Housing Accommodations

You must complete the housing accommodation request process, including scheduling and attending a meeting with the DSS Office, by the housing application deadline. While DigiPen will make reasonable effort to meet the accommodation needs of students who submit accommodation requests after the deadline, our resources are limited, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide the accommodation during the term for which it is requested.

Documentation and the disability verification form will help the DSS Office understand how the disability impacts the student in the community living environment, as well as the current impact of the condition relating to the housing accommodation request.

Documentation and all relevant information must be provided by the student’s qualified licensed or certified professional who are able to assess the disability, including but not limited to the student’s physician, psychologist, or mental health professional. In addition, the student’s qualified licensed or certified professional should be currently treating the student to evaluate each request accurately and equitably.

For the purposes of this document, a disability is legally defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of the person in question.

Thus, a disability has both diagnostic and functional elements, and both elements need to be documented for effective determination.

Housing accommodations are based on medical evidence of need and are determined on a case-by-case basis. Documentation and/or the Disability Verification Form for Housing Accommodation Request should provide information about the specific functional limitations caused by the disability. Any recommendations should be associated with the impact or functional limitations associated with the disability. They should also take into account any medication prescribed to control symptoms that include a clear rationale based on level of impairment.

The DSS Office determines what housing accommodations are necessary to provide equal access. The recommendations of specific accommodations from a qualified medical professional will be considered as suggestions. We strongly recommend medical providers complete our Disability Verification Form for Housing Accommodation Request, as it contains additional information not often addressed in a typical doctor’s note.

Disability Support Services does not handle housing assignments and will not request a specific apartment complex for students. Our office works with DigiPen Housing LLC to identify reasonable and appropriate accommodations solely based on disability-related needs and not personal preferences.

Disability Support Services is not involved in the process of assigning roommates. Students may work with DigiPen Housing LLC to request specific roommates.

Due to resource constraints and DigiPen’s belief that students generally benefit from living in shared community spaces, these rooms are not available except to students demonstrating a significant medical need. Accordingly, when available, medical single bedrooms are allocated to individuals who:

• Provide adequate documentation of a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, thereby affecting the student’s ability to equitably access and use student housing.
• Cannot be adequately accommodated for their disability by other means.

While having a roommate is often stressful and uncomfortable for first-year students, this stress does not typically warrant placing the student in a medical single bedroom as an accommodation.

Requests for a medical single bedroom as an accommodation, driven solely by a preference for a “peaceful, uninterrupted study, living, and/or sleep environment,” will not be approved. Given the communal facilities, shared resources, and the number of residents in the same living environment, it is unreasonable to expect that having a private bedroom would offer a significantly quieter, distraction-free space compared to living in a standard double or triple room.

Emotional support animals (“ESA”) are not “service animals” under the ADA or Washington law. Unlike service animals, emotional support animals are not trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Emotional support animals are animals that provide passive service that relieves an impact of a person’s disability. They may be other species of animals than dogs. Emotional support animals can be requested as a housing accommodation and approved by Disability Support Services and DigiPen Housing LLC.

We strongly recommend medical providers complete our ESA information request form as it contains additional information not often addressed in a typical doctor’s note. The ESA housing accommodation will not be approved until DSS receives and reviews a document with sufficient supporting information.

You will need documentation from an appropriate professional (i.e., a physician, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional) that can:

• Identify the student and verify their disability.
• Share the relevant history of the proposed ESA’s effectiveness as a form of treatment for the disability.
• State the need for the proposed ESA as a part of the student’s current healthcare/treatment plan.
• Explain how the proposed ESA helps alleviate the impact of the identified disability/health condition.
• Establish the long-term relationship with the proposed ESA that has broad and diffuse impact that reduces the overall level of symptoms.
• Provide some examples of the proposed ESA’s effectiveness.

For more information on the necessary information for document to support ESA housing accommodation, please read the ESA information request form.

ESAs are not allowed on campus until the accommodation request has been submitted through Disability Services, relevant documentation has been provided, and the request has been approved by both Disability Support Services and DigiPen Housing and Residence Life after meeting with the student.

Beginning March 15, 2011, service animals are defined as animals that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. 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, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a service animal has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. An animal whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support does not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

Requests to have service animals in DigiPen Housing must be submitted through the DSS office.

Students are fully responsible for their animals’ behaviors. Service and emotional support animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In such a case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls. Animals are required to be housebroken and under their owners’ control at all times. In addition, the animals’ behaviors are considered their owners’ behaviors. DigiPen Housing LLC may require students to remove their animals from the environment if the animal is sick, unclean, or malodorous; its behavior is disruptive, e.g., barking, growling, running around, displaying aggressive behavior; the owner/partner fails to clean up after their animal; and/or does not meet all applicable city/county/college ordinances or requirements.

Step 1: Complete the housing application process

Complete your housing application, pay the security deposit, and finish enrolling as an incoming student.

Step 2: Obtain medical documentation to support your housing accommodation requests

To request housing accommodations based on your disability, you must provide current documentation from a qualified professional who is currently treating you, such as a physician, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist. You must furnish documentation sufficient for the DSS Office to make its determinations. This may involve acquiring additional, or more up-to-date, documentation.

Completing the Disability Verification Form for Housing Accommodation Request is strongly recommended as it will complete information to the DSS Office.

Documentation from a qualified professional must indicate that you meet the necessary criteria for the diagnosis of a physical or psychological impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, as defined by the ADA. In addition, documentation must include all information needed to demonstrate the existence of your disability and the necessity of the specific housing accommodations requested. The documentation must establish your eligibility for housing accommodation(s) and include, at a minimum the:

• Date of the evaluation and treatment history.
• Description of the disability and severity level.
• Test results used to reach diagnosis.
• Explanations describing how the disability has substantially limited certain major life activities.
• Current impact of the disability in the residential setting.
• Past use and effectiveness of any housing accommodations in the residential setting.
• Recommendations for specific housing accommodations that are logically related to a treatment plan and the impact described.
• Key points from discussion regarding pros and cons of living in campus housing.
• Signature, credentials, and contact information of the evaluator.

If the submitted documentation is incomplete or does not support your request for housing accommodation(s), the DSS Office may ask you to provide additional information.

Please be aware that IEP (Individualized Education Program) and 504 (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act) plans from a school district will not be sufficient for housing accommodation requests.

Students who do not have documentation — or are unsure of the documentation needed — are encouraged to contact the DSS staff to explore options for support.

The DSS Office cannot process housing accommodation requests without documentation that satisfies the guidelines and fully supports the housing accommodations requested.

Step 3: Submit your medical documentation

Create your housing profile using the Accessible Information Management System and securely upload your medical documentation.

Step 4: Meet with the DSS Office

The link to schedule an appointment will be emailed to you after submitting the housing accommodation application.