Documentation from the Internet If you read it on the Internet, it MUST be true, right?
Some websites sell certificates, licensing, and registration documents for assistance animals to anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee. Under the Fair Housing Act, a housing provider MAY request reliable documentation when an individual requesting a reasonable accommodation has a disability and disability related need for an accommodation that are not obvious or otherwise known. HUD states that, in its experience thus far, documentation from the internet is NOT , by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual has a non-observable disability OR the disability related need for an assistance animal . Many legitimate, licensed health care professionals deliver services remotely, including over the internet. One reliable form of documentation is a note from the person’s health care professional that confirms a person’s disability and/or need for an animal when the provider has personal knowledge of the individual. Take home point: If the existence of a disability or the disability-related need for an assistance animal are not obvious or already known, a housing provider may ask for reliable documentation of the disability itself and the disability-related need for the assistance animal . Online certification of an assistance animal alone does not establish either criteria.
15
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker