College and Student Discrimination

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I am an 18 year old with officially diagnosed Aspergers. I have a service dog that makes independent living possible for me. He has trained tasks that help with many different things such as anxiety, sensory overload, agoraphobia, etc. I have gone to the disabilities office at my university and they refuse to let me use my dog on campus. We asked what documents they need and they didn't have anything specific other than something. I gave them a doctors letter, a list of tasks, his service dog registration(even though not required by law), a copy of his public access test, and a copy of all the laws regarding service dogs. They simply told they don't believe it is a reasonable accommodation for him to go to class with me. I have read their university policy on service dogs and they say they welcome service dogs. I have given more than enough proof but all they will tell me is my service dog cannot be accepted but they won't say why. After they sent me an email of final rejection of my request one of the disabilities office workers that was involved sent an email to another worker but hit the reply all button on accident so I got the email as well. From the email I have discovered that they have been laughing at me all along and they are simply discriminating. I have been bullied and made fun of all my life and I will not put up with it now!! !! It would be very difficult to go to class without my service dog to help me. I am considering just withdrawing from the university because I am sick of fighting with them and they are just laughing at how stupid I am because they think I am mentally ret*d. I have followed all university policies to have a service dog on campus but because I do not have a physical disability and I have difficulty speaking and learning in the same way I am therefore discriminated against. School starts in two days and I doubt I can get in to see the president of the university before class starts so I am considering just not showing up to class and going to another school next semester because they are so rude and ignorant. Does anyone have any suggestions or has experienced a similar situation?

The only tactic that would work is to find an attorney who handles discrimination cases to send a "nasty gram" to the president of the college. Also see if you (or someone who can be your spokesperson) can contact the local TV media to get a story going on how this college discriminates against the disabled.

One thing schools hate is negative press. It makes them take action.

Most lawyers might not want to bother with your case, but there are enough passionate ones who might do it pro bono since (1) odds are a phone call/letter will end the matter in your favor and (2) if the college makes you go to court, they'll likely loose and that should mean they have to pay your lawyer for his/her time...which is an incentive for someone to do the case on contingency.

Just be sure you can document that your "service dog" is a "service dog." This is not up to the college to determine. If your dog is specially trained and certified to accommodate your disability, that's all the documentation that matters.

What about contacting one of the disability rights groups? They might be able to offer you some advice.

Don't do that! That just makes it easier for them and a pain in the ass for you to find a new college.

I've never heard of a dog for autism, but if you've got all the official documents and letters, and the college has said that it's ok for disability dogs to be on campus, then I see no reason why you will not be allowed to bring yours.

Also, that email they sent about you should not go unmentioned.

Contact the college dean (you'll find a contact address on the college's website) and write a strongly (but politely) worded letter and send it. Make sure you attach all correspondance and the email you 'weren't supposed to have seen', as well as the guidelines clearly stating that service dogs are allowed. Let them know that you hope it can all be sorted out internally (the hidden threat being that you will not be afraid to go to the papers if you have to) and you would like a meeting with whoever is in charge of the people who work in the disability department to sort this matter out, once and for all.

edit; just a thought, what classes are you doing? If it's lectures, I can't see a problem, but if it's lab work or working with patients/kids, it may be unreasonable to have a dog around, sorry. That said though, they should at least offer a polite explanation.

I would not go directly to the press, going to the newspaper or the TV is like firing an ICBM. Once you do it you lose your last bargining chip. I would go for the letter to a dean or a the boss of the university. Deans and other senior figures tend to be men and women who have to play politics. They are people who devise systems of work (or order administrators) to create new systems of work to reach an outcome. The chances are the people you were dealing with were admin, admin can only use systems of work given to it from on high. Also administrators tend to be less politically mature than the bureaucrats who are in posts like VC or dean for the natural sciences.

I suspect that when the dean gets the letter which explains how university admin have lit up the public relations version of a serious fire, he will become very interested and hopping mad at some of his juniors. Give the dean a reasonable chance to fix the problem, then if that fails then feel free to drop the "big one" by going to the press.

Sue them until they bleed out their eyes and then switch schools once you win these people are very much two faced if they allow aid dogs for one disability but not another .Win your fight then move to a different school they do not deserve your money. For all the money students are paying now for tuition you should be allowed to bring a gorilla if you need to.

WOW! They actually sent the smoking gun to you. Rather than going to a lawyer or the press first, I would send a letter to the President of the school stating your situation, why you think the law is your your side, a copy (NOT THE ORIGINALS) of the email sent to you, and that if you do not get satisfaction within 30 days, you will be contacting an attorney and the news. Use the 30 days time to research for an attorney and who to contact at the various news organizations.

Most college presidents shy away from bad press and will bring together the people needed to resolve this.

Emails are electronic. If you send it by email, you don't lose the copy in your inbox. If you print it out and send it, then again, your inbox is unchanged.

If you go straight to the top, instead of working up the chain, that might work against you. Going to the dean sounds appropriate. Don't bother with explicit threats of legal action yet. You haven't used the normal problem resolution avenues yet. Use them, and you will probably get this resolved.

Don't let some low-level office flunkies get you down.

One could deal with a "dean" but most schools have more than one. Dean of Students deals with the students. Dean of Faculty deals with the faculty. I'm not sure which one would best deal with this, and going to the President ensures something WILL be done right away. There is no obligation to follow a "chain of command" in this matter. If you were appealing a bad grade or had a complaint against a teacher, the prescribed policy would be an issue, but this is a matter of failure to accommodate under the ADA, and with your "smoking gun" e-mail, I'd say it's best to go to the one person who WILL take action or pass it down to a person who WILL resolve the issue. You've followed "normal channels" already and your e-mail shows how they are regarding your issue. With only 2 days left before school starts, you don't have time to wait for the system to grind the process.

Going to the top will ensure a quick response and it lets the school know you will not be walked over. Some might resent it, but from what I've observed, those who are vocal and willing to take drastic action get what they want are people they don't want to mess with.

Certainly the threat of litigation or bringing in the media can be implied at this point as in, "I hope we can resolve this matter amicably in compliance with the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act so that more formal attempts at resolution are not necessary." This makes it clear that they'd better be prepared to legally defend not cooperating if they don't resolve the issue because that is what you will do if they choose not to act in your favor.

I am a professor of Anatomy and Physiology. I use an autism service dog in my classrooms and labs. My dog helps me in the same way you have described. There is no reason you could not use a service dog too.

You many give the dean at your school my contact information: [email protected]
If he or she would like to hear from a professor about how to make this work I would be glad to help.

They just don't get it and they aren't going to be able to hear it from you because they think you just don't understand how college works. I am one of them. They will know that I understand how a class runs and they will be more likely to trust me.

Ramon

Any updates? How did it work out?

Well it hasn't worked out yet but we are finally getting somewhere. We wrote a letter that had quoted proof of everything thing they refuted or made an excuse about and the head of the disabilities office finally gave up but she doesn't want to be the one to make the decision so one of the higher counsels is having a meeting today. Maybe we can solve this without having a legal battle. We have just been very persistent and clear because they were just playing word games. We have figured out that the whole problem is they have never had a student with Aspergers ask to use a service dog so no one knows what to do and they actually have no clue what Aspergers is. They are just scared to make the decision since they don't know much about it. Some dissabilities office they are. I even went to the ice president of the university and he didn't know what to do. They have spent the last several days researching it. Regardless they have to accept by law and we have given them everything possible to convince them but I think it is finally working!! Classes have been a wreck without my service dog because they are huge and noisy but hopefully this will be resolved in a few days. If not I am getting a lawyer. I'll let you all know how it turns out. And thank you so much for all your help. You have given me some great ideas.

I find it very strange that a university would be unfamiliar with Asperger's Syndrome. Half their professors are probably afflicted with it.

THEY FINALLY ACCEPTED MY SERVICE DOG!! ! We finally were referred to talk to the president of student affairs. He was very upset that we had gone through all this and that there was no reason he should not be allowed. All that I should have had to give them was a letter that I wrote asking for the use of my service dog and describing a few of his tasks. All this mess was completely unnecessary. I am so glad this all over with and my dog will be there to help me. YAY!! !

Sweet!

Congratulations and thank you on behalf of all the service dog partners that follow you at your school. Your presence there will familiarize people with the concept of Autism Service Dogs and the next team that comes along will not have the problems that you did. I know how frustrating and difficult it is to be the first. But, the fight is worth it. Many others will benefit from your work. Again, thank you.

Ramon