[2](d) state, “Recipients need not provide attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature.”

The Disability Services Counselor will be involved in working with faculty and staff in notifying them of the assistant that will be accompanying the student to class.

bottom of Personal Attendant Services
BACK TO TOP

Service Animals

Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) state that service animals shall not be excluded from university and college facilities or activities. The ADAAA defines a service animal as: “…any dog or miniature horse that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, altering individuals who are hearing impaired to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items.”

To work on campus, a service animal must be specifically trained to perform a service function the individual with a disability cannot perform for themselves.

The Hawaii Revised Statutes (515‐3) provides further definitions:

• Guide Dogs assist people on who are blind or who have low vision. The animals provide mobility guidance in the community.
• Signal Dogs assist people with hearing losses. The animals may perform functions such as alerting persons to sounds such as the doorbell or the telephone ringing.
• Service Dogs or Service Animals assist people with mobility and other disabilities. The animals may assist by pulling wheelchairs, picking up items, carrying items, or assisting persons with balance.

BACK TO TOP

---

• SsigDogs (sensory signal or social signal dogs) are trained to assist people with autism. A signal dog alerts the partner to distracting repetitive movements common among those with autism, allowing the person to stop the movement (i.e., hand flapping).
• Seizure Response Dogs are trained to assist people with seizures. A seizure response dog may stand guard over the person during a seizure, or the dog may go for help. A few dogs have somehow learned to predict a seizure and warn the person in advance.

BACK TO TOP

---

• Per Hawaii Administrative Rules, Chapter 111, pets or animals are prohibited on state facilities and grounds with the exception of service, guide, and signal animals.
• A service animal, in relation to accommodating a disability, is not a pet.
• Service animals MUST perform specific functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform alone. An animal which merely provides companionship and which is not trained to perform tasks is not a service animal.
• In Hawaii there is a process for an individual who chooses to have their animal licensed; however, it is not required.

BACK TO TOP

---

• Allow the service animal to accompany the student with a disability at all times and everywhere on campus except where service animals are specifically prohibited (see Off-Limits Areas to Service Animals).
• Do not pet or feed a service animal.
• Do not deliberately startle a service animal.
• Do not separate or attempt to separate the animal from the student with a disability.

BACK TO TOP

---

• All requirements for the presence of animals in public places mandated by state or local laws, rules, and regulations must be followed (vaccinations, licensure, ID tags).
• Though a service animal may not necessarily be harnessed, it is expected that the animal remains under the control and direct supervision of the person with a disability and not stray unattended in the facility or site. Under state law, if the service animal is a dog, it should be on a leash.
• Appropriate, non‐disruptive behavior is expected from a service animal.
• If the service dog exhibits unacceptable behavior, the student with a disability is expected to employ the proper training techniques to correct the situation.
• If a service animal’s behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, it can be excluded and/or removed from campus. For example, if a service animal displays vicious behavior towards others, the animal will be banned.
• The care and/or supervision of a service animal are the responsibility of the owner. The student must follow state or local laws, rules and regulations regarding cleaning up after the animal defecates. Students with disabilities who physically cannot clean up after their own service animal may not be required to pick up and dispose feces.

BACK TO TOP

---

• Should the service animal behave in an unruly or disruptive manner (i.e., barking, running around, bringing attention to itself), UHMC may ask the student with a disability to remove the animal from campus. If the improper behavior happens repeatedly, the student with a disability may be told not to bring the animal onto campus until significant steps are taken to modify the behavior.
• Service animals that are ill should not be taken into public areas and may be asked to be removed from campus.
• Service animals should be clean and properly groomed. An animal that becomes wet from walking in the rain, but otherwise clean, will be considered a clean animal.

BACK TO TOP

---

• Research Laboratories: Areas where the natural organisms carried by dogs and other animals may negatively affect the outcome of research. Conversely, some chemicals and/or organisms used in the research may be harmful to service animals.
• Mechanical Rooms and Custodial Closets: Boiler rooms, facility equipment rooms, electrical closets, elevator control rooms, and custodial closets are off-limits as machinery or chemicals may be harmful to the animals.
• Areas Where Protective Equipment is Required
• Areas Where There is a Danger to the Service Animal: Any room, including a classroom, where there are sharp metal cuttings or other sharp objects on the floor or protruding from a surface, where there are hot materials on the floor, where there are high levels of dust, or where there is moving machinery, is off‐limits to service animals.

Exceptions will be granted on a case‐by‐case basis. In consultation with the instructor, student with a disability, and the Disabilities Coordinator, a decision will be made. The final decision shall be made based on the nature of the research or machinery and in the best interest of the animal.

Example: The machinery in a classroom may have moving parts at a height such that the tail of a large dog could easily be caught in it; this is a valid reason to keep large dogs out. However, a very small hearing dog may be shorter than any moving part and, therefore, considered for admission to the classroom.

bottom of Service Animals
BACK TO TOP

Assistive Technology Computer Lab

The Assistive Technology Computer Lab (AT Lab) is located in the Pilina Building.  Students with disabilities are welcome to use the computers that are equipped with assistive technology software. Additional computers with assistive technology are located at The Learning Center and the Library. All are exclusively yours to use during the following days and hours:

• Assistive Technology Lab: by Appointment
• The Learning Center: M-TR – 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and F-SAT – 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
• Library: M-TR – 8:00 am to 6:00 pm and F – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

bottom of Assistive Technology Computer Lab
BACK TO TOP

How to Attain Services

1. Contact the Disability Services Counselor at UH Maui College and identify yourself as a student with a disability.
2. Provide accurate documentation(s) regarding your disability. This should be handed in to the Disability Services Counselor.
3. Set an appointment to meet with the Disability Services Counselor to discuss possible accommodations available to you.
4. Letters are given to you to inform instructional faculty of needed accommodations, or are provided directly to appropriate instructional faculty at your request. You do not need to notify professors or third parties of your disability; this is optional and not required. You only need to notify them of your accommodation needs. The Disability Services Counselor will not disclose any personal information on your behalf.
5. You should have a conversation with your instructor regarding how the requested accommodations will be implemented in that particular class. Testing accommodations need to be agreed upon in advance.

bottom of How to Attain Services
BACK TO TOP

Responsibility of the College

Through the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Disability Services Office, the college provides a variety of services to students with disabilities including individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, based on individual documentation and needs. The responsibility of the college is to provide reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis and to afford equal opportunity for student participation in the institution’s programs, activities, and services. It is also the responsibility of the college to:

• Maintain the college’s academic standards.
• Ensure that college courses, programs, services, jobs, activities, and facilities, when viewed in their entirety, are offered in the most integrated and appropriate settings.
• Provide information regarding policies and procedures to students with disabilities and assure its availability in accessible formats upon request.
• Provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids for students with disabilities upon a timely request by a student.
• Maintain confidentiality of records and communication concerning students with disabilities, except where disclosure is required by law or authorized by the student.

*Students desiring academic accommodations are advised to call the Disability Services Counselor as early as possible to ensure timely provisions of services.

bottom of Responsibility of the College
BACK TO TOP

Academic Accommodations

Academic accommodations are provided to enable students with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, equal academic access and/or equal opportunity. It is a change in the learning environment that may include services such as academic accessibility through adjustments, supports, and/or physical accessibility. The student must be “otherwise qualified” and the standards of the institution need not be compromised. Further, academic accommodations are determined on a case-by-case situation and based on individual needs.

Criteria for Accommodations

• must be reasonable
• does not impose an undue hardship to the operations of the program
• does not change or modify the integrity of a degree, program, class, and or examination
• must include accessible facilities
• allows for reasonable modification of equipment or assistive devices as necessary
• allows for readers and or interpreters as necessary
• allows for testing modifications as necessary
• allows for the use of necessary auxiliary aids such as alternative text, tape recorders, and classroom equipment
• allows for modifications to the length of time allowed to complete degree requirements
• does not impose a significant threat to the health and safety of others

BACK TO TOP

---

Universities need not provide attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices for services of a personal nature (Section 504‐104.44). Some examples include personal care attendants, therapeutic aides, and mobility aides.

Aids, benefits, and services, to be equally effective, are not required to produce the identical result or level of achievement for disabled and non‐disabled persons, but they must afford individuals with disabilities equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit or to reach the same level of achievement in the most integrated setting as possible to the person’s need (Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Subpart E).

Academic accommodations are flexible to meet the needs of students with various disabilities. Accommodations must be consistent with their individual needs based on the associated functional limitation of the student’s disability. Requests that alter the academic standards of the course or program will not be granted. Accommodations must be requested in a timely manner to allow for securing the necessary resources (personnel, coordination, etc.). If the accommodation is not requested in a timely manner, delays in obtaining the accommodation should be anticipated, and in certain cases, denied.

bottom of Academic Accommodations
BACK TO TOP

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable accommodation is the term used by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for modifications made to the learning environment that helps to create equal educational opportunity. It does not require that students with disabilities be given special advantages in order to help them pass, nor does it require that they are graded on a scale differently from their classmates.

Depending on your disability documentation, your experience with accommodations, and your preferences, the Disability Coordinator will provide access to the appropriate accommodation.

BACK TO TOP

---

• extended test time
• distraction-reduced environment
• readers/scribes
• enlargement of printed material
• assistive technology
• use of a simple calculator
• audio recorded material
• other alternative formats

BACK TO TOP

---

• note takers
• class relocation
• assistive technology
• sign language interpreter
• text in alternative formats

bottom of Reasonable Accommodation
end of Services for Students with Disabilities page
BACK TO TOP