Disability and Access Services at Navarro College
Navarro College is committed to compliance with state and federal laws regarding individuals with disabilities. All questions regarding service animals should be directed to the Disability and Access Services office at 223 Gooch One Stop Student Center or via phone 903-875-7377, 903-875-7731, fax 903-875-7391, or email dsa@navarrocollege.edu. No documentation will be required to bring service animals into academic buildings on campus. However, in the case of assistance animals residing in Navarro College Residence Halls, Navarro College will require that documentation be provided on the letterhead of a treating physician or mental health provider, which permits the College to determine:
- That the individual has a disability for which the animal is needed;
- How the animal assists the individual, including whether the animal has undergone any training; and
- The relationship between the disability and the assistance that the animal provides.
Please see Disability and Access Services Procedures for Applying for Assistance in Navarro College Residence Halls found in Navarro College Student Handbook for more information.
Service Animals Permitted on Campus
Individuals with disabilities may be accompanied by their service animals in all Navarro College buildings where members of the public or participants in services, programs or activities are allowed to go. By law, 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. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals. In rare cases, Navarro College may permit miniature horses on campus on a case-by-case basis, consistent with applicable law.
The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. Examples of such tasks include, but are not limited to: assisting an individual with low vision with navigation; alerting individuals who are hard of hearing to the presence of people or objects; pulling a person’s wheelchair; or providing assistance with stability or balance to an individual with a mobility disability.
Federal law does not require the individual to provide documentation that an animal has been trained as a service animal. Navarro College may, however, ask if the animal is required because of a disability, as well as what work or task the animal has been trained to perform.
Exceptions
Navarro College may exclude a service animal from campus if its behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others or when its presence fundamentally alters the nature of a program or activity. Furthermore, the College may ask an individual with a disability to remove a service animal from campus if the animal is out of control and the individual does not take effective action to control it; or if the animal is not housebroken. The service animal is considered an extension of the student and thus, is subject to the same code of conduct as a student would follow. Disruptive behavior by a service animal will be grounds for removal from an academic setting in the same manner that a disruptive student will be removed from the same environment.
Responsibilities of Individuals with Service Animals
Navarro College is not responsible for the care or supervision of a service animal. Individuals with disabilities are responsible for the control of their service animals at all times and must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including vaccination, licensure, animal health and leash laws. A service animal shall be restrained with a harness, leash, or other tether, unless an individual’s disability precludes the use of a restraint or if the restraint would interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of work or tasks. If a service animal is not tethered, it must be otherwise under the individual’s control, whether by voice control, signals, or other effective means.
Individuals are responsible for ensuring the immediate clean-up and proper disposal of all animal waste. Although Navarro College may not charge an individual with a disability a service animal surcharge, it may impose charges for damages caused by a service animal in the same manner the College imposes charges for damages caused by students.
Assistance or Emotional Support Animals
Assistance or Emotional Support Animals (ESA’s) are covered under the Fair Housing Act because they may be required for a variety of mental health issues. They are not trained to do a certain task, but are generally used to help with emotional stability and stress reduction. If ESA’s are needed due to a disability, the person may be allowed to keep the animal in their primary residence without being required to pay a pet deposit and despite a policy that does not allow pets. This applies in most cases to all public and private rental property, as well as college housing.
However, Assistance and ESA’s are not allowed into buildings that are accessible to the general public as is the case with Service Animals. This includes all academic buildings on campus.
Assistance and ESA’s can be a variety of animals and are not limited to dogs. They are, however, limited to the city and county restrictions of domestic animals that are allowed within an incorporated entity. Exotic or wild animals not allowed as pets inside a city limit also cannot be classified as an assistance animal.
In summary, Service Animals are permitted in any campus building that the general public has access to. Assistance or Emotional Support Animals are only allowed in the room within a residence hall of the student and no other buildings on campus.
Please click on the following links for more information
http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.pdf http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2013/HUDNo.13-060A
