Service Animals for Persons with Disabilities

Administrative Procedure 3.904

Related Administrative Procedures:

3.501 – Individuals with Disabilities

Elgin Community College (ECC) complies with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) revised regulations for Title II (state and local government) and Title III (places of public accommodation), revised as of September 15, 2010, regarding service animals for persons with disabilities. For more information, refer to the Frequently Asked Questions about Service Animals and the ADA.

Definitions:

A service animal is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. The work or task that the animal has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person's disability. Examples of such work or tasks include, but are not limited to, guiding a person who is blind, alerting a person who is deaf, pulling a wheelchair for a person, alerting and protecting a person who is experiencing a seizure, reminding a person with a psychological disability to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety episode or performing other duties.

Under the ADA, only dogs and miniature horses are considered to be service animals.

Under the ADA, the following are NOT considered to be service animals:

1. Animals that are not dogs or miniature horses; and
2. Emotional support animals, therapy animals, comfort pets or companion animals.

Requirements of Handlers of Service Animals:

As a handler, any person with a disability who has a service animal - student, employee or visitor to the college - is required to follow these regulations, in accordance with the ADA:

• The service animal must be harnessed, leashed or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal's work or the person's disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the person must maintain control of the service animal through voice, signal or other effective controls. The service animal will be allowed in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed, unless the animal poses a direct threat, fundamentally alters the nature of the program, is not housebroken or is not under the control of the person with the disability. The person can be told to remove the service animal if: (1) the animal is out of control and the person does not take effective action to control it or (2) the animal is not housebroken.
• A person with a disability who has a service animal is responsible for taking care of the animal, ensuring that the animal is taken outside to relieve itself, and disposing of waste material appropriately.

The service animal must have all vaccinations required by its city/county, and the rabies inoculation tag needs to be displayed. In the event that there are concerns for health/safety standards, such as labs where chemicals or foods are present or where sterile environments are critical, an assessment of where the animal may be located will be determined by the director of ADA, student access & disabilities services with input from the appropriate department.

Requirements of ECC Employees:

When it is not obvious what a service animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. ECC employees cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task. ECC employees may only ask these two (2) questions:

• "Is the dog or miniature horse a service animal required because of a disability?" and/or
• "What work or task has the dog or miniature horse been trained to perform?"

Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing services to persons using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility. Students who are allergic to dog dander, should contact Student Access & Disability Services to engage in the interactive process to request an accommodation. Employees and visitors, who are allergic to dog dander, should contact Human Resources to engage in the ADA interactive process to request accommodation. Faculty may experience this scenerio in their classroom. Although the classroom is the domain of the faculty, a variety of factors will be taken into account, on a case-by-case basis, to determine how to best accommodate the student and faculty member. 

The service animal is not required to wear anything indicating that it is a service animal, nor does the person have to possess identification, certification, licensure, or paperwork for the animal.

Service animals are working animals, not pets; therefore, these animals are not to be petted, called to, fed or interfered with by any employees, students or community members.

This policy was last reviewed on 09/20/2024.