Assistance Dogs For People With Disabilities

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Kathy Nimmer is an award-winning teacher, author, and motivational speaker from Indiana. In 2006, she won first place in the Helen Keller International Memoir Competition and published a book of poetry called Minutes in the Dark, Eternity in the Light. She received the Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004, is a two-time recipient of the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship, earned National Board Certification in 2003, and was presented with the Golden Apple in 1998. In 2009, she was named a Lilly Distinguished Fellow, giving her the opportunity to pursue a lifelong dream, the fulfillment of which is Two Plus Four Equals One. Blind due to a rare retinal disease, Nimmer looks to her faith, family, and friends as cornerstones in her life. She enjoys working out at the gym, reading mysteries, following sports, adding to her perfume collection, and going for long walks with her third guide dog Elias. True, vibrant, honest, and emotional, eliciting compassion, joy, sorrow, and love, promoting understanding, acceptance, awareness, and hope. Here are over 100 stories and poems written by or about men, women, and children, all either with disabilities or connected to people who have disabilities. Joining them are Labradors, German Shepherds, Poodles, Papillons, Goldens, Shelties, Chihuahuas, and many other breeds, all trained to assist their disabled handlers. From blindness to deafness, from mobility issues to psychiatric needs, from diabetes to autism, the array of disabilities showcased in this unforgettable book is as vast as the tasks performed by the canine partners. Your eyes will be opened to the strength, competence, and potential of both the human and canine participants in an alliance where neither partner is perfect but both together add up to an equation where two hands/feet/eyes/ears plus four paws equals one magical union.

This series explores disability in a comprehensive, honest, and age-appropriate way. This book explores service dogs and how they assist their handlers. Engaging inquiry-based sidebars encourage students to LOOK, THINK, MAKE A GUESS, ASK QUESTIONS, and CREATE. Books are authored by writers with disabilities and the series has been developed in partnership with Easterseals who is leading the way to full equity, inclusion, and access through life-changing disability and community services. Books include table of contents, glossary, index, author biography, and sidebars.

In The Golden Bridge, Patty Dobbs Gross explains how specially bred and trained dogs facilitate communication for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. This important work is a guide for parents, teachers, and therapists alike, and is written for all those who are dealing with the social, emotional, and educational issues related to raising children with such cognitive challenges. The Golden Bridge explores unique and complex issues inherent in living with autism, training an assistance dog to work with a child with autism or a developmental disability, and using an assistance dog to deal with a child's grief. Myths and labels about autism are explored, examined, and carefully redefined. While focusing on children with autism in The Golden Bridge, Dobbs Gross shares key insights applicable to anyone breeding, raising, training, and working with dogs to mitigate any type of disability at any age. This impressive volume also contains a list of resources for follow-up information, a section on books about autism, and a directory of assistance dog providers.

Akin to Monty Roberts's The Man Who Listens to Horses and going light-years beyond The Hidden Life of Dogs, this extraordinary book takes a radical new direction in understanding our life with canines and offers us astonishing new lessons about our pets. From changing the misbehaviors and habits that upset us, to seeing the world from their unique and natural perspective, to finding a deep connection with another being, BONES WOULD RAIN FROM THE SKY will help you receive an incomparable gift: a profound, lifelong relationship with the dog you love.

My Life in His Paws is the story of the amazing dog who gave back someone's freedom and confidence. Wendy Hilling has a rare skin condition which means her skin is very delicate. Every moment is difficult and causes pain. It affects the body inside and out: her throat is very narrow and she can stop breathing at any time. But eight years ago Wendy's life changed forever. She met Ted, the Golden Retriever, and he became her full-time carer. He has saved her life more times than she can remember, always watching and listening, and Wendy is now entirely reliant on him. This is the story of Wendy and her incredible bravery living with a disability and battling against the odds. It's also the story of Ted, the incredible assistance dog, and the unique relationship between a human and animal and the extraordinary things animals are capable of.