Are autism service dogs smart?

A story in last Sunday’s New York Times ponders whether service dogs help humans because they are smart, or simply because the rigorous training they go through makes them want to please the person on the other end of the leash.

The matter of what exactly goes on in the mind of a dog is a tricky one, and until recently much of the research on canine intelligence has been met with large doses of skepticism. But over the last several years a growing body of evidence, culled from small scientific studies of dogs’ abilities to do things like detect cancer or seizures, solve complex problems (complex for a dog, anyway), and learn language suggests that they may know more than we thought they did.

At the risk of sounding unsophisticated, I have to ask: who cares why our service dogs help us? I’m just grateful they do! And I’m sure Michelle O’Neil, the author of a blog at Bark Magazine, feels the same way. O’Neil’s daughter Riley has autism, and the Bark blog follows the two of them as they train with Jingle, Riley’s new autism service dog.

Day 3: Today we got into the meaty stuff. Behavior disruption! This is the whole point of having a service dog for Riley, to help her with the meltdowns. Eventually, hopefully, Jingle will be able to redirect Riley before the escalation occurs. Today, a 4 Paws staff member indicated she would be role-playing a child crying (which sent Riley running from the room covering her ears before the scene even unfolded). The dogs are taught to nuzzle, to put their head in the child’s lap, or to go “over,” which means putting their whole body across the child’s lap for deep pressure.

Watch Riley meeting Jingle on YouTube and tell me if you think Jingle does her work because she’s smart, or because she’s obedient. And … do you think it matters?

 

Autism town hall this Friday!

Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism logoThis Friday (November 13), Americans in 15 cities will come together to create a policy agenda for addressing the needs of adults with autism. These needs include housing, jobs, recreation, friends and supportive communities. You’re invited to join us to create a policy agenda for addressing the needs of adults with autism!

Easter Seals is proud to be part of Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism (AFAA), a national consortium seeking to create meaningful futures for adults with autism. At the town hall meeting this Friday, over 1,000 people in 15 cities will join the discussion to make recommendations on these important issues. Caregivers, advocates, elected officials, family members, and adults with autism will participate, and we hope you will, too!

The event will be orchestrated from a central hub in Chicago, and a webcast will allow us to hear ideas from participants at satellite sites all over the country. The unprecedented scale and diversity of the AFAA Town Meeting will attract national attention and build momentum around addressing the needs of adults with autism. Easter Seals is hosting the satellite sites in Long Beach and in Fort Worth.

There are a few slots left in these sites — register now!

 

Safeway and Easter Seals working together

An article in Reuters last week touts Safeway Inc. for the generous grants it gives to Easter Seals to empower children and adults with autism and other disabilities.

Safeway executives unveiled the 2009 Safeway Foundation’s Empowerment Grant award winners during Easter Seals’ annual convention in Washington, D.C., granting $1 million to expand programs across the country that measurably improve access to services and outcomes for children and adults living with autism and other disabilities.

Now in its second year, the 2009 Safeway Foundation’s Empowerment Grants are awarded to Easter Seals affiliates across the country whose innovative programming truly makes a difference in the lives of people with disabilities, whether through autism services, employment support, inclusive child care, early intervention, medical rehabilitation or respite.

You might remember the post I wrote about Safeway last may, where I mentioned their long-standing commitment to hiring people with disabilities:

Safeway employs more than 10,000 adults with disabilities. You read that right. They hire more than 10,000 adults with disabilities. There are over 1,700 Safeway stores across the United States and Canada, operating under various brand names including Safeway (East Coast, Seattle, Portland, Northern California, Phoenix and Denver), Vons and Pavilions (Southern California and Nevada), Dominick’s (Chicago), Randalls and Tom Thumb (Texas), Genuardi’s (Philadelphia) and Carrs stores (Alaska). Look around the next time you are shopping at one of these stores — it’s likely you’ll find an employee there with a disability. What a welcome sight!

I can tell you firsthand — when you have a disability, it is extremely difficult to convince employers to hire you. Safeway’s commitment has given many adults with autism and other disabilities a career and a means to live independently. Now these new 2009 Safeway Foundation Empowerment Grant awards will support Easter Seals local programs, which will help us reach more families living with disabilities.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Thank you Safeway!

 

Don’t miss the Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism town hall

Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism logoYou are invited! Easter Seals is proud to be part of Advancing Futures for Adults with Autism (AFAA), a national consortium seeking to create meaningful futures for adults with autism. On November 13, Americans in 15 cities will come together to create a policy agenda for addressing the needs of adults with autism. These needs include housing, jobs, recreation, friends and supportive communities.

Over 1,000 people (caregivers, advocates, elected officials, family members, and adults with autism) will join the discussion to make recommendations on these important issues. The event will be orchestrated from a central hub in Chicago, and a webcast will allow us to hear ideas from participants at satellite sites all over the country.

The unprecedented scale and diversity of the AFAA Town Meeting will attract national attention and build momentum around addressing the needs of adults with autism.

Easter Seals is hosting the satellite sites in Long Beach and in Fort Worth.

Sign up now to be part of Advancing the Future of Adults with Autism. Be part of the solution. Ensure adults with autism have the quality of life that all citizens deserve!

 

Transportation: a link to a quality life

On Wednesday I was fortunate enough to attend a roundtable on Transportation for Students with Disabilities. The roundtable was sponsored by Easter Seals Project Action, which promotes cooperation between the transportation industry and the disability community. The goal of Wednesday’s event was to identify the transportation needs of youth with disabilities and develop a set of actions to address the barriers they face when it comes to transportation access. A fabulous, diverse group of people were in attendance. Youth with disabilities, parents, service providers, educators, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and others all spent the day engaged around the issue of transportation.

Jim Williams, president and chief executive officer of Easter Seals, said, “Transportation is literally the link to schools, the work place, and every other destination in community life.”

Employment, recreation, education … accessing all of these experiences require transportation. One thing the group could agree on is that the current public transportation system has many barriers. Inaccessible fixed route systems, limited para-transit and a complete lack of resources in rural areas were all mentioned.

The people at this event were focused on solutions. Solutions such as incorporating transportation education into high school curriculum standards, providing sensitivity training to public transportation operators, and promoting self-advocacy skills throughout a student’s years in special education.

The conversation at the roundtable was just the beginning. This group and others will continue to work towards ensuring that youth with disabilities have the transportation they need to lead the lives they deserve.

 

Maurice celebrates autism services in Wisconsin

Maurice talking to a friendI am writing to give a huge thanks and “shout out” to our good friend Maurice Snell. Before I left for Capitol Hill Day and the Easter Seals National Convention last week, Maurice came to Milwaukee to share his story with nearly 100 Easter Seals friends and donors.

This was a special night for Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin, as we were publicly announcing our merger with Waukesha Training Center. I was so grateful Maurice spoke after I did. Everyone knows there’s no topping Maurice’s inspiring personal story.

Maurice has autism, and when he was a child the system very often considered institutionalizing children with his symptoms. In his speech, Maurice shared his life and a tale of his personal strength, devoted family and the help of Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago. Today Maurice is a college graduate, and I actually heard a gasp of surprise from the audience as Maurice shared the story of earning that degree. When Maurice’s talk drew to a close, the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Maurice’s personal story spoke to one aspect of our merger, bringing together an array of services:

  • Early intervention
  • Work services
  • Case management
  • Adult day and recreation

Families seeking help, hope and answers will find resources and support at Easter Seals. Maurice’s story also speaks to the need for a continuum of services across the lifespan, to give people with all types of disabilities more opportunities for inclusion, access to services, careers and most importantly, choices in their futures!

Thanks, Maurice, for coming to Milwaukee! We want to bring you back to share your story with our work services participants so they can start dreaming of their futures too.

 

A special interest in weaving

This month Patricia Wright, Easter Seals National Director of Autism Services, wrote two posts about careers for adults who have autism. The first one was about an IT firm that goes out of its way to hire individuals with autism who have a special interest in internet technology. The second post was about a business professor with autism who says his special interest in consumer behavior contributes to his professional success. In both posts, Dr. Wright warned against assuming people with autism all have the same special interest.

After these posts were published, I received a note about an interview with artist Gary Rosenthal. In the interview, Rosenthal discusses a new line of woven Judaica he is producing with the help of two workers who have autism. The artist says:

I like to say that all of my staff/associates do what they do better than I would do. Nowhere is this clearer than with my autistic associates. Everyone is different, but John and Tim love to work on repetitive tasks where precision is critical. Weaving is a favorite task and the more the better.

Rosenthal says that the success of the mezuzahs have motivated him to create more woven items and hire more staffers who have autism. I think that’s great! Just hope he’s read Patricia Wright’s posts here and knows that not all people with autism are precise and like repetition the way his workers John and Tim Do.

 

A terrific Capitol Hill Day!

Easter Seals representatives kick off Capitol Hill Day with a visit to the White HouseWhat a terrific Capitol Hill Day we had in Washington D.C.!

We started the day off with a tour of the White House. About 200 Easter Seals staff and volunteers got to take advantage of this rare opportunity!

Then we met with members of Congress for our home state of Wisconsin — Senators Kohl and Feingold, and Representatives Kagen, Sensenbrenner and Moore. We had a half-hour with Sen. Kohl discussing health care and long term care. We were pleased to find all the members we met with agreed with ending pre-existing conditions as a major policy goal for people living with disabilities. Each office told us they agree on 80% of the issues involved. Rep. Kagen is a doctor and is following this issue closely. We even got a fist bump from him for the work done at Easter Seals!

As an organization, we were pleased to hear the praise from all our visits about the work done by Easter Seals. This year, Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin is investing $100,000 to start to a new Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) program for children with disabilities. Annually, we raise over $100,000 to cover shortfalls in our Birth-to-4 program. Each person we met with knew Easter Seals is a vital piece of the network in providing community supports for children and adults with disabilities.

But one day of staff and volunteers in D.C. is not going to get the job done. One office told us the people back home need to weigh in.

It’s not too late to keep calling, mailing and emailing your thoughts. It helps in guiding policy and letting members know what people back home are thinking. There are concerns within any of the current bills that can affect those living with disabilities, their care and their supports. Many people living with disabilities have long term health conditions and will be impacted directly by the changes in our health care system.

So … stay tuned and stay involved!

 

Help us take our health care message to Capitol Hill tomorrow

Hundreds of Easter Seals volunteers and clients are heading to Capitol Hill tomorrow to tell Congress that health care can’t ignore families living with disabilities. Our message is clear: families with disabilities should have affordable health care that provides the services they need, when they need them.

We’ll be visiting our legislators and asking them to support health care legislation that includes:

  • Coverage for pre-existing conditions, guaranteed coverage renewal, and no annual or lifetime caps.
  • Benefits like rehabilitative and habilitative services, medical equipment and devices, and mental health services.
  • Affordability provisions, so that all people, including those with disabilities, can receive the health care they need to live, learn, work, and play in their communities.

Send a message to Congress voicing your support, and help reinforce Easter Seals’ message as we head to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators.

And make sure you get our updates during our Capitol Hill Day! Join us on Facebook and Twitter. And if you’re already on Twitter, help us spread the word by tweeting about Easter Seals Capitol Hill Day by using the #CapHill09 hashtag.

Together, I know we can make our message to Congress heard loud and clear!

 

Dr. Lars Perner’s personal perspective on “special interests”

In my blog post yestrday, I talked about a Danish entrepreneur who used a great business strategy. He found an area of special interest, and employs people with autism who have that special interest.

I warned against assuming people with autism all have the same special interest. A good example: Lars Perner.

Dr. Perner is an assistant professor of clinical marketing at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He also happens to be a person with autism. Perner keeps a personal blog called Delightful Reflections, and often shares that his special interest in consumer behavior has contributed to his professional success.

Dr. Perner has a free audio lecture too. You might want to check it out — we can all learn a lot more about “special interests” by getting a personal perspective from an expert: an individual with autism.