Related Policies
Americans With Disabilities Act
Indiana University is committed to maintaining an inclusive and accessible environment across all of its campuses. Ensuring that all members of the university community have access to facilities, information, and information technology associated with administration and services, coursework and instruction, programs, and university-sponsored activities is critical to the university's educational mission and is among its highest priorities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Indiana Civil Rights Act, and Indiana University policy prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in employment and educational programs. University websites must be accessible so that students, prospective students, employees, guests and visitors with disabilities have equivalent access to the information and functionality provided to individuals without disabilities.
Indiana University provides reasonable accommodations in the form of reasonable modifications to policies, practices, or procedures in order to make its services, programs, and activities accessible to qualified individuals with disabilities unless the modification would fundamentally alter the nature of a university service, program, or activity. These accommodations and adjustments must be made in a timely manner and on an individualized and flexible basis.
Individual students, staff, and faculty members are responsible for identifying themselves as an individual with a disability when seeking an accommodation or, specifically in the case of students, a modification to an academic program. Individual students, staff, and faculty members are also responsible for documenting their disability (from an appropriately licensed professional) and demonstrating how the disability limits their ability to complete the essential functions of their job or limits the student's participation in services, programs, or activities of the university. Medical documentation will be kept confidential.
Students, staff, and faculty members must maintain institutional standards of performance.
Student Accommodations
Accessible Educational Services (AES) is the disability services office for IU Indianapolis, IU Columbus, IU Fort Wayne, School of Dentistry, McKinney School of Law, and the School of Medicine students.
AES determines if a student qualifies for accommodations, approves reasonable accommodations, and serves the campus community to ensure the implementation of those accommodations whenever possible.
Students who believe the university has not met its obligations under the ADA should consult with the university’s ADA Coordinator in the Office of Civil Rights Compliance. The university ADA Coordinator will refer complaints to the appropriate campus or university office for investigation.
Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals
Indiana University is committed to ensuring equal access to facilities, programs, and activities. Service animals assisting individuals with disabilities are generally permitted in all university facilities and programs, except as described below.
Service Animals are dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. The work or task that the dog performs must be directly related to the individual’s disability, and can include a wide variety of services. Service animals are recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Indiana University also recognizes miniature horses as a service animal consistent with relevant ADA guidance and regulations.
Emotional Support Animals (ESAs), animals that provide emotional or other support that alleviates one or more of the identified symptoms or effects of an individual’s existing disability, are permitted only in the owner’s on-campus residence or IU real estate housing with advance approval. Emotional support animals are not recognized under the ADA and are not permitted in any other university building or facility.
In addition to the requirements that apply to any animal on university property (FIN-INS-11), the following provisions govern service animals and ESAs. The university may exclude a service animal:
- If the animal is out of control and the owner/handler does not take immediate effective action to control it;
- If the animal is not housebroken;
- If the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level by a reasonable modification to other policies, practices, and procedures;
- If the presence of the animal would fundamentally alter the nature of the university’s services or programs;
- where service animals are specifically prohibited due to health or environmental and/or safety hazards, or the service animal creates an unmanageable disturbance or interference within the university community.
