such as: by a doctor or other medical professional, a peer support group, a nonmedical service agency, a reliable third party who would be in a position to know about the person''s disability, or the individual himself. For example, proof of receipt of SSI or SSDI or a credible statement. Housing providers may not impose fees. No fees, no deposits, no insurance, no hold harmless agreements, no inspections or pet rules, no veterinary certificates or other special conditions. Next slide, slide 28, other conditions, in terms of other conditions which may not be imposed, I want to point out or express that it''s the individual''s responsibility to maintain and control the animal. That''s for the person with a disability. The housing provider may not impose, they cannot impose or limit access to the housing and indoor and outdoor public and common use areas associated with the housing, and they cannot impose any breed, weight, or size limitations. They cannot impose vaccination requirements or neuter requirements. Okay. Next slide, please, on slide 29. Limited situations where you would have a basis for denying a reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal. The request may be denied if the assistance animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that can''t be reduced or eliminated by another reasonable accommodation. The assistance animal may also be denied if the specific animal in question would cause substantial physical damage to the property of others. And again, that cannot be reduced or eliminated by another reasonable accommodation. Now, in looking at these issues, you have to do what we call an individualized assessment. If you are looking at an animal where you think it''s a direct threat, again, it has to be an individualized assessment based on recent credible, objective evidence relating to a specific animal''s actual conduct, not speculation about type or breed of animal. For example, you can''t simply decide if a person happens to have a pit bull as an assistance animal that there''s going to be a direct threat in that case. You have to have objective evidence. You have to have something specific and recent, actual conduct, and not just speculation and things like that. Also under the basis of denial or exclusion, a denial may be made if the animal in question if you can demonstrate it would impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider''s operation. And again, this is a very high standard to meet. It would generally not be applicable. It''s very difficult to meet that standard. The third situation is a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program. Again, this is a very high standard and would not typically be applicable. The next slide, I am going to turn over to Jeanine Worden. She is going to cover the rest of the talk today.
Hi, everybody. I wanted to point out one other area where there is a difference between the ADA with respect to service animals and, on the other hand, the Fair Housing Act, with respect to assistance animals. Under the ADA, as Sally discussed, the service animal must be individually trained. Under the Fair Housing Act, by contrast, the animal may be trained or it may not be trained. There is no requirement for training for an assistance animal under the Fair Housing Act. HUD recognizes that there is going to be situations where both the ADA and the Fair Housing Act apply, and we think it''s really important for housing providers such as colleges and universities to understand that you need to comply with both laws, and we suggest that since the requirements for both laws are somewhat different, first of all, you need to familiarize yourself with both laws, and certainly, listening here is a really great way to do that. But the second thing that we recommend is that the analysis should be done first under the Americans with Disabilities Act. And that''s because in the Justice Department regulations, they have guidance on inquiries that may be made, and under the Fair Housing Act, it''s possible that some additional inquiry could be permissible, depending on an individual circumstance. And we don''t want anyone to inadvertently violate the ADA because they''re following what''s permissible under the Fair Housing Act. So we really recommend you to start with the ADA analysis. If it''s a service animal, you don''t need to do the Fair Housing Act analysis because any animal that qualifies as a service animal is automatically covered by the Fair Housing Act. Similarly, if it''s a miniature horse that''s covered by the ADA, it''s automatically covered by the Fair Housing Act, and you don''t need to worry about anything additional. If you do the admission for ADA purposes, the Fair Housing Act just follows. However, there comes a point where you may decide that an animal is not a service animal covered by the ADA. And that''s the point where it''s really important that the next step in the analysis occurs. So a step that Cheryl talked about, which is figuring out if the individual has a disability and if the animal in question serves some disability-related need of the individual. If so, then a reasonable accommodation is required under the Fair Housing Act, and we don''t want you to skip that stuff because at HUD, just about the number one type of complaint that we receive is a denial to a person who was seeking a reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal. Most of the cases that have been charged in the past two years where HUD has issued a formal charge of discrimination, have actually involved assistance animals. So we think this is a really important area for everyone to pay attention to. If you would move on to the next slide, which is slide 31, we have included a couple of documents that we think would be very helpful for people who are looking to learn more about the Fair Housing Act and disability issues. One is the joint statement by the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development about reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act that provides general guidance on reasonable accommodations. The second is a document that we recently issued, and it talks about service animals and assistance animals in housing. And that document kind of fits within the broader issue of reasonable accommodation and provides more specific guidance relating to assistance animals under the Fair Housing Act. Peter, I am going to turn it back to you at this point.
All right. Thank you very much, Jeanine, and thank you to all our presenters who provided a quick but thorough overview of law that is apply to service animals in postsecondary educational settings. In just a moment here, I am going to have our operator come back and give those of you joining us by telephone instructions on how you can ask questions, and before I do that, I will just remind the folks in the webinar room that you can submit your questions in the chat area. You can click on the chat area or control-M will focus your cursor in the chat area to submit your questions. You will not be able to view the questions that you have submitted. They are viewable by moderators and the speakers. Operator, if you would give instructions to our participants on the telephone on how they can get in the queue to ask questions because this is the opportunity. We have the experts here to address your questions, so Operator, if you would give instructions to our participants on the phone.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question at this time, please press star and one. If your question has been answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pound key.
All right. While we give folks a moment to get in the queue to ask their questions, just a quick heads up. When we do go to questioners on the telephone, once your question has been asked, the Operator is going to mute your line again just because we have five presenters. We want to make sure that when folks are speaking they can be heard. We are using captioning, and that is an accessibility issue for folks that need captioning, so we''re just going to mute your line once you''ve asked your question. I am going to go to a question submitted through the platform and direct this one towards Ramin and Sally and Katy, so DOJ with this is not related to housing. But this question, if you could provide some input on this, deals with a secondary, so a community college, and a student that is coming on campus and identifying that they''re using a service animal. Is that institution limited to asking the two questions that are found in the DOJ regulations? One, is it a service animal necessary for a disability; and two, what service, what task, what work does the animal perform? Or in a college setting, does the college have the ability to require, if they want to bring that service animal into the classroom and other settings on campus, can they require the student to go to disability services, register with disability services, and can the college obtain additional documentation? So I don''t know, Ramin, do you want to tackle that?
I can take a stab at it, unless Sally wants to jump in.
Go right ahead, Ramin.
So assuming it''s a service animal as defined by the ADA and this is a public institution that we''re talking about, then yes. I mean, the school is limited by the specific ADA service animal provisions. I''ve said this to people before, but an easy way to think about it is try to think about an individual who uses a service animal like an individual who uses a wheelchair. The person should be permitted to come on campus and to travel wherever on campus he or she needs to go with the service animal without being asked any questions, especially if it''s obvious that the animal is a service animal and the person is using the animal because of a disability. Generally, with a service animal, the school wouldn''t be permitted to require the student to first be registered with disability services. I don''t know if you want to add anything else.
We certainly agree. A number of schools, though, as well as communities and other covered entities use voluntary registries. Where someone, if they choose, can identify themselves as someone perhaps who uses a service animal or has a disability for whatever reason, but they can''t be forced to as a precondition of participating in a program, activity, or service. So voluntary registries are -- they are fine as long as they are truly voluntary. But I think we would agree with what Ramin told you.
Sally, as you were answering and as Ramin was speaking, popped into my head, what would be a best practice for schools to address, you know, where the institution is limited to those two questions where you might have someone going into different buildings on campus and how might you limit the number of times that the person has to answer those two questions and. I think that what you talked about, the voluntary registry might be a way to address that particular situation.
This is Sally, the fact that someone uses a service animal, and especially if it''s fairly evident where they are using a service animal, I don''t know why really those two questions are always going to be asked. I mean, just from a general standpoint. The answer would be they would have a right to ask those questions.
They certainly would have a right to ask that, but again, we''ve been pretty clear that unless if it''s a parent especially, there''s no reason to ask them. Training of your staff, letting staff know, and really front-line staff, the ones who are at the doors, the security people, campus police teachers, professors, everybody, they should know that there may be service animals coming into their facility, and give them some training so they understand what the purpose is and, you know, what questions they can ask. And the only two bases for exclusion. I mean, I think that education is really important. So Ramin?
All I was going to say was that a better way for schools to approach it than to adopt some type of voluntary policy is to make sure that all faculty and staff are well trained, and so that they understand that this is a situation that may arise. So the individual with a disability who using a service animal doesn''t have to answer those two questions in every single building that he or she goes into. It really comes down to training and awareness.
All right. Excellent! Operator, could we go to our first question on the telephone, please?
We have a question on the phone line, sir.
We''ll take that question, please, if you can identify the line.
Sure. That line is from ____. Question, sir?
Hi, Peter. Can you hear me?
Yep, go ahead. What''s your question?
Okay. My question, I just wanted to make sure we''re crystal clear on this issue of emotional support animals. When we''re talking about Fair Housing Act, we are not just talking about emotional support animals, but we are talking about an emotional support related to a disability defined as significant limitation, on and on like that. Is that correct?
I''ll direct that to Jeanine and Cheryl if we could.
Thanks Peter. Yeah, under the Fair Housing Act, when you are talking about an emotional support animal, the animal that''s permissible is an animal that is providing emotional support, the cause of the person''s disability.
That disability has to fall under the definition of a significant limitation of a major life activity?
It''s the definition under the Fair Housing Act, yes, and that''s a substantial limitation on one or more major life activities of the individual.
Okay. All right, Great.
All right. Thanks for your question. We''ve got another question that will go to HUD and Ed. In a dormitory setting -- actually, two questions with this. One, in a dormitory setting, so not in an apartment, can a college/university require documentation that the assistance animal/service animal has up-to-date and required vaccinations required by local authorities? And then I''ll give you the quick the second scenario. Many dormitories are into the suite-type setting, so where you have multiple bedrooms in a single suite area. And the questioner wants to know how you would deal with a situation, say you have three students that have been assigned to a room, they''ve selected that room. One of those students is a student with an allergy as defined as a disability under FHA and ADA, then a randomly fourth assigned student is placed in that suite, and that student has a service animal or assistance animal, and would there be any issues with relocating one or other of the students in order to meet the accommodation needs of both? So those two questions, if you wouldn''t mind, Jeanine, Cheryl, Ramin.
This is Jeanine. I''ll take a stab at the questions, and then Ramin, you can add on if you''d like to supplement. So we said no veterinary certificates in PowerPoint slides that we provided. That does not mean that the individual does not have the responsibility for providing appropriate veterinary care for an assistance animal, including vaccinations if they are required by state law. However, we do not believe that the housing provider should be policing those requirements. And so what we''ve said to all housing providers is the process for someone using an assistance animal in housing should be a quick-and-easy process where there aren''t multiple hoops to jump through. And you can certainly make clear to the individual that it is their responsibility to maintain and control their assistance animal, but we would say no, there shouldn''t be people going behind the fact and policing that an individual is complying with those responsibilities. Obviously, if you have reason to believe that someone is not complying with those responsibilities, there are officials who do have enforcement responsibility in that area, and those are typically animal control officials. That would be what you would do if you really think that someone isn''t complying with their responsibilities as individuals. In the area where you''re dealing with a suite and you have two individuals with disabilities that cause conflicting situations, you know, what I have always said to housing providers is you have to consider both individuals and their rights and interests. And so I think that as opposed to arbitrarily making a decision that is going to affect one or both of the individuals, I think the college or university should be speaking to each of the individuals. Obviously, you want to be careful about the individual''s privacy and not disclose any disability-related information with respect to either individual. But what you do is you figure out a solution that accommodates the needs of both. And reasonable accommodation is an interactive process where it really requires consultation with the individual and trying to accommodate the needs of both individuals. One individual shouldn''t get priority over the other if both have disabilities. Both needs need to be equally accommodated. Ramin, did you want to add to it?
The only thing I want to add is you have to keep in mind that the ADA can apply in the housing context as well. So if it''s a service animal we are dealing with here, again, you are limited to those two questions, and I''m not sure if Sally or Katy would want to jump in with respect to the question about vaccinations, but depending on if there''s a local requirement, obviously, that might be something that would be permissible. As to part 2 of the question, again, with respect to a service animal, you know, OCR would expect to see the college accommodate both the individual using a service animal and the individual with an allergy. It wouldn''t be a basis for excluding the animal.
Okay. Excellent! Thank you, Ramin. Do we have another question on the telephone at this time, please?
Ladies and gentlemen on the phone, if you have a question at this time, please press star and 1. We have a question, ma''am?
Hi. Can you hear me?
Yes, go ahead.
Okay. Hi. This is a question for Ramin. I''m wondering if OCR has a sort of written policy. I understood what you said to be that under 504 in non-dorm or housing situations that the schools can follow ADA requirements when developing a policy. But is that in writing anywhere? My concern is that people could claim non-ADA service animals under 504.
No, what I said was a best practice would be for schools covered by the ADA, which will be most schools, to consider the requirements of the ADA first in coming up with any service animal policies or procedures. That''s not something we''ve put out in writing, but that''s just something, given the interaction of the laws, would probably be the best way to approach it from the perspective of the college.
Okay. But if it wasn''t the service animal under the ADA, might there be some obligation under 504 in non-housing situations to permit the animal?
If it''s not a service animal under the ADA, it''s not a service animal. And Schools are free to modify their policies however they feel necessary to avoid disability-based discrimination. But we''re not talking about the service animal analysis outlined in the ADA.
Right, they can modify their policy. I guess what I am trying to get at is if something is not a service animal, but for instance, a rabbit, the person says they need it in order to function at the school because of a psychiatric disability, and they have documentation of that, let''s say, might 504 require the school to permit the rabbit as a reasonable accommodation in non-housing situations?
Section 504 would require the school to modify their policies and procedures as necessary to avoid discrimination. The student with a disability who wants to use a non-service animal, for instance, the rabbit, is free to follow the particular college''s reasonable procedures for requesting a modification or an accommodation. We would hope to see, as Jeanine mentioned, an interactive process in determining what is appropriate and necessary. And it''s going to be a case-by-case basis.
Thanks very much.
All right. Thanks very much. Lets go to a question submitted online. We''ll go back to Ramin and also to Sally and Katy for service animals in clinical settings, so healthcare arenas or even for students that are in veterinary programs and have clinical placements as part of their programs, and you know, what are the responsibilities of the educational institution in terms of identifying clinical settings where service animals will be allowed, and are there limitations on where someone in the healthcare setting may be may be allowed to take their service animal?
Hi, this is Katy. So the general rule is that a service animal must be permitted to go anywhere where participants or members of the public or participants in the program can go. And that generally applies to clinical settings as well. There may be very rare cases, where because of particular immune aspects where a service animal can''t go. If you have access to our regulations and you look at the regulatory guidance to the service animal regulations, there''s a nice discussion of that that really talks about how limited that exception is. And what we tend to do is we take a position that''s consistent with that of the CDC, which also has explained that there''s very rare cases. For example, a classic example is the burn unit of a hospital that, you know, for particular reasons, it''s not safe for the operation of that particular facility for the dog to be there. But otherwise, we see service animals in all kinds of medical context, and that happens on a daily basis.
Thank you. Ramin, did you want to add to that, or should we move along?
I think that was great.
All right. Excellent! Do we have another question on the telephone at this time?
I see no questions in queue at this time, sir.
All right. Then we will go ahead and move on to questioners that we have received. This one is for Cheryl and Jeanine, and a person wanted to know about in terms of access to all parts of the housing environment, so other areas such as swimming pools, other common space, and the person, the requester, wanted to know is there any difference in terms of access to those areas, whether you are talking about a service animal or an assistance animal? And then in addition, I will give you one more because this is for you guys at HUD again. If you could talk a little more about documentation and what is considered appropriate documentation, from who is the documentation deemed to be appropriate? The questioner thought that the letter needed to be provided by a qualified medical professional. So if you could, Cheryl and Jeanine, address those that would be great.
Okay. This is Jeanine. So what we have said is to all housing providers is that if a person is permitted a reasonable accommodation with respect to an assistance animal, the person may have the assistance animal with them in all public and common use areas associated with the housing. So if a person wants to bring a bird with them to the pool, or the cat going with them to poolside, they are permitted to do that. What''s more common is sometimes we do have an instance where someone has an untrained assistance dog that they would like to take with them, and in the context of housing, we''ve seen them take an assistance animal like that to an exercise room or poolside or other recreational areas where the housing is located. If there''s an area associated with the housing that serves food, then that also would be an area where a person would be allowed to bring their assistance animal. It just depends what''s associated, what is a public or common use area that is associated with the housing. On the issue of documentation, I want to start by stressing that you should really start with the ADA analysis first. Because Department of Justice regulations set out the limited inquiries that are appropriate in determining whether to provide access to a service animal, and so if you don''t start with the ADA inquiry first, you could end up asking for something that you''re not supposed to ask for. Under the Fair Housing Act, what we say is for a reasonable accommodation to be granted for an assistance animal, such as an emotional support animal, the individual must have a disability, and they must also establish a disability-related need for the animal. As we''ve said in our reasonable accommodation guidance, which was issued about a decade ago, there are many ways for individuals with disabilities to establish a disability and a disability-related need for the requested accommodation. For example, many individuals with disabilities receive Social Security disability benefits or SSI benefits on the basis of disability, and that''s actually a tougher determination of disability than the definition that applies under the Fair Housing Act. So if a person is receiving disability benefits from the Social Security Administration or they are receiving benefits for a disability through a state vocational rehabilitation agency, which might well be the case for a student in a postsecondary institution, obviously that individual has a disability, and you may already know, because of the educational needs of the individual, the nature of the disability that''s involved. At that point, there really is no need for any kind of a letter for a qualified medical professional to establish the disability because it''s already there. A lot of the times, the disability is readily apparent. Just by looking, you can tell a person has a significant mobility disability, and it may be that one of the things that an assistance animal does for the person is provide emotional support. It may be that the animal is useful to the individual because it helps them get outside to walk, and it provides therapeutic assistance to the individual in that regard. A lot of this is really common Sense. Before saying I''m going to get this documentation because I''m entitled to the documentation, the right place to start is really why is the individual asking to have an assistance animal? While you shouldn''t be asking any detailed questions about the nature of an individual''s disability, a lot of the time in saying why they need an assistance animal, an individual with a disability will volunteer the very type of information that would answer your question. So you ask for the documentation that you actually need in order to make a determination that a person has a disability and has a disability-related need for the assistance animal, and nothing more than that. In Fair Housing Act cases that have been litigated in federal court or before HUD Administrative Law Judges, in instances where the individual with a disability has either come forward with a note from a medical provider or from psychiatric social worker or from a counselor, typically the documentation that was physician obtained was a very simple statement: Jane Doe has a disability and needs this emotional support animal because of her disability. And that''s sufficient documentation under the Fair Housing Act for a housing providing to be required to grant a reasonable accommodation.
All right. Excellent! Take one more question online, and direct this one to Ramin and Jeanine and Cheryl. And this gets to the issue of colleges and universities being limited, requiring students to sign some type of agreement regarding the care and cleaning up after the animal. The questioner states that they have in place general student code of conduct rules that if the student violates, that student can face disciplinary action under that. The questioner wants to know how do colleges and universities deal with students where there are issues with the student not cleaning up after the animal or not taking care of making sure the animal is under the handler''s control, where you have a dog barking and so forth?
Well, you know, a service animal, under the ADA, I mean, there are a few possible reasons for a covered entity to exclude an animal. If the animal is not under the handler''s control, that''s one reason. If the animal is not housebroken; so those are some instances where a college might have some leeway in excluding a service animal. I''m not sure if Cheryl wanted to get into some specifics about the Fair Housing Act.
Yeah, this question was, I think, specific to dormitory housing situations.
We typically counsel colleges and universities that ask us the question that they really should not be putting forward a separate agreement to deal with a manner in which an individual cares for or maintains an assistance animal. That''s an extra condition that you would be placing on the individual because of the disability. Again, what we would say is that the individual''s obligation to care for and maintain the animal, including picking up after the animal when the animal relieves itself, is an obligation that the individual already has. No agreement is required. But we would also say that students engage in all different kinds of behaviors, some of which are behaviors approved by postsecondary educational institutions, and some of which are not. What we say is if a person has an assistance animal and they are not cleaning up after the animal, how do you deal with students who have comparable situations, such as they''re using a break room and leaving a break room a mess? Or they are littering on the college campus? How do you deal with those individuals? And you should be dealing with individuals who have assistance animals in comparable ways, not tougher ways, not more lenient ways. There could be a situation where a person with a disability it asks for some type of reasonable accommodation related to a relief area for the animal or like a designated area; so that there was a trash can nearby that made it easier to dispose of the animal''s waste. That would certainly be a reasonable accommodation request that would make sense for the college, the university, the student. It would make sense for everyone if that reasonable accommodation request would be honored because everyone would be served. Again, you can''t tell people where they must relieve their animal. You can remind them what their obligations are but not an agreement and not treating the students differently.
All right, then, before we go check on the telephones again, Jeannie, a quick one for you. Regarding -- similar to the ADA, in a housing situation under FHA, a person wants to know is the, is the service animal/assistance animal need to be under their control, under the handler''s control while in a housing setting?
Yes
Simple enough. The folks that have to be happiest today, we have a topic on service animals, and the Department of Justice is facing the least amount of questions for a change.
And we do notice that.
Do we have another question on the telephone, please?
Ladies and gentlemen on the phone, if you have a question at this time, please press star and 1. I do show we have a question from ________
Hey again. This is for the Department of Justice, and I was reading the Super Shuttle policy which adds to the worker tasks that are in the regulations the following. I was just wondering if you could address it. It says providing (Inaudible) stimulation to calm a person with post-traumatic stress disorder. Im not sure what the difference between that is and an emotional support animal. Let''s say that emotional support animal that''s been trained, and so I mean, having the dog generally calms people, or holding the dog generally calms people. So is there something that I''m missing there?
Hi, Kathy, it''s Sally. Well, I think the difference is, is that it''s not the mere presence of the animal that is providing some amelioration of some manifestation of a disability I would need to look specifically at the Super Shuttle agreement, but I think what happens, we always categorize, we love as humans to categorize things, and this goes in this hole, this goes in this hole, and this goes in that hole. An animal that has been trained or that recognizes that something might be happening, okay, but then is trained to do a specific task once it recognized that, so it may be in terms of anxiety, it may very well be that the animal has the ability to know when the stress level and the anxiety level is really building up in the person who has the disability, and once it recognizes that, it''s trained to do a very specific task. For instance, licking on the inside of a palm. It could be trained to rub up against the outside of the leg. And to me, that''s more of a service animal because it is being trained to perform a task on behalf of that person with a disability that will help to ameliorate that symptom. You know, analogy I can think of is somebody who has diabetes and has an animal that, for whatever reason, can sense the onset of perhaps a hypoglycemic episode, and that animal, that dog, has been trained to do something very particular to alert the person to what it has sensed. And to me, that''s very different than having an animal. I have cats because I live on the 15th floor. And petting one of my cats does have a calming effect on that. But trust me; my cat has not been trained to do anything. So the innate ability of an animal to calm someone down, absent a specific trigger or a specific task, that brings it for purposes of the ADA, to an emotional support animal.
That helps. Thank you.
Thank you. Ramin, we are going to go back to you with this question. There have been quite a few questions around this issue that was actually started by caller with her question. And this deals with assistance animals. So you have a student that is allowed to have an assistance animal under FHA. It''s not a service animal. And the myriad of questions that have come in since that discussion have to do with what are the obligations of the institution? What are the rights of the person with the assistance animal to bring that particular animal into settings outside of housing, so into the classroom, into, you know, extracurricular activities, sports activities, and then if you could address that. And then secondly, a number of questions come in regarding assistance animals that are left by the student in the dormitory in the housing setting, and what are the rights of the student with the assistance animal? What can the educational institution do in terms of how long animals may be left unattended, what about animals that are causing disturbances while the handler is gone, so just a number of questions that have come in on those two topics if you could address those, Ramin, please.
Okay. So the first one that Kathy brought up, you know, essentially the answer is so if we are not talking about a service animal as defined by the ADA and we are outside of the housing context so the Fair Housing Act doesn''t apply, it''s a situation where under Section Title IV, colleges and universities are required to modify policies and procedures to avoid disability discrimination. Now, the student who wishes to bring a comfort or assistance animal into a classroom setting or what have you, the obligation would be on that student to approach the school, follow the school''s reasonable procedures for requesting a modification or accommodation through disability services or what have you. As I mentioned, hopefully the school engages in an interactive process with that student to determine what''s appropriate and necessary with regard to modifications. I can''t sit here and tell you that every animal should be permitted or that all animals should be excluded. That''s going to be a fact-specific determination made on a case-by-case basis. Then I think the second question about housing, is that for Jeanine?
Yeah, I guess, yeah, that would go to you or let Jeanine take that. JEANINE WORDEN: I''ll give it a shot. So noise issues, with respect to assistance animals, you know, the student has the obligation to maintain and control the animal, but the noise issue associated with an animal is really not all that different from a noise issue associated with a student. I hear tell students party from time to time, and I understand that can be noisy too. So you deal with the assistance animal noise issue in the same way that you would deal with another type of student noise issue. The student needs to understand the obligations of not engaging in noisy behavior or allowing the assistance animal to engage in noisy behavior that would disrupt other students. However, if loud parties are tolerated, then loud assistance animals are tolerated.
All right. Thanks. Could you address the application of FHA to fraternity and sorority housing?
That''s another quick answer. Yes.
Excellent. The FHA does apply. Very good, I guess this is for anyone. DOJ, Ed, HUD. Address the issue of service animals in training and where they would be allowed to go, whether that''s covered, and then also what about a trainer? So it''s not a person with a disability, but it''s someone that trains service animals or assistance animals. So someone wants to jump in? Is that DOJ?
I am happy to jump in from the ADA perspective. Because service animals in training have not yet been trained, they don''t meet the definition of a service animal. But with all that being said, there are a number of local jurisdictions and states that have enacted legislation and ordinances that particularly applies to folks who are training service animals, to bring them into businesses. You know, the animals need to get this experience, but for purposes of the ADA, because that animal has not yet been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability, it''s not considered a service animal for purposes of the ADA. Irrespective of if the trainer is a person with a disability or not.
Excellent. Jeanine, did you have any comment under FHA with regard to animals in training?
In order to be assistance animal under the Fair Housing Act, the animal does not have to be trained. So you know, as long as the individual has a disability and the animal serves a disability-related need of that individual, it qualifies as an assistance animal under the Fair Housing Act.
Excellent. Thank you. Ramin, we''ll go back to you. We sort of touched on this, but I guess a follow-up question. I just want to remind folks that in addition to receiving questions through the webinar platform, I''m also providing questions to our presenters that are coming via email as well. So this question goes to Jeanine and Cheryl as well as Ramin. But it talks about service animals in food preparation areas, so I guess in a housing setting, where in a dormitory you may have a common use food preparation kitchen area, and then Ramin, for you, you sort of already answered this, but wanting to know about excluding a service animal in a culinary class. Jeanine, you want to take the first part of that, a Ramin, the second part, please?
Sure, I''ll start. If there''s a common use food preparation area in a dormitory, such as a student kitchen, the assistance animal would need to be allowed in that area. It''s a public and common use animal for housing. Specifically it''s probably a common use area of a dwelling, unless members of the public are allowed there. It''s covered by the Fair Housing Act, and if the individual with a disability and anyone else gets to go there, so does the assistance animal.
For my part, it''s clear that a service animal as defined by the ADA would need to be permitted into the same types of places where food is sold or prepared. That''s not a basis for excluding the animal.
Thanks. We are just about at the bottom of the hour. So I am going to take one last question that was submitted and thank you to all of you that have submitted your questions. Unfortunately, we are not able to get to all of them, but this question did come up a couple times, and I guess it''s opened for anyone in terms of ADA application as well as FHA. What if a student is unable to pick up after their service animal or assistance animal? From the terms of what would be the responsibility of the educational institution?
Well, I can start. From a fair housing perspective, a person can always request a reasonable accommodation, and if they establish a disability and a disability-related need for the accommodation, it should be granted unless it poses an undue financial and administrative burden or fundamentally alters the nature of the operations of the housing provider. So for example, if the housing provider has maintenance people on staff, then there might be a need for the accommodation to be provided because it wouldn''t be an undue financial and administrative burden to add a duty to the maintenance provider, and it wouldn''t be a fundamental alteration in terms of the services being offered at the housing.
All right. And we are just past the bottom of the hour, so we''re going to go ahead and stop with the question-and-answer portion of our presentation. Want to first of all thank all of our presenters and the wonderful job that they did, Sally Conway and Katy Wolfe from the Department of Justice; Ramin from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights; and then Jeanine and Cheryl from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Thank you all very much for your time and expertise in coming together to put together this presentation and address the myriad of questions that have come in. This is a topic that is of great interest, and hopefully today''s session has clarified and shed some light on many of the areas where folks had questions. I want to remind you that today''s session is, has, will -- is being recorded, and the archive will be posted tomorrow at the ADA Audio website, as well as the archive. The archive will be posted in approximately two weeks'' time to accompany the audio archive. For folks that did not have an opportunity to have their questions answered, please remember you can always contact your regional ADA Center, which is part of the ADA National Network, by calling 800-949-4232, or you can visit www.ADA ta.org to locate your regional ADA center. As a quick reminder, July 16 will be our next audio conference session, and that will be the ADA Anniversary Audio conference, and you can find information about registering for that session by visiting www.ada-audio.org or by calling 877-232-1990. Once again, want to thank all of our wonderful presenters today, and most of all, I want to thank all of you for joining us and making this session successful. For those of you on telephone, you can simply hang up to exit from the session. For those of you in the webinar platform, you simply need to close out your Internet browser to exit today''s session. Thanks again for joining us, everyone, and have a good day.