Aspergers' Service dogs - a few questions

[Bluesbreaker]

hey all, Been a while since I last posted but had a few issues RE: depression over a month or two and have been feeling wierd hence my life is all over the place.....

 

anyway, I have read up on these services dogs for asperger's people but I feel that the information I mostly find regards American and canadian laws thereby giving different view to how it would be in the UK.

 

so I will number the questions for ease and ease to reply

 

1. What exactly does a service dog do and what classifies as a service dog within the UK?

 

2. can the criteria be applied to Asperger's people

 

2b. what exactly can a service dog can and cannot do for an asperger's person?

 

3. is this funded from other sources? or do the dogs have to be paid for personally? I.e. can there be funding which can be applied for this purpose?

 

4. any of our forum members have service dogs?

 

Just wondering as i heard about it being known and i googled it up as I tried to get a clearer picture of this sort of thing.....

 

I had wondered if one would be applicable to me, but considering i have struggled to attain information regarding the dogs in the UK i find it hard to get a picture of what the reality is on the topic.

 

all contributions welcome and thanks in advance

 

Hope you are all well,

 

Bruce x

 

P.S. anyone who dare say 'google is your friend' will be persistantly poked with a stick.

[RainbowsButterflies]

Google is your friend

*runs and hides from the stick*

[Bluesbreaker]

Google is your friend

*runs and hides from the stick*

 

oh curse, lancashire? that is a long way to run!

[Tez]

Service dogs are available for people with Aspergers in the UK. I'm just starting to look into the supply myself. I had a conversation with an advisor from Autism West Midlands whose won daughter is on the spectrum and has recently been provided with a dog which has accompanied her to university.

 

Look at any of the charities supplying dogs to people with disabilities and see what their criteria is. Some of those I looked at require the recipient to go away on a residential course for training with the dog. This is so that the dog can be trained to meet the needs of the recipient and a relationship can be developed in a structured environment. This would not be appropriate or possible in my son's case. However, when I phoned the charities they did say that there were ways around it.

[Bluesbreaker]

Ahh thanks for the information, right my charity hunt goes on! lol

 

edit: looked at dogs for the disbaled but they dont mention asperger's adults whcih seems interesting.... or autistic one for that matter....

Edited March 10, 2011 by Bluesbreaker

[Bluesbreaker]

doesn't matter where i look, it seems that Autism related dogs are mostly for 3-10 year olds.

 

Is it different for university applicants then? or are there more options?

 

also Support Dogs are no longer taking applications due to the amount they recieved!!! (not surprising really)

[Boy]

I thought the same - I've only seen autism dogs being used for children with autism and physically disabled people. If anyone does find anything about dogs for high functioning adults I'd be interested in a link.