RVCC Service Animal Policy
The ADA defines service animals as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
Service animals are permitted to accompany the individual with a disability to all areas of campus where members of the public are permitted except where prohibited due to health, environmental, or safety hazards (e.g. certain laboratories, mechanical rooms, areas where protective clothing is necessary, or areas where there is a danger to the animal).
For more information see: ADA Requirements: Service Animals
Individuals with disabilities who are seeking to use a service animal are encouraged to notify Accessibility Services. The handler will be asked to complete a voluntary Service Animal Registration Form. Completed Service Animal Registration Forms shall be kept by Accessibility Services, separate from all other records held by RVCC. If the animal qualifies as a service animal, the handler must comply with this policy at all times while the animal is on RVCC property.
A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove their service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken.
A service animal must be under the control of its handler. Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless the individual’s disability prevents using these devices or these devices interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of tasks. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
(From: https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/#how-service-animal-is-defined)
