Emotional Support Animals

No.

Although ESA’s can be used as a part of a medical treatment plan and are not considered Service Animals under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).  ESA’s are viewed as a reasonable and appropriate accommodation under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) in any community that has a “no pet” rule.

• Service animals are defined under ADA as individually trained dogs to perform tasks for people with disabilities. The task a service dog performs must be directly related to the person’s disability.  Service dogs may accompany a person with a disability into a place that the general public has access to.

• An ESA provides assistance and/or emotional support to a person with a disability. While dogs are the most common type of ESA, other animals can also be ESAs.  ESA’s do not need to be specifically trained to perform a specific task for the person with a disability.  Unlike Service Animals, ESA’s are not granted the same access to public places, rather are regarded as a reasonable and appropriate accommodation in a housing unit under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). 

• Documentation should be from a qualified Health Care Provider to whom the student has an established relationship (a Health Care Provider that the student has only met with once or twice would not be considered as having an established relationship with their client and therefore would not be acceptable documentation).
• Documentation should clearly articulate the need for an ESA and must indicate how the ESA alleviates one or more of the identified symptoms based on an existing disability.

No.

An ESA should not be brought to campus or into Residential Living until approved by both the Office of Student Accessibility and Residential Living.

No.

ESA’s are only allowed in Residential Living and other areas as defined by residential living.

Information from an online organization is generally not acceptable and not recognized as valid documentation. Student Accessibility Services discourages paying individuals found on websites for certificates or template letters (as per hud.gov).

There are websites that sell certificates, registrations, and licensing documents for assistance animals to anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee.

• Such documentation from the internet is not, by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual has a non-observable disability or disability-related need for an Emotional Support Animal (ESA).