Michigan's Assistive Technology Program

Assistive Technology Connections
Vol. 6, No 2, February 2005

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In This Issue: Service Animals as Assistive Technology

• Calendar
• Service Animals as AT
• Resources regarding Service Animals
• Cookie Gant Leadership Development Fund
• GREEN Update
• Invitation to Participate in a Survey
• Subscription Information

Calendar:

• Understanding Your Child's IEP - Assistive Technology.
  February 7, 2005, 7 p.m.
  Brighton Area Fire Department Station 32, 1580 Old US 23, Brighton.
  Sponsored by Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.
• Technology Blizzard for people who are blind, visually impaired, or have learning disabilities.
  Friday, February 11, 2005, 8:30 - 5 p.m.
  Dickinson Center in Livonia. 18000 Newburg Road.
  Product vendors, sessions about technology use, and applications for success in personal and career areas.
  For more information contact Beverly: 734.744.2600 ext. 43140.
• Conference of the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children.
  March 2 - 4, 2005.
  Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, MI.
  For more information, go to www.MichiganCEC.org.
• Michigan Transition Services Association Conference.
  March 16 - 18, 2005.
  Bavarian Inn Lodge, Frankenmuth.
  Contact Andria Carmien: 231.922.6374 or email acarmien@tbaisd.k12.mi.us.

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Service Animals as AT:

Assistive technology, or AT, is any device or piece of equipment that helps a person with a disability achieve a more independent and productive life. AT devices may include such items as:

• adapted vehicles.
• scooters and wheelchairs.
• computers with adapted software and/or hardware.
• flashing doorbells.
• Closed Captioned Televisions (CCTVs).
• hearing aids.
• home modifications (including ramps, widened doorways).

Assistive technology services are those services that help with the selection, acquisition or use of an assistive technology device. Services may include evaluating the needs of a person with a disability, training to use a particular device, maintaining and repairing a device, designing and building a device, or providing technical assistance for family members, personal care assistants or employers.

There has been some debate over whether service animals are considered assistive technology. We present here several reasons service animals should be considered assistive technology. They can help a person with a disability achieve or maintain an independent and productive life by helping a person with a disability in the same way the above mentioned items would.

Service dogs provide many services including:

1. They increase the independence of a person who uses a wheelchair, who has trouble standing, and/or who has trouble with ambulating.
2. They perform tasks such as retrieving dropped items, opening doors, brining the phone, turning lights on/off, hitting life lines to call for help, putting laundry in washer or taking it out of the dryer, assisting with dressing and undressing, and locating someone if help is needed.
3. They decrease dependence on other people therefore increasing a person's independence.
4. They increase communication with others as people generally inquire about dogs when the person is out in public.
5. They can be trained to assist their owners during seizures.
   • They can remove pillows and/or blankets from their person during a seizure which can prevent suffocation.
   • The person who has seizures may not be able to live alone; a seizure response dog can give them the gift of independence.
6. They can respond to verbal and hand signals.
7. They can assist persons who are Deaf or hard of hearing by alerting them to the presence of sound in the environment.
   • They make physical contact and lead their person to the source of a sound. For a person who is Deaf or hard of hearing, the absence of sound can be life threatening.
   • They can be trained to alert their person when someone knocks at the door, when a doorbell rings, when an alarm clock goes off, when the phone rings, when a smoke detector goes off, when someone calls their person's name, if there is an intruder, if a baby cries, when a police or other emergency vehicle sirens, when a car is honked.

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Resources about Service Animals:

Service Dogs as an adaptive strategy article by an occupational Therapist. Go to: http://workingdogs.com/doc0037.htm.

Check out this website for more information: http://www.4pawsforability.org/.

Air travel with an assistance dog Go to: http://www.iaadp.org/airline.html .
Assistance dog access in workplaces Go to: http://www.iaadp.org/work_access.html .
Assistance dog laws and legal resources Go to http://www.iaadp.org/doglaws.html .
Assistance dogs for persons with physical and psychiatric disabilities Go to http://www.iaadp.org/A-dogWorld.html.
Assistance dog selection Go to http://www.iaadp.org/criteria.html .
Department of Justice statement for business owners on service animals Go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/svcanimb.htm .
Differences between a service animal, therapy animal, companion animal, and social/therapy animal Go to: http://www.deltasociety.org/nsdc/sdbasic.htm#difference.
Service dog trainers and providers Go to http://www.deltasociety.org/nsdc/sdtrainers.htm .
Paws with a Cause, a Michigan-based company Go to http://www.pawswithacause.org/ .
International cyberzine about working dogs with many links and a forum NOTE: this site includes information on police dogs, too. Go to: http://workingdogs.com/.
Service dog frequently asked questions Go to http://www.deltasociety.org/nsdc/sdfaq.htm .

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Cookie Gant Leadership Development Fund Application Online.

Cookie Gant was a disability activist, a performance artist, a powerful raiser of consciousness, a relentless supporter of diversity in every part of life, and a loyal and perceptive friend. Her passing was an irreplaceable loss in all of our lives. One of Cookie's goals was to help other disability activists experience conferences and other leadership development opportunities that would make them more effective in the movement.

Michigan Disability Rights Coalition has created a scholarship fund in memory of Cookie to achieve her goal. For more information including the application, see http://www.copower.org/mdrc/cookiesfund.htm .

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GREEN Update:

The Grass Roots Education and Empowerment Network (GREEN) provides funding, mentoring training and other support available to local groups of people with disabilities and advocates to increase access to Assistive Technology (AT). GREEN is supporting grassroots projects all over Michigan! For project ideas, go to http://www.copower.org/At/green/updates.htm.

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Invitation to Participate in Survey:

Invitation for screen-reader users to participate in survey. Go to http://www.webaim.org/discussion/mail_thread.php?thread=2121.

Invitation to Participate in a travel-related university research project. The National Center on Accessible Transportation invites you to tell your story about travel experiences on airplanes. Go to http://ncat.oregonstate.edu/irb/.

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