Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

HUD ISSUES NOTICE ON ASSISTANCE ANIMALS AND REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Excerpt from: HUD.gov (click for full article)

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today issued a Notice reaffirming that housing providers must provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities who require assistance animals.  The “Notice on Service Animals and Assistance Animals for People with Disabilities in Housing and HUD-Funded Programs” discusses how the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) intersect regarding the use of service or assistance animals by persons with disabilities.

Feds Affirm Right To Service Animals

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

Federal officials are putting housing providers on notice that they must accommodate people with disabilities who rely on service animals.

In a notice posted Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development clarified the responsibilities of landlords under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the law, housing providers must provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities who rely on assistance animals. Further, pet restrictions cannot be used to limit or deny housing to individuals relying on such animals, the notice said.

The Fair Housing Act — which governs nearly all types of housing — requires that trained service dogs as well as other assistance animals that perform tasks, provide emotional support or otherwise alleviate the impact of a person’s disability be accommodated.

Miracle Puppy Has Impact On Boy With Autism

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

Just months after being left for dead, a dog is making a world of difference for a young boy with autism.

Last year, animal rescuers found an abused puppy on the side of a Georgia road, having nearly starved to death. They nursed her back to health, naming her Xena the Warrior Puppy. The amazing recovery won Xena fans worldwide on Facebook and her story helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for the care of abused animals.

But it may be Xena’s connection with her new owner that’s having the biggest impact. Now healthy, the dog was adopted by Jonny Hickey, who has autism, and his family. Once shy and withdrawn, Jonny’s family says Xena has brought him to life, inspiring him to make a video to promote April’s status as both Autism Awareness Month and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month.

“My name is Jonny,” the boy says in a video that aired on WXIA-TV, the Atlanta NBC affiliate, “and this is my puppy, Xena. Well, my Xena was hurt really bad. By some not-so-nice people. And I have autism. So I think we make a pretty perfect team to spread the word to be nice to animals, and nice to kids like me.”

New Arizona law allows horses as service animals

Excerpt from: San Francisco Chronicle (click for full article)

 

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed into law legislation that adds miniature horses to the state's definition of a service animal.

The bill Brewer signed Friday allows individuals with disabilities to enter businesses with trained service dogs or miniature horses.

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act regulates service animal requirements in public places in Arizona. The federal law already recognizes miniature horses.

The new Arizona law does not recognize other species of service animals. Supporters say the law ensures people don't go into public places with rats, snakes or other trained animals.

Miniature horses range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders. They generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.

A Child of Trauma Will Get a Service Dog

Excerpt from: Oregon Live (click for full article)

 

Psychiatric Service Dogs are invaluable to persons with invisible disabilities such as post traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, etc. PSD's are afforded their place in a person's daily life under The Americans With Disabilities Service Act.

Many different kinds of people suffer from post traumatic stress, and many different things cause post traumatic stress. Yet, through all this diversity, there is one common thread among persons with PTSD: The inability to experience, elicit, or be moved by comfort. Soothing. Nurturing, Peace. Joy.

Children go through this, too, not just adults. Children who suffer from post traumatic stress have often been abused. Daily life with friends, school, community and family routines are often fraught with worry, hypervigilence, anxiety, isolation, sleep problems, nightmares, inability to trust and engage in nurturing relationships. These kids find it hard to have fun, to explore, to try new things. They often have a hard time concentrating and sometimes in despair just cannot, cannot be soothed.

Guidelines for service animals

Excerpt from: South Coast Today (click for full article)

 

When I retired from the Yarmouth Police Department in 2001 after a line-of-duty injury that left me with severe chronic pain and a diagnosis of PTSD, I decided to train a dog to help me adjust to my new life. I was given a black Lab puppy by a Yarmouthport breeder and named her "Paxil" because I knew she would make me happy.

Paxil provides physical assistance by picking up items I drop, fetching phones, helping me climb stairs, telling me when to take my pain medications, opening and closing doors, tugging off jackets and shoes, operating light switches, and even taking the clothes out of the dryer and putting them on the counter for me to fold.

She provides psychiatric assistance by alerting me to people approaching from behind, waking me from nightmares, creating a furry comfort zone in crowds and distracting me with a paw in my lap or a nose in my face.

Being a good friend to man's BFF

Excerpt from: The Advocate (click for full article)

 

As a certified professional dog trainer, Debbie Winkler was excited when Maryland passed the Dining Out Growth Act in 2011, which allowed people to bring their dogs to outdoor dining areas with the permission of restaurant management.

“We’ve been fighting for years to get merchants to accept assistant dogs. It’s been quite a battle, even with the Americans with Disabilities Act and its guidelines for assistance dogs. I’m finding many clients are having problems when going out,” Winkler said.

The new law allows any pet canines, not just assistance dogs, to enter dining areas, and Winkler said that unfortunately, not all animals have been properly prepared for a restaurant environment.

“A friend of mine, a merchant who does not want to be named, had allowed people to bring their dogs to his restaurant. It was a complete disaster. Food scraps dropped and the dogs started fighting over them and the people began yelling at the dogs. He said, ‘I will never allow dogs in my restaurant again,’” Winkler said.

Introducing Equine Therapy Blog

Excerpt from: Psych Central (click for full article)

 

Equine Therapy: Straight from the Horse’s Mouth with Claire Dorotik, LMFT. Claire has made a specialization of equine facilitated psychotherapy, developing an equine assisted psychotherapeutic approach that has proved highly effective in restoring emotional and physical balance to those who have battled trauma, abuse, and eating disorders.

She has written many articles for Horsetrader, Ride, and Flying Changes magazines on the subject of horses and horse training, and is also a contributing author to Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: Straight Talk from the Horse’s Mouth, a continuing education course for psychotherapists currently offered by the Zur Institute in San Diego.

Please give Claire a warm Psych Central welcome, as I look forward to learning more about equine-assisted therapy at Equine Therapy: Straight from the Horse’s Mouth. Thanks!

Animals Boost Socialization For Kids With Autism

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

Having a dog, cat or even a guinea pig nearby increases the chances that children with autism will engage socially with people around them, a new study suggests.

Kids with autism were more likely to talk, look at other people’s faces and make physical contact when in the presence of animals as compared to toys, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. Moreover, the children laughed and smiled more and they were less likely to frown, cry or whine.

For the study, 99 kids ages 5 to 13 were divided into groups of three, each including one child with autism and two typically developing kids. Researchers observed the groups during several 10-minute play sessions where the children were either given toys or two guinea pigs to engage with.

In addition to seeing more socialization from the children with autism in the presence of the animals as compared to the toys, researchers found that the typically developing kids more frequently approached the children with autism when the guinea pigs were around.

Equine Therapy: Can Working With Horses Reduce Suicide Risk?

Excerpt from: Psych Central (click for full article)

 

In 2008, at the East Mountain Youth Lodge, Dr. JoAnn Jarolmen, a social worker, conducted a pilot study on equine therapy for troubled youth. She studied 13 teenagers who took part in a program called HorseTime, founded by Kathy Krupa, an Equine Growth and Learning association certified instructor, and found that, after working with the horses, the teenagers were less angry and aggressive, improved their relationships with their parents and peers and had fewer suicidal tendencies.

And perhaps not surprisingly, the public is quite supportive of the idea of using horses to prevent suicide. Veteran Rescue Equine Therapy Ranch recently used Stay Classy, a crowd supported fundraising site to fund their equine therapy program, quickly reaching their target goal of $500,000.

A 2005 study conducted by a Masters student at Denver seminary for the degree of Counseling Psychotherapy also had similar findings, as at-risk adolescents, age 12-18 who participated in an equine-assisted therapy program demonstrated better psychosocial functioning compared to those who did not. While improved psychosocial functioning will not guarantee reduced suicide risk, it can certainly be considered to be associated with it.