5-Steps to Welcome
Students with Service
Animals to Residential
Communities
on Campus
Jacqueline Wilson
University of Maryland
Baltimore County
07/13/2012
History
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Early use of service animals to treat patients
at York Retreat in England in 1790s**
Early use in US in 1919 at St. Elizabeth’s hospital
in Washington D.C.*
*According to “Warm and Fuzzy”, Destination
Hyatt, Volume 11/2012. HCP/Aboard
Publishing. Miami, FL. p 25
**James Serpell. In the Company of Animals.
Basil Blackwell Ltd. New York, NY. 1986. p 76
Step 1 – Partnerships with Stakeholders
 Finding
common ground
 Ways to share information
 Shared customer service model
 Goal to provide a unified front
 Stakeholders included Orientation,
Residential Life, Admissions, Student
Support Services, Dining and Campus
Police
Step 2 – Buy-in From Families
 First
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message at Orientation
UMBC provides state-of-the-art service
Supports a diverse range of disability needs
Provides transparency of process
Provides framework for families to make an
informed decision about attending UMBC
Enlisted our pilot student to help us shape a
student and family-friendly process!
Step 3 - One-Stop-Shop
 Student
Support Services – primary office
 Tailored and timely response to family
 Residential Life provides paperwork and
guidelines for living in residential
community
 Student only needs to make request to
one office for decision
Step 4 – Creating
Welcoming Communities
 Service
Animal Etiquette
 Roommate screening
 Roommate Agreement
 Residential Community awareness
 Follow-up and feedback from roommates
and community
Step 5 – Follow-up and Continuing
Conversations
 Feedback
solicited from students with
service animals
 Troubleshooting any roommate or
community concerns
 Student driven on campus support
network for students with service animals
 Students with service animals impacting
experience for future students
Additional Resources & Questions
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AHEAD – Association on Higher Education and
Disability www.ahead.org
http://ADA-One.com – Irene Bowen
http://ada.osu.edu – L. Scott Lissner
http://www.iaadp.org/doj-def-comments-Title-II-IIISA.html - International Association of Assistance Dog
Partners (IAADP)
http://www.iaadp.org/iaadp-minimum-trainingstandards-for-public-access.html - Minimum training
standards per IAADP
www.ksds.org – Service Animal Center
ACUHO-I discussions of best practices via LinkedIn
Jackie Wilson at UMBC jawilson@umbc.edu
Your legal office on campus
Your disability student support office