Service animals assisting persons with disabilities are welcome in areas open to the public on UTI/MIAT’s campuses. A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with disabilities. In some instances, similarly trained miniature horses may qualify as service animals.
Examples of work or tasks that service animals may perform include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, reminding a person with a mental illness to take prescribed medications, or alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure. If necessary to determine what service a dog provides, UTI/MIAT staff may only ask: (1) whether the dog is a service animal required because of a disability and (2) what work or task the dog has been trained to perform. UTI/ MIAT staff will not ask about the individual’s disability, require medical documentation or documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task. UTI/MIAT may require additional information with respect to miniature horses.
Service animals may be excluded from UTI/MIAT’s premises if the animal is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or the animal is not housebroken. A service animal must be kept under control by a harness, leash or other tether unless the person is unable to hold those or if such use would interfere with the service animal’s performance of work or tasks. In such instances, the service animal must be kept under control by voice, signals or other effective means.
The person with the disability may remain on campus without the animal if the animal is excluded for the aforementioned reasons. Service animals in training are welcome on UTI/ MIAT’s campuses in the same manner and subject to the same requirements as service animals that are fully trained.
UTI/MIAT will allow support animals on its campuses on a case-by-case basis. Support animals are used by individuals with disabilities for emotional support, well-being or comfort. Because they are not individually trained to perform work or tasks, support animals are not service animals. Students who request to have a support animal on campus must submit the request in writing to the Student Services Department and provide appropriate supporting documentation upon request.
Support animals can be excluded from UTI/MIAT’s premises if the animal is out of control or the animal is not housebroken. They can also be excluded if the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that cannot be mitigated by reasonable modifications of policies, practices or procedures, or the provision of auxiliary aids or services. A support animal generally must be kept under control by a harness, leash or other tether unless the person is unable to hold those, or if such use would interfere with the service animal’s performance of work or tasks. If such means cannot be used to control the animal, the support animal must be kept under control by voice, signals or other effective means.
Questions regarding service animals should be directed to the Student Services Department. Individuals in Florida, Massachusetts and North Carolina are also covered by their respective state law definitions of “service animal.”