Assistance dogs at University

I've been considering the benefits of getting an assistance dog for a while now but I plan to go to uni in the future and have noticed that many only allow ADUK assistance dogs. None of the organisations under ADUK offer dogs for my conditions so this could be problematic.

In my research it appears that the equality act should cover all assistance dogs not just ADUK ones. If this is the case then aren't these universities breaking the law? And if I'm wrong then what should I do if I decide to get an assistance dog? The dog would be owner trained but I would ensure that it was both public access and task trained to a high level.

The ADUK accreditation signifies that the dog (and handler) is adequately trained, meets the handler's needs, and is essential to the functioning of the handler in their daily life. Without it, anyone could claim that their pet dog is an assistance dog to enable people to take them into lectures etc. How would you ensure that your dog meets the standards of the ADUK, given that your dog and yourself won't be rigorously trained by them?

I agreed with what you're saying and there is no way for me exactly meet the standards of ADUK however I am confident in my ability to teach a dog to do the tasks I would require of it. On the public access side it is fairly easy to find the specifications of public access tests for assistance dogs online. Whilst I suspect that some of these specifications are from other countries (or totally fake) it gives an idea of what behaviour to train for. I would likely video the dog taking a public access test and possibly also its tasks in order to provide proof of training.

I totally agree that efforts should be put in place to prevent people pretending that pets are assistance dogs but ADUK can't cover every possible reason someone may need an assistance dog.

To play devil's advocate, imagine you're a university representative. What would you do if someone came to you and claimed their dog had assistance status, and their only proof was a selection of video clips? It doesn't exactly breed confidence.

I understand that the ADUK can't provide accreditation for every possible requirement/reason, but the university has that requirement in place for many reasons (i.e. not only for others' safety and hygiene, but also to prevent the 'assistance' label from being exploited). I suggest that you hold off on getting any assistance animal until you know what is required/whether they will be accepted. What tasks do you need assistance with? How have you been coping thus far?

I've been considering the benefits of getting an assistance dog for a while now but I plan to go to uni in the future and have noticed that many only allow ADUK assistance dogs. None of the organisations under ADUK offer dogs for my conditions so this could be problematic.

In my research it appears that the equality act should cover all assistance dogs not just ADUK ones. If this is the case then aren't these universities breaking the law? And if I'm wrong then what should I do if I decide to get an assistance dog? The dog would be owner trained but I would ensure that it was both public access and task trained to a high level.

It is against the law and it infuriates me to no ends about assistance dog policies. I myself have looked into 100+ universities and whether they have EA10 compliant policies of the ones that do I believe it ~3 that actually were compliant. I have complained to the EASS who told me they didn't know where to point me unless it was already happening to me. I have also asked the EHRC about this and they just pointed towards the EASS. I am currently in the process of starting a campaign for this exact purpose.

That being said most non-ADUK organisations will stand their ground against universities. If you want a list of organisations that may be able to help you ,I have compiled a list of all assistance dog organisations I am aware of in the UK (~41) so please feel free to ask. OT partnerships that are not part of an org usually get the worst of it, though the EASS and Assistance Dog Council (which helps its members with access issues) usually will help out.

There are current documents on the preliminary stages of possible international standards for assistance dogs which may become a thing within the next few years (3+) (please see the IAADP 's facebook page for more information). Additionally, I found out today that a charity was registered in September 2020 called the Assistance Dog Assessment Association which half of its trustees are also trustees for the ADUK. This was kind of to be expected and I support the scheme however I do hope the ADUK doesn't mess it up as they haven't had the best relations with OT's in the past.

TLDR; Yes it's against the law, in theory even if documentation was necessary they would have to accept OT's with some form of proof of training which could be a simple as a training log.

What are the other assistance dog organisations in the UK? I'm particularly interested in any that could help me get an assistance dog for my anxiety and PTSD.

The ones that are aided owner train are:
Pawtected, Pawsitive Squad CIC, RECOVERY assistance dogs, Oliver's Army (possibly), K9 Assistance (a new org), Helpful Hounds (only Dorset,Hampshire,Surrey and Wiltshire), Westcreek Labradors and Wild Spirit Dog Training. There are others that may help these are just the ones I'm 100% sure about as not everything on my list is filled out completely yet. There may be other programmes but these are the ones I know about. There are probably others, as far as i'm aware my list is the most complete of it's kind.
As long as my dog sourcing situation sorts out I am hopefully going to be training with Pawsitive Squad this yr.

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like I'll be able to get an assistance dog any time soon because my dad is against us getting another dog and my existing dog has joint issues so it wouldn't be fair on her.

Good luck with getting with your dog sourcing and future training.

Thank you!
For me, it took me 1-2yrs to go over the idea completely. I wasn't able to convince my parents to OT to begin with and found a programme I was eligible for which we applied to and was turned down (I have an interesting situation involving possible international uni), and so because of my perseverance my parents entertained the idea and within a few weeks, my search for a dog began. I would say perseverance (ADs are my special interest so I probs went a bit over the top in places oops) and knowing the area is key. Showing the costs as well can also help as well. It takes time but parents can come around to the idea.
TLDR; Mention it over an extended period of time can convince parents.

I've brought it up in conversation with my dad a few times to see his reaction and that went relatively okay. The problem really is that he doesn't think I'm disabled despite the fact I have pointed out that I am legally disabled even though I'm not in a wheelchair like my brother is.

On a side note, I'm not diagnosed or anything but I suspect I'm also autistic and dogs have been an ongoing special interest of mine for years so I might be getting more than a little obsessed with assistance dogs now.

Yeah, the most important thing is that you are diagnosed with at least one disability as programmes require it and you'd need to have standing in court (though that is a very rare scenario).

SI's are the best mine are currently ADs and Star Wars. For me it is more working dogs(with a focus on assistance dogs) which stemmed from me binge-watching ' Send in the Dogs' and then finding the AD community on IG. When you can I would recommend trying to get a diagnosis of ASD as the process is long and also may be useful if you need an AD as well later in life as it opens up more programmes. For this reason, as well I would also like to add Pawsable to the list of orgs as whilst they specialise in Autism they do also have a minority of dogs which are for PTSD or other but are assessed on a case-by-case basis and as you suspect that you are Autistic they would be more likely to accept you.

The ADUK accreditation signifies that the dog (and handler) is adequately trained, meets the handler's needs, and is essential to the functioning of the handler in their daily life. Without it, anyone could claim that their pet dog is an assistance dog to enable people to take them into lectures etc. How would you ensure that your dog meets the standards of the ADUK, given that your dog and yourself won't be rigorously trained by them?

The ADUK accreditation signifies that the dog (and handler) is adequately trained, meets the handler's needs, and is essential to the functioning of the handler in their daily life. Without it, anyone could claim that their pet dog is an assistance dog to enable people to take them into lectures etc. How would you ensure that your dog meets the standards of the ADUK, given that your dog and yourself won't be rigorously trained by them?