Service and Assistance Animals
University Disability Resources welcomes students, faculty, staff and visitors with disabilities and serves as a central resource for information regarding both service animals and assistance animals.
A service animal is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. 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, or performing other duties.
Animals whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
Only two topics can be explored to determine if a dog is a service animal supporting a student or visitor:
- Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
- What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
Harvard faculty and staff cannot require a special identification card for a dog identified as a service animal or restrict the type of dog breeds that can be used as service animals.
Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective means.
An assistance animal (also sometimes referred to as an emotional support animal, therapy animal or comfort animal), is defined by the Fair Housing Act as an animal that does work, performs tasks, provides assistance, and/or provides therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities and is necessary for an individual’s equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing.
An assistance animal does not need to be trained or certified as a service animal and may be an animal other than a dog. An assistance animal is not a pet but is required for a disability.
Residents of Harvard housing wishing to request an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation should review the information on our website at the Housing Accommodation section to learn more.
Students
Students are encouraged to follow the local process at their School regarding the presence of a service or assistance animal on campus. Please see the LDC List to find your School’s contact person or office.
Faculty and Staff
Faculty and staff wishing to request the presence of a service Animal as a reasonable accommodation in the workplace should contact their Local Accommodation Coordinator (i.e. HR Consultant for staff, or Faculty Affairs or University Disability Resources for faculty). For more information on this process please see Workplace Accommodations.
Visitors to Harvard-Owned Public Facilities
Under the ADA, organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. Therefore, service animals accompanying visitors to campus are permitted access and visitors do not have to formally notify the campus of the animal’s presence.
Research Laboratories and Machine Shops
Service animals may accompany students or visitors with disabilities in all areas that other students and visitors visit, but unique risks may arise if service animals are in some research laboratories or machine shops. Harvard expects students and visitors to notify the school’s Local Disability Coordinator before visiting a research laboratory or machine shop on Harvard’s campus with a service animal. The Local Disability Coordinator will then initiate a safety assessment.