Animal Helpers For The Disabled

Explores the history of guide dogs, service animals, and assistance dogs, and discusses the process of training them to help people who have physical disabilities.

In 2002, a tiny, golden puppy was born without one of her front legs. Her other front leg was badly deformed, leaving her unable to walk. The Stringfellow family adopted the puppy and named her Faith. However, they worried that little Faith might never be able to walk on her own. As Faith got older and stronger, the Stringfellows helped her to balance on her hind legs. Eventually, they used peanut butter to coax her to walk all by herself on only two legs! This is just one of the many inspiring stories found in Disabled Dogs. Some dogs, like Faith, are missing legs, while others do not have the ability to see or hear. Whatever the challenge, young readers will be amazed at how these dogs are able to lead full and active lives, and provide hope to people who have similar disabilities. With dramatic, full-color photos of these extra-special canines, this book is sure to warm the hearts of dog lovers everywhere.

For use in schools and libraries only. Explains how animals can act as a disabled person's eyes, ears, or even hands and how these animals are trained to perform such amazing feats.

A beautifully written, deeply provocative inquiry into the intersection of animal and disability liberation—and the debut of an important new social critic How much of what we understand of ourselves as "human" depends on our physical and mental abilities—how we move (or cannot move) in and interact with the world? And how much does our definition of "human" depend on its difference from "animal"? Drawing on her own experiences as a disabled person, a disability activist, and an animal advocate, author Sunaura Taylor persuades us to think deeply, and sometimes uncomfortably, about what divides the human from the animal, the disabled from the nondisabled—and what it might mean to break down those divisions, to claim the animal and the vulnerable in ourselves, in a process she calls "cripping animal ethics." Beasts of Burden suggests that issues of disability and animal justice, which have heretofore primarily been presented in opposition, are in fact deeply entangled. Fusing philosophy, memoir, and science—including factory farming, disability oppression, and our assumptions of human superiority over animals—Taylor draws attention to new worlds of experience and empathy that will open up important avenues of solidarity across species and ability. Beasts of Burden is a wonderfully engaging and elegantly written work, both philosophical and personal, by a brilliant debut author.

Explains how dogs, horses, and other animals are trained to help people with special needs including the handicapped and the elderly.

Discusses ways in which animals are trained to help the handicapped and to provide companionship for mentally retarded, ill, and elderly persons. Based on interviews with professional animal trainers, therapists, social workers, and teachers.

This book looks at how therapies involving animals can be used to help individuals with autism to develop skills, including sensory and social skills, to manage challenging behaviors, and improve quality of life. Whether participating in therapeutic horseback riding, utilizing a trained service dog, visiting a dolphin therapy center, or simply experiencing companion animal therapy, people with autism can reap a multitude of benefits from interaction with furry, feathered, and finned friends. Merope Pavlides relates the success stories of different animal-assisted interventions, as well as noting the challenges of working with particular animal species. She also emphasizes the importance of tailoring interventions to the specific needs of the individual and of monitoring progress. With recommendations for resources and further reading, this book will be of great interest to people with autism, their parents, and the professionals who work with them.