Residence Life is committed to providing equal educational opportunity by supporting the full participation of all students in our campus community. We promote the ideals of diversity and inclusion by accommodating the various needs of students who stay on campus.
All medical accomodations are managed by the Office of Disability Services.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an assistance animal that provides emotional support which alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.
All requests to have an emotional support animal in housing must be evaluated by the Office of Disability Services. More information about the process may be found here (insert link: https://www.atu.edu/disabilities/supportanimals.php).
A Service Animal is “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability. Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, pulling a wheelchair, Assisting an individual during a seizure, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, 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. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort, emotional support, well-being, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for purposes of this definition[1].”
[1] Department of Justice Revised ADA Regulations Implementing Title II and Title
III, Federal Register, September 15, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 178)
For a complete definition of service and assistance animals plus more information about procedures, use of service animal on campus, conflicting health conditions, handler’s responsibilities, and guidelines for maintaining an approved animal at Arkansas Tech University, visit https://www.atu.edu/disabilities/animal_policy.php.
Procedure to request the university housing accommodations: Visit https://www.atu.edu/disabilities/housing_accommodations_procedure.php.
Students who need special accommodations should start the process by completing a request for accommodations form (see link below). If you need an alternative format of this information, please contact the Office of Disability Services at (479) 968-0302 or disabilities@atu.edu.
