Effective Communication

The City of West Haven will generally, upon request, provide appropriate aids and services leading to effective communication for qualified people with disabilities so they can participate equally in city programs, services and activities, including qualified sign language interpreters, documents in Braille, as well as other ways of making information and communications accessible to people who have speech, hearing or vision impairments.

Modifications to Policies & Procedures

The City of West Haven will make all reasonable modifications to policies and programs to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to enjoy all of its programs, services and activities. For example, individuals with service animals are welcome in city offices, even where pets are generally prohibited.

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service or activity of the City of West Haven should call the Office of the Mayor at 203-937-3510 as soon as possible, but no later than 48 hours before the scheduled event.

Restrictions

The ADA does not require the City of West Haven to take any action that would fundamentally alter the nature of its programs or services or impose an undue financial or administrative burden.

Complaints

Complaints that a program, service or activity of the City of West Haven is not accessible to people with disabilities should be directed to the Office of the Mayor at 203-937-3510.

No Surcharge

The City of West Haven will not place a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the cost of providing auxiliary aids/services or reasonable modifications of policy, such as retrieving items from locations that are open to the public but are not accessible to people who use wheelchairs.

The following section can be downloaded as a handout for employers to distribute to employees. Click here for download.

Helpful Guidelines About Service Animals

Under the ADA, state and local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. Starting March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA. A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.

What Can I Ask Someone With a Service Dog?

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.

Staff may not ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special ID card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Definition of a Service Dog

Service animals are defined as dogs 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 dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.