There was recently a story run in a local newspaper about Scott and his dog Zeus. While Zeus is not a companion dog, Scott is seeking to make him one. Scott has anxiety issues and a stutter and according to the article Zeus has helped him.
Scott and Zeus on a Motorcycle Ride
I think its sweet that Michigan has laws protecting people with disabilities and their companion animals. However Michigan law defines a person with disabilties in the context of a guide dog to be a person who is audibly impaired, blind, deaf, or otherwise physically limited which does not include Autism or Aspergers. We can look further into the law and they even define what physically limited is as someone who has a condition which includes one of the following:
- Causes the individual to use a wheelchair or walk with difficulty or insecurity.
- Affects sight or hearing to the extent that an individual is insecure or exposed to danger.
- Causes faulty coordination.
- Reduces mobility, flexibility, coordination, or perceptiveness.
Lucky, my ex-dog
Am I the only one that sees the benifit of companion dogs to those with various disabilities including Autism and Aspergers. My dog really really helped me with depression, anxiety, and interacting with other people but sadly I do not have him due to the long periods I spent in the hospital during my breakdowns.
So I would like to know, how can we go about getting people to change this law – and others in states. Maybe even make it a federal law that people with Autism be allowed to have a companion dog with the same rights as a leader dog. It seems like the idea of this irritates advocates for blind people which I do not understand. I think if a dog is helpful to someone with a disability, and it does not cause harm to others it should be allowed.
So how do we make it happen?
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The source I used for my law references is available here.
And here is the original article from the Kalamazoo Gazette
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Grass root campaigns usually are the best route to go. Finding some like minded individuals and starting an advocacy group for this wouldn’t be a bad idea. People you can brainstorm with on how to get the word out about how benefical campanion animals are to people with disabilities.
I could even help somewhat if you like. I can write how much it has helped my PTSD to have my cats around. By sitting in my lap and just looking at me calmly even when in flash back brings me out of it alot and calms me down. And having a sweet little kitty to hold afterwards when the water works start is wonderful too.
I use to complentate suicide after those times, but with them there, I just get a warm sense of being loved. I don’t know what I would do without my babies. They also say that dogs who are trained to deal with those with PTSDs can help guide thier companions out of harms way if they start having flash backs in public while walking somewhere or going across the street.
I think you may be confusing companion dogs, service dogs, and emotional support animals. Companion animal is not a legally recognized term-it just means pet.
Emotional Support Animals are animals that provide comfort, support, and feeling of well-being to someone with a disability-these dogs do NOT have public access rights. With a doctors letter, an ESA can live in no-pets housing and fly with their handler.
A Psychiatric Service Dog has been task-trained to assist their handler with things they cannot do due to their disability. Just being there does not count. They have also had public access training to learn how to behave appropriately. Examples of PSD tasks can be found at: http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html
Just wanted to say that you are right, the article you quoted was incorrect, I hope you understand I was not trying to attack you, I just was hoping to educate.
Your misunderstanding the point of what I was saying. I’m saying that people with Autism Spectrum disorders often get overwhelmed out in public and dogs help soothe that issue. I believe they should be recognized as service dogs.
I do understand what you mean when you say a dog can assist someone who is having a meltdown, and there are tasks that can be trained to mitigate this. If the person is frozen, stimming, or other signs of meltdown, the dog can be trained to nudge the person to stop the behavior-refocusing or grounding them. This is a trained behavior that mitigated the disability, thus the dog would be considered a service dog. The dog can also be trained to lead the handler to an exit during a meltdown, or trained to go get help. The presence of the dog alone is not enough to make it a service dog is what I am trying to say. The new ADA revision that just came out takes effect in February state: *and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition.*
Read for yourself if you like-you have to scroll down to get to the sections regarding service animals.
http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/reg3_2010.html
The other focus of the article is Michigan Law which states the following types of disabilities are the only people authorized to have service dogs.
* Causes the individual to use a wheelchair or walk with difficulty or insecurity.
* Affects sight or hearing to the extent that an individual is insecure or exposed to danger.
* Causes faulty coordination.
* Reduces mobility, flexibility, coordination, or perceptiveness.
Another part of the same definition states: *helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors* These are more examples of the way the new law allows for autism dogs, so long as they have trained tasks or work. Your state law is a little unclear, but federal law still protects someone with a trained autism dog.
I would say autism falls under that definition though, because autism frequently affects a persons perception and coordination. Either way, if state and federal law conflict, the law that offers the greatest protection will prevail.
This should have gone under your other reply. I wanted to add that the man in the article you mentioned is mistaken-from what the article says Zeus is an emotional support animal and therefore the owner does not have the legal right to take him places as a service dog. His dog is not actually trained to do something to mitigate his disability. Just being there does not count! Another place that has great info is http://www.servicedogcentral.org
I believe you are confusing the term companion animal and service dogs, companion animals are mere pets. while they are emotionaly helpful the are NOT service dogs and are not covered by any laws that service dogs are. as SD team accuratly stated preveously. I have an autism service dog She ha many tasks that she is trained to mitigate my autism from helping me with fire alarms, stopping me fro crossing with out looking to helping me through a melt down and coming onto my bed and leaning against me after a night mare to help calm me. could you please list any tasks he is training his dog? Also is he trying to trying to bring the dog into a public place. I am not sure ehy he is having issue or what the exact probleam is. sorry. please feel free to eail me.
here is my youtube channel with videos with more info: http://www.youtube.com/user/ASDogGeek [admin note: I edited this comment as the commenter forgot to ad the link]
The article I linked to states: “…to make Zeus a companion pet who can go wherever he goes.”
In MI, there has already been a bill introduced by Deb Kennedy to help bring the laws in line with the ADA. It isn’t perfect yet, but the problems have been noted and will be fixed before it’s voted on.
To the author of the article, just one tiny thing, the term companion pet or companion animal is not a legal term. The term Service Dog is. Only a Service Dog has public access rights with its disabled handler. (Technically speaking, the dog has no rights, the handler has the right to have the dog.) People not using legal definitions is one of the things that makes it harder for people to understand Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSD) and dogs for other “invisible” disabilities. The Psychiatric Service Dog Society (PSDS) at http://www.psychdog.org has a lot of information about these types of service dogs that may be useful.