[nagdu] Article: Lawsuit raises questions about therapy dogs at colleges

Fri Dec 16 20:51:39 UTC 2011

Steve,

Don't you hate when that happens? /lol/ My brain didn't catch what my 
ears heard until I was three paragraphs down, and I finally figured why 
I was feeling kinda, I dunno, gamely! Or is gamely what you feel when 
you've been tromping around the woods for a week and end up riding home 
in the back of the truck with the game? Ah, the memories...

Tami

On 12/14/2011 04:28 PM, Steven Johnson wrote:
> Okay, that word gamely should be timely...I was sending another email to my
> hunting group...yikes!
>
> Sorry about that folks, still got hunting on my mind:)
>
>
>
Steve,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Steven Johnson
> Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 6:25 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: [nagdu] Article: Lawsuit raises questions about therapy dogs at
> colleges
>
> Based on some of the recent conversation, this article is somewhat gamely.
>
>
>
> Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> The following article is forwarded to you by the Great Lakes ADA Center
> (www.adagreatlakes.org) for your information:
>
> Inside Higher Education
>
> December 13, 2011
>
>
>
> Lawsuit raises questions about therapy dogs at colleges
>
>
> By Allie Grasgreen
>
>
>
>
>
> A federal lawsuit against the University of Nebraska at Kearney, which
> denied the request of a student with a psychological disability to keep a
> therapy dog in her university-owned apartment off campus, could signal a
> shift in how institutions will be expected to handle such accommodations in
> the future.
>
> At issue are Kearney's decision and the process by which it was reached. The
> lawsuit says the university asks too much of students with psychological or
> emotional disabilities.
>
>
>
> Colleges have up to this point operated under the Americans with
> Disabilities Act when considering requests for service animals, which
> perform tasks for their owners and can be essential for blind or deaf
> students. But the new ADA amendments that became active in March don't
> recognize or define "therapy animals" that may be used for emotional support
> -- a potentially confounding omission for Kearney and other institutions.
>
>
>
> Kearney, in the Department of Justice's opinion, clearly should have
> deferred to the rules of the Department of Housing and Urban Development,
> the office that brought the initial charges under the Fair Housing Act.
> Those rules, which regulate basic apartment complexes irrespective of
> whether they house students, define therapy animals as any used as treatment
> for a diagnosed condition, and say facilities that ban pets can't prohibit
> reasonable requests for service or therapy animals.
>
>
>
> Kearney, like most colleges, prohibits animals in university-owned housing,
> and has no written policy specifically addressing service animals living
> with disabled students. But under Kearney's ADA Policies for Service
> Animals, therapy animals don't even qualify -- only dogs trained and
> certified as service animals do.
>
>
>
> Brittany Hamilton, the Kearney student at the center of the litigation, was
> taking prescribed medication for anxiety and depression that caused sleeping
> and breathing problems. The registered nurse who prescribed the dog said it
> could help by giving Hamilton a sense of stability, building her confidence
> and distracting her from anxiety, according to the lawsuit.
>
>
>
> Hamilton's parents told administrators that they trained the dog, Butch, to
> place his paws on Hamilton's shoulders to calm her down when he sensed a
> forthcoming anxiety attack. But, the lawsuit notes, administrators said
> Butch would only be allowed if Hamilton's doctor reported the dog was
> trained and certified as a service animal "as defined" by the ADA. Yet that
> definition explicitly states, "Dogs whose sole function is to provide
> comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the
> ADA."
>
>
>
> Kearney denied Hamilton's request each time it was made "based solely on
> [its] refusal to accommodate emotional assistance animals in university
> housing," the lawsuit says.
>
>
>
> But Kearney's "Psychological Documentation Guidelines," which it uses to
> "validate" an impairment, its impact and the need for accommodations, goes
> beyond those basic inquiries. Among other things, the lawsuit says, it
> requires: information regarding the student's treatment and prescribed
> medications, including a list of dosages and schedules for intake; the date
> of the student's last visit with the doctor and a schedule of regular
> visits; a list of any other doctors providing treatment; "a clinical summary
> which indicates the substantial life activities impaired by the disability,
> 'describes the extent to which these limitations would impact the academic
> or living environment in a postsecondary setting,' and 'provides clear
> evidence that the student's symptoms are present in two or more settings' ";
> and an explanation of how the student's limitations affect "the activities
> that are required in an academic environment."
>
>
>
> Despite Hamilton's three accommodation requests submitted to the university
> over a four-month period, her producing medical documentation of her
> conditions and Butch's role in mitigating their effects, and her invitation
> for officials to contact her doctors and counselors, administrators
> repeatedly denied her requests, the lawsuit says. Hamilton had also, as
> requested, visited the university-recommended counseling services, and her
> mother submitted one request specifically noting the Fair Housing Act. But
> Kearney said the university was not bound by the statute.
>
>
>
> Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council on Education, said HUD
> is "overreaching" into the academic sphere with its action against Kearney.
>
>
>
> "Student housing is part of the educational purpose and mission of the
> universities. It's not the same as your basic apartment complex," Meloy
> said. "I think that the higher education community will be watching how this
> particular case might play out, and then decide whether indeed it seems that
> they need to conform not only to the ADA but also to the HUD regulations.
> And colleges and universities in general already have a very established way
> of dealing with students with disabilities, and I don't think that many
> colleges or universities would think they need additional regulation in this
> area."
>
>
>
> With issues like maintenance, allergies, cleanliness and student interaction
> in the mix, it's not hard to imagine why officials might hesitate when faced
> with these requests. The lawsuit noted one Kearney administrator e-mailed
> another regarding the accommodation, saying it should be turned down
> because, "This is not a service animal but rather a pet.. Unless this animal
> can be classified as a service animal, we are opening a big can of worms. In
> essence, anyone can have their doctor say they are anxious and need to have
> their dog, cat, snake, or monkey, etc."
>
>
>
> Not only did Kearney administrators consider the dog a pet, the lawsuit
> says, they considered the implications for future requests if Hamilton's
> were to be granted -- a practice that experts say is not acceptable.
>
>
>
> "I understand the concern, but it is never legitimate to make an
> accommodation decision based on what other people will try to do," said L.
> Scott Lissner, ADA coordinator at Ohio State University and president-elect
> of the Association on Higher Education and Disability. "In terms of
> determining your accommodation, the other 10 million people in the universe
> are irrelevant."
>
>
>
> "I don't think anybody wants to reasonably claim that [a] therapeutic dog,"
> Lissner said, "is really a service animal. It's not performing the kind of
> service that Justice has defined as a service animal. But that doesn't mean
> that it isn't a helpful accommodation for me to be able to reasonably
> benefit from a residential environment."
>
>
>
> Kearney wasn't wrong in asking for evidence that the therapy dog was
> necessary, Lissner said. But under new ADA amendments and regulations, they
> asked too much -- which, other than the university's denying the request, is
> a key charge in the lawsuit. Lissner and other experts said colleges should
> essentially limit their inquiry to two questions: Do you have a diagnosed
> condition, and has your therapy animal historically been necessary for you
> to deal with that condition? (Documentation from a licensed physician,
> would, of course, be required as well.)
>
>
>
> But Kearney's "Psychological Documentation Guidelines," which it uses to
> "validate" an impairment, its impact and the need for accommodations, goes
> beyond those basic inquiries. Among other things, the lawsuit says, it
> requires: information regarding the student's treatment and prescribed
> medications, including a list of dosages and schedules for intake; the date
> of the student's last visit with the doctor and a schedule of regular
> visits; a list of any other doctors providing treatment; "a clinical summary
> which indicates the substantial life activities impaired by the disability,
> 'describes the extent to which these limitations would impact the academic
> or living environment in a postsecondary setting,' and 'provides clear
> evidence that the student's symptoms are present in two or more settings'";
> and an explanation of how the student's limitations affect '"the activities
> that are required in an academic environment."'
>
>
>
> A Kearney spokesman declined to comment, but the university has said it will
> contest the lawsuit.
>
>
>
> Jane E. Jarrow, a consultant in disabilities and higher education and former
> AHEAD executive director, said the Kearney lawsuit has caused further
> confusion about the already perplexing topic of companion animals on
> campuses. Campus officials are "pretty much experts" when operating under
> the ADA, she said. But the Fair Housing Act? Not so much.
>
>
>
> "I think that the colleges need to really consider long and hard whether
> they ought to be saying no if the student has made a good case for why it's
> important," Jarrow said. "They still have the right to evaluate and say no,
> but they shouldn't say no out of hand. And by all reports, that's what
> happened at UN Kearney."
>
>
>
> Jarrow and others said these requests are starting to come up more often,
> but that doesn't mean they're all legitimate. For example, Jarrow remembered
> one case in which a student with an anxiety disorder, which was diagnosed in
> February of that year, said she needed her therapy animal living with her.
> But the dog was six years old -- turns out, it was an old family pet, not
> prescribed specifically for emotional support.
>
>
>
> While therapy animal requests are still relatively uncommon, Jarrow said,
> when they do arise, they're generally not approved because students do want
> to bring animals other than dogs into campus housing.
>
>
>
> "You hear these weird stories about everything from ferrets to tarantulas to
> cats," she said. Colleges have traditionally required significant reasoning
> from a student who wants to bring in an emotional support animal, and that
> likely won't change if colleges are going to be subject to the Fair Housing
> Act because that legislation does not require institutions to approve just
> any request. "This was a student who pretty clearly needed to have that dog,
> because when she didn't have the dog she had to leave school.. It's really
> going to come down to, how severe is the need, how significant is the need?
> They ended up saying no to a student who really needed it."
>
>
>
> In light of the lawsuit, Steve Waller, director of residential life at
> Louisiana State University and chair of the Public Policy Advisory Committee
> of the Association of College and University Housing Officers International,
> created a white paper on government regulations on therapy animals in campus
> housing. ACUHO-I just last week created a task force to identify best
> practices and procedures for colleges seeking guidance. Waller said the
> Kearney lawsuit has prompted some institutions to come forward looking for
> advice on an issue that's become more prevalent in recent years. (Still, LSU
> hasn't received a therapy animal request in the 10 years he's worked there,
> Waller said.)
>
>
>
> "I think that the sense is that we'll see more and more animals showing up
> on campuses, and that may be an unsupported fear," Jarrow said. "Whether or
> not it will truly open the floodgates remains to be seen. My guess is not."
>
>
>
> Source:
> http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/12/13/lawsuit-over-therapy-dog-raise
> s-questions-about-university-housing#ixzz1gR419NYK
>
>
>
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