Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of a person with a disability to be accompanied by a service animal in public places, including educational institutions. Check out our Public Access page for more information about this topic. Title II of the ADA covers state and local governmental entities including public colleges and universities, and Title III covers private institutions. If a person is accompanied by a service animal in a part of an educational institution that is open to the public and has a disability that is not obvious or readily apparent, staff may ask only two questions: 1) is the animal required because of a disability; and 2) what work or task has the animal been trained to perform? If it is obvious what task the dog is performing, like guiding a blind person, the questions should not be asked. Entities covered by the ADA cannot ask about the nature of the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Colleges and universities cannot require students to register their service animal with a disability services office although a student may do so voluntarily. Schools also may not require students to provide vaccination or vet records unless there is some indication that the animal has a health issue. Students cannot be required to obtain liability insurance for their animal.

Guide dogs are service animals because they help people who are blind or have very low vision avoid obstacles and travel from place to place safely and independently. A student working with a guide dog is allowed to be accompanied by their dog in any area the public or students are allowed to go within an educational institution, such as classrooms, cafeterias, dormitories, and other areas of a school building or campus. It is important to remember that this right of access is not limited to students. A person attending an activity open to the public such as a sporting event or graduation at an educational institution is allowed to be accompanied by their guide dog. Likewise, a parent who works with a guide dog is allowed to be accompanied by their dog when participating in a meeting, program, or event at their child’s school. These examples are not exhaustive, but they were chosen to provide a sense of how broad the protections are under the ADA for people working with guide dogs and other service animals in educational institutions.