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16 Comments for “SPECIAL SERIES: Service Dogs for People with PTSD by Dr. Joan Esnayra”

1. Veterans Advocacy Editor

   September 16, 2009 - 6:31 am

   We wish to thank Dr. Esnayra for taking the time to write this series of articles. She is very interested in hearing any comments or answering any questions our readers may have.

   I myself have a 24/7 canine companion, but I don’t consider Shiba a Psychiatric Service Dog nor did I realise there was such a service dog. Best yet, I didn’t realize that a Veteran or family member with PTSD could train a dog to be one.

   We are looking forward to her upcoming submissions.

   ROBERT L. HANAFIN
   Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
2. Dr. Joan Esnayra

   September 16, 2009 - 2:20 pm

   Thank You Major Hanafin. Indeed I would be pleased to answer any questions that your readership may have.

   Sincerely,

   Joan Esnayra, Ph.D.
   http://www.psychdog.org
   • Fixed Your Link

     September 29, 2009 - 7:14 am

     Dr. Esnayra,

     I fixed your link to allow readers to have direct contact with you via your website.

     Psychiatric Service Dog Society [www.psychdog.org]

     Readers who have question they’d rather ask Dr. Esnayra personally or off line, please contact her at the PSD Society website and select CONTACT US.

     ROBERT L. HANAFIN
     Major, USAF-Retired
3. Lu Picard, East Coast Assistance Dogs

   September 18, 2009 - 5:16 am

   September 16, 2009 

   Dear Dr. Esnayra, Ph.D.

   I just read your first article in a series for Veterans Today. In this article, you state ‘‘that organizations such as the International Association of Assistance Dogs Partners [www.iaadp.org], Assistance Dogs International [www.assistancedogsinternational.org], the Delta Society [www.deltasociety.org], and Service Dog Central [servicedogcentral.org]deliberately misrepresent the law by giving the reader the impression that in order for a Service Animal to be considered legitimate under the law it must be trained to perform ‘physical tasks.’ According to these groups, psychiatric service dogs should function exactly as do service dogs for persons living with physical disabilities."

   Reply:  This makes no sense.   The purpose of a series of articles, such as this, is to educate the Veterans and their families along with military personnel of the needs, benefits and resources to acquiring an Assistance Dog.  The following organizations International Association of Assistance Dogs Partners [www.iaadp.org] (IAADP), Assistance Dogs International (ADI) [www.assistancedogsinternational.org], and the Delta Society [www.deltasociety.org] are a membership organizations of programs and people from around the world.   

   Assistance Dogs International (ADI) represents only programs that train Assistance Dogs which includes those assisting with hearing, guiding, physical mobility, seizures, autism, and yes, PTSD or any combination thereof.   

   IAADP is an organization of members that use Assistance Dogs of all kinds.     

   Delta Society’s main focus is to be the voice for Therapy Dogs, train evaluators, and be an information bureau for people searching for Assistance or Therapy animal services.  In fact, Delta Society has been an advocate for the benefits of animals for Psychiatric issues for many years. 

   There are many "Service Dog" organizations that train dogs to assist people with psychiatric issues and in many cases the person with a physical disability also lives with a psychiatric disability as well.   It is typical for an Assistance Dog program to train a dog for a person that was disabled due to an accident, and where he/she would have psychiatric issues to overcome. In our last team training with wounded warriors, 3 of the 4 individuals were diagnosed with PTSD and various physical limitations.  Our training consisted of teaching the dogs to assist in both areas.

   You also state that: "None of the organizations that currently misrepresent the legal definition of what a service dog is, have resident expertise in mental health." Rather, they are physical disability Service Dog organizations that are trying to stretch their reach into the realm of mental health. The translations falls short, and by focusing on the performance of physical tasks these organizations are neglecting the most important elements of how a psychiatric service dog may assist a person living with a mental health disability.  

   Reply: You misrepresented your knowledge of how "Service Dog" organizations are raising and training their dogs as well as the resources the organizations has available as staff or advisors to assist. I personally feel a dog does need to be trained to perform ‘physical tasks’ to assure well-mannered dogs in public (down stay, leave it, heeling).  This is also helpful for those who need an assistance dog to respond to a alarm and signal the person to take their medications, act as a barrier in crowded places or to have the dog assist in finding the way out of a building because the person needs to leave immediately. These are but a few ‘physical tasks’ that benefit a person with PTSD. 

   Membership programs involved with ADI are required to have training classes to teach the person with the disability different ways to use the dog to give them more independence and comfort in their daily lives.

   I can speak on behalf of the East Coast Assistance Dogs (ECAD), we have therapists, social workers and a physiologist involved in our programs, as well as assisting us as needed. East Coast Assistance Dogs also has a relationship with the Bronx VA hospital — the doctors that are treating Veterans living with PTSD, depression, and other issues. We have even been asked to co-lead with a therapy dog, weekly group sessions because of the benefits for our expertise and the dog’s "skill" to know what to do and when to do it.

   For the benefit of all Veterans reading these articles, you are obligated to speak truthfully and knowledgably about the entire field regardless of your personal leanings. It is not possible to meet the demands for these dogs, and for you to misrepresent and misstate the ability of Assistance Dog Programs that have evolved to the point of supplying well-raised, trained and placed dogs to benefit Veterans (or anyone else for that matter) is bad business.

   I am offering you and any other person interested, an open invitation to visit our programs and observe a training class at any time.  We can be contacted by internet at ECAD1.org or ECAD1.aol.com  by phone 914-693-0600 x1950

   With respect,                                                                                                                            Lu Picard, Founder and Executive Director                                                             
   East Coast Assistance Dogs                                                                                        http://www.ecad1.org [www.ecad1.org]
   • Capin

     September 19, 2009 - 8:47 pm

     Mr. Picard,
     As a member with a PSD who suffers from PTSD, depression, and other issues, I can tell you that I appreciate the Dr. Esnayra, Ph.D. forthright definition of the law. She did not misrepresent the definition, she stated it plainly.

     It’s very nice of you to bring “a therapy dog” with you to a weekly group session for the benifit of the group. However, those of us with PSDs have our “dog’s skill to know what to do and when to do it” 24/7, not just during a weekly group session. This 24/7 skill has allowed PTSD sufferers to heal more quickly, and help mitigate our disability.

     You are right, perhaps Dr. Esnayra, Ph.D. “is bad business” for you as your represent a narrow definition of service dogs, trying to create an elitist situation whereas people think they have no other choice than to spend thousands of dollars on program dogs from specific organizations. I can see exactly where you would think that is bad business, it would be for those businesses. People would discover that the narrow definition that is presented by them is not what the law says.

     There is no reason to attack Dr Esnayra, Ph.D for state the law correctly. Veterans need to know there is an avenue available to them that may help them mitigate their PTSD, along with continued psychiatric therapy. Wouldn’t it be better if you joined in and helped veterans by supporting their pursuit of acquiring their own PSD, rather than narrowing the definition to keep them from getting the help they need?
     • Jodi B

       February 21, 2010 - 10:58 pm

       As a Combat Related Disabled Female Veteran who was chronically homeless throughout the nineties circe 1990 onward, I more than understand the Cost Issue. I needed a friend a protector but could not formalize a housing situation which was safe. That is any room and board I could afford was in a low-income, drug related neighborhood. I completed my GI Bill Cume Laude while living in various vans, sleeping with Smith and Wesson under my pillow with hyperventilate and using campus bathrooms and showers. I would rather have had a home and dog. More recently in the last two years, I discovered I had PTSD. I had not even heard of that before. Breaking out of homelessness, I have wanted a dog and did get a PSD letter from my VA Head Doctor. But at 50% and still landing from nowhere-ville, I have looked and researched for PSD dogs and Cost is Prohibitive. Since I was medically discharged as we were entering the Gulf War, my VA medical had been sidelined for all those years and I did not have a doctor or medical. I cannot afford a larger dog. I can only have one dog where I live. My new neighbors where I signed a lease gave away their small dog because another neighbor complained about her pipskeek of a dog. I mean, I rarely heard it. The neighbors across the street are trying to move because that same neighbor also complained about their Chihuaha. First, I had not lived in a rent situation since the early nineties. Second, I have not had a dog since I was a child albeit it was a Police Trained German Shepherd to protect our home. Third, I need a small dog because I have Bi-Lateral Shoulder Impingement meaning a big dog can pull my shoulder joints out of socket. I finally found a small dog that looks like the one in the picture above. Then, I found out that the Puppy Mill business is so manipulative that they pose as quality dog breeders and even some dog breeders are complaining about finding studs who have genetics that they can trust. It is a real dog eat dog breeder world out there. I have been looking for my PSD dog type and the One for two years. Twenty years when I had my AR bone repair surgeries and mTBI, I could not even lift my left arm. So, I can only imagine a new Vet coming out of Iraq/Aghganistan with some head injuries not being able to figure out what is going on and getting ripped off by breeders and confused by the PSD requirements. I appreciate this article because Paranoia does not mean that someone is Not out there to rip us off.
   • COST IS A FACTOR BUT!

     September 29, 2009 - 7:38 am

     [QUOTE] You…represent a narrow definition of service dogs, trying to create an elitist situation whereas people think they have no other choice than to spend thousands of dollars on program dogs from specific organizations. I can see exactly where you would think that is bad business, it would be for those businesses. People would discover that the narrow definition that is presented by them is not what the law says. Veterans need to know there is an avenue available to them that may help them mitigate their PTSD, along with continued psychiatric therapy. Wouldn’t it be better if you joined in and helped veterans by supporting their pursuit of acquiring their own PSD, rather than narrowing the definition to keep them from getting the help they need?[END QUOTE]

     Not meaning to take sides here, because we have been in contact with Mrs. (not Mr. my bust also) with Lu Picard, East Coast Assistance Dogs welcoming her to also write a series of articles or whatever under the condition that she do exactly what you say – join in the help Veterans by supporting their pursuit of acquiring their own PSD.

     However, in all fairness to Ms. Picard, we understand that her organization has done efforts in the realm of assisting Veterans and Military Families to access service dogs they can afford. We are still waiting for her to elaborate.

     That said, and you hit on one aspect that concerns us at Veterans Today and Dr. Esnayra among a growing number of others.

     COST IS A FACTOR in getting access to any service dog, especially given the expanded definition and growing number of organizations getting involved.

     Research has shown that since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began there’s been a significant growth in the number of Veterans, former Dog Handlers and Trainers trained by the Armed Forces setting up PTSD and related service dog organizations. We know that these prganizations have learned how to tap into VA benefits to cover the cost of both training and care for such dogs if they are certified.

     Despite these gallant efforst that also are doing a great job in dealing with STIGMA, the problem with getting an inexpensive or especially free service dog that is properly trained is the training such a dog is not FREE, caring for such a valuable dog is not FREE even if provided to one FREE of charge or by scholarship as most traditional service dog organizatons do on a needs basis.

     THE PROBLEM CAN BE THE LONG WAITING LINES to access a free to inexpensive dog that is trained for you.

     Like everything else in an economic downturn, it is ECONOMICS:

     The pipeline and supply of trained assistance dogs (even it legal definitions expand that concept) cannot keep up with the demand among Veterans and Military Families let alone the rest of our society such as kids with autism, folks with alzheimers, epileptics, and people with other seizure disorders who cannot serve in the Armed Forces.

     Training one’s own service dog however also has it’s pros and cons that go beyond legal definitions. Do a Google search of pros and cons of self training a service dog, and you will find a wealth of information that tends to lead to the conclusion that both self training and purchasing or getting free a trained service dog are desirable alternatives if done right, and depends on individual situations.

     We encourage Dr. Esnayra and anyone else to advise up on ways to cut costs making service dogs more freely accessable to America’s Veterans and Military Families not just for those with hidden wounds of combat but in general as with Military Families with Special Needs Children for example.

     We at Veterans Today have the data on cost savings and how to access money for such dogs, but desire to hear suggestions from THE EXPERTS in the field.

     ROBERT L. HANAFIN
     Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
4. Danetta Amschler

   September 18, 2009 - 2:00 pm

   Why are you so defensive of organizations like IAADP? IAAPD has on their website a list of “tasks” for psychiatric service dogs that emphasizes what their organizations members (or at least followers) like to call “physical tasks” and many of these “tasks” wouldn’t be any more directly mitigating to a psychiatric disability than a parlor trick like roll over and play dead. As far as the law is concerned, it doesn’t matter how well a dog is trained to do things like fetch a drink so their handler can take pills – it matters if that’s something that will mitigate the handler’s disability and many of the mentally ill are capable of getting their own drinks (despite what IAADP suggests by their task list). Furthermore, some of them as worded would make the dog and/or their owner/handler appear to be a risk to the surrounding public. Not only does having a mental illness NOT make a person an automatic risk to the public, but a service dog should NEVER be a risk to the public – so even pretending you or your dog is a risk should be avoided. If a person ever was taken to court about their service dog, they’d have to prove that they actually are a person with a disability under the ADA and that their dog is a service dog per the applicable sections of the ADA – which makes many of the suggestions from IAADP weak at best from a legal standpoint. Servicedogcentral is another website that has – intentionally or unintentionally – stated the laws in a very misleading manner that, again, implies that service dogs MUST help by doing “physical tasks”.

   There are differences in the law, despite many – even who use service animals – who see no difference between an emotional support animal and psychiatric SERVICE animal. An emotional support animal can help anyone with a disability whose doctor decides they need “emotional support” (such as “cheering up” or “comfort”), needs NO training whatsoever, and receives no public access beyond some specifically limited transportation rights. A psychiatric SERVICE animal has to meet all the standards of ANY service animal. It must be individually trained to work or tasks that directly mitigate their owner/handler’s disability. I think this might be part of the confusion. With, for example, a guide dog for the blind, what the dog does is quite standard from one blind person to the next and is easily observable at all times. With a psychiatric service animal, even sticking strictly to PTSD, the symptoms can vary, they aren’t necessarily constant and how the dog works to mitigate the symptoms can vary from one team (dog and handler) to the next – which means it’s not all neat and standardized like an example such as guide dogs for the blind.

   You’re correct that the organizations are primarily for other types of disabilities or other types of dogs, but they still – for whatever reasons, put out information to the public and/or their members about psychiatric service dogs. Dr. Esnaraya is absolutely correct that there is a ton of misinformation out there and that much of it has been put out intentionally with quite a bit of it tracing to people and/or organizations that should know the law well enough to know better.
   • Tons of Information

     September 29, 2009 - 7:10 am

     "You’re correct that the organizations are primarily for other types of disabilities or other types of dogs, but they still – for whatever reasons, put out information to the public and/or their members about psychiatric service dogs. Dr. Esnaraya is absolutely correct that there is a ton of misinformation out there and that much of it has been put out intentionally with quite a bit of it tracing to people and/or organizations that should know the law well enough to know better."

     During our research for hosting this series of articles, it was not the debate between emphasis on physical tasks or definition of working that concerned us so much as the tons of information and how to screen or sift through that which is most reliable from that which is politicized or propaganda. VT. Ed.

     The conclusion we at Veterans Today came to is that the definition both legal and professional of Assistance Dog has changed drastically from the simple concept of the Seeing Eye Dog. The challenge is maintaining standards that can legally stand up in a court of law regardless what society thinks. Having to pay huge monetary damages or face unsavory media is a significant obsticle to STIGMA and the only way to combat it.

     Here is a definition we can live with as Veterans and Military Families, because it is kept simple and advocated by an organization that provides Psychiatric Service Dogs to Veterans free of charge with no hidden charges or conditions. They even give advice on how Veterans and Military families can get financial aid should they prefer to purchase a service dog from one of the long established Service Dog organizations. However, keep in mind that the below conception of Service Dogs is a rather 21st century and progressive conception:

     [QUOTE] While most people think the only Assistance Animals are Seeing Eye/Guide dogs, that is only a perception time has ingrained into the public. [We call it STIGMA. VT. Ed] The vision assistance animals are only a small portion of the overall Assistance Animal population. Within the dog category, some examples of other types of Assistance Dogs are Seizure Alert dogs, Migraine Alert dogs, Autism dogs, Alzheimer’s dogs, Post Traumatic Stress dogs, Hearing dogs, Cardio/Pulmonary/Vascular dogs, Psychiatric Aid dogs, as well as Mobility dogs. Many of these dogs aid a partner that does not show an obvious disability to the average person. Seizure Alert dogs are an excellent example since many of their partners appear totally *not* disabled for much of the time. But when their partner begins to have a seizure, these dogs are absolutely invaluable! [END QUOTE]

     Source: Shore Service Dogs [www.shoreservicedogs.com]

     BTW: Veterans Today News Network not myself are endorsing any Service Dog organization over another including Dr. Esnaraya‘s Psychiatric Service Dog Society only relaying information Veteran and Military Families need to make an informed decision once getting past the STIGMA of having a cognitive impairment. In all fairness to the organizations that Dr. Esnaraya tends to criticize, we sincerely believe that most if not all Service Dog Organization do OR BETTER realize that eventually from a legal perspective and the ADA the above quote as to what exactly a Service Dog is and is not will become the social norm that defeats STIGMA. VT. Ed.

     We believe at VT that the key as mentioned in a few responses would be more cooperation between those communities that focus on physical impairments and those who focus on cognitive impairment (or mental if you prefer) that would make American social STIGMA against people with cognitive impairments an endangered species doomed to extinction.

     Robert L. Hanafin
     Major, USAF-Retired
5. Syren

   September 19, 2009 - 7:04 pm

   “I personally feel a dog does need to be trained to perform ‘physical tasks’ to assure well-mannered dogs in public (down stay, leave it, heeling). ”
   I find those to be basic obedience that every SD out in public should have, not a task. Most pets have those basic skills/manners.

   I may be misreading the article, but what I am catching is that many of the large organizations (these are not places that train dogs, but more of groups that set the industry standard) such as ADI and IAADP tend to focus on the word tasks in the ADA definition of service dog and ignore the word work.

   I have a PSD. I could train him to bring me a bottle of water. However I’m perfectly capable of going and getting one myself. I could show that task in a court of law, however it wouldn’t be doing anything to mitigate my disability. I don’t think a judge would let it fly.
   Being a neutral party and nudging me to let me know I’m heading into a downward spiral of panic long before I notice (due to focus on whatever trigger) and get into a fight or flight response isn’t something that I can have him do on command in front of a court. He is still doing the work. He’s been trained to do it by re-enforcing a natural behavior to make it very reliable. (I’ll never say 100% as it is a dog, not a robot, so nothing is guaranteed with any SD. Even task commands need to be repeated occasionally.) This does mitigate my disability, in a big way.

   One of the big problems for people looking for a PSD is that there are not many facilities that will train for psychiatric illnesses, they chose to stick to things that are more physical in nature and it’s easier for them to focus on the word task.
6. ALJ

   September 19, 2009 - 11:10 pm

   The more I read the individual blogs and websites, of so many different users and trainers of service dogs/animals, the more I get the impression that we are doing a dis-service to each other. It make little sense to work against each other when those of us that use Service Dogs need strength in numbers, and need each others support, no matter what disability our SD assists us with. Some SD handlers that post on these various sites, are more judgmental of other SD handlers that have different disabilities from them, than some of the gate keepers that I have been discriminated by. It would seem like disabled people would understand better than most, that the disabled come in varying degrees of disabled. But reading the posts, tells a different story.

   The way SD handlers and trainers argue over the semantics of what is and is not a SD, is pathetic! The SD community, so to speak, can’t agree on what the law means or says, why do we expect so much from gate keepers? Why do so many posts that I see here and on other sites, continue to make the ADA law seem more restrictive than it truly is?

   Dr. Joan Esnayra has been the most helpful SD advocate of all those listed above, for myself and my two previous Chihuahua service dogs. The statements written by her about other organizations, were nothing more than valid statements. I for one am glad to finally see it said. Taking a defensive stance against her for her comments, only shows how correct she is. Those of you that are in ‘recognized leadership positions’ be it a training organization or a ADA advocacy, we all need you to cooperate with one another and work together on all of our behalf.

   I turned to Delta Society for guidance when I lived in WA state, that was their headquarters. They were more of an enemy than an advocate. I was evicted by a court of law from a rental property, the owner was livid with me that I had a right to have a Service Dog, but she wouldn’t allow dogs on her property. The judge had NO knowledge of the ADA, nor did he care to be informed. I did not have a lawyer or money for one, my landlady did. At the time, 2005, I was naive enough to think that judges knew the law and enforced it, I was wrong. Lawyers get their way, the higher paid they are, the more they can fancify the paperwork. The judge told me out right that the landlady had a right to refuse to allow dogs in her rental property.
   Crap like this happens every day, don’t think it doesn’t. I’m not looking for advise on how I could have righted that situation. My point is, it happens that way if you don’t know what you are doing, and if you do not have a dependable lawyer.

   Don’t ever take it for granted that you/we are protected by a law just by it’s mere existence. My experience is, we are not.
   People post on their blogs to call the ADA 800 phone number if a business gives you trouble. To me, that advice is ridiculous. Have you ever gotten help from that ADA 800 number in the midst of an act of discrimination against you for trying to gain access with your service dog? Not me. All you get is a recording for a good 3 or more mins.. You have to be lucky enough to call them during THEIR business hours too. The gate keeper won’t listen to reason or the law to begin with, now someone is advising we call an 800 number for them to listen to?!! Cops laugh at me when I offer to call the 800 number.
   Granted, I did not see that advice in this forum, but I was guided here by a forum that did, and I know some of those people are reading this one too.

   So I digressed. I spoke of situations that I personally experienced. I looked to the only places I could find at the time, the so called service dog experts, just because they train service dogs.

   Being a financially driven business, (non profit does not mean non-financially driven, sometimes people working in NPO’s, get paid a lot of money.) training service dogs for society in general, or disabled Veterans, such as myself, does NOT make your organization an expert on the ADA as it pertains to Service Dogs.

   Common sense would make us think that should be true, but past experience has taught me, that is a MYTH.

   Organizations that train Service Animals might be experts (or might not be) at training animals, but they, in my OPINION are not experts on the ADA.

   Setting up a program to train dogs, requires setting standards for measuring the objectives they will learn. Nothing wrong with that. Claiming that ALL service dogs must conform to that standard or they are mediocre Service Animals, is wrong.

   You train your dogs and certify them to your standard of training. I train my dog to a standard that works for my disability, she might not pass your criteria, but she might not need to for my disability. Since she is not being trained in your program, is not getting a written ‘certification’, it is not your business. Nor is it your call whether she ‘passes’ as a “legal” Service Dog. The ADA criteria has still all been met.

   Mental Health disabilities are included in the ADA. Many people have no clue what that means.

   Major Depressive Disorder is one of those specifically recognized disabilities. Not all Disabled Veterans that do not have a visible physical disability, have PTSD. When people attempt to stereotype me based on being a disabled vet, they somehow think its okay to ask me if I was in a war and do I have PTSD. Some of the worst violators of my/our civil rights, are other disabled people. Or people that train service dogs. Amazing the number of people across the country that have met me and my dog out and public, told me they were a service dog trainer, then promptly ask me “What is your disability?”!!!

   Makes me wonder sometimes why society even needs mental health providers. So many EXPERTS in the general public have made it clear that mental illness is all fake. And say people like me just need to “get over it”. (armchair wanna be doctors, at the grocery store, at an amusement park, say this to me on a regular basis, guess I should be cured by now)

   All you ADA experts out there, that are saying and doing things in the name of the ADA, and are making life more difficult for me to live a less stressful existence, with the help of my service dog. QUIT it!!!

   Quit trying to have a monopoly on the all too lucrative business angles of Service Dogs/Animals. Check the prices of SD vests, SD patches, SD training, etc., and try to call me wrong. If you do call me wrong, all I can say is “you lie like the president”.

   My dog is a SERVICE DOG. Doesn’t make any difference if she is a seeing eye service dog, hearing service dog, autistic service dog, mobility service dog, PTSD service dog, psychiatric service dog, seizure service dog, etc.. It is no ones business what kind she is, the ADA does not require me to identify her as any specific ‘type’, other than Service Dog. She’s not going to do a dog and pony show for anyone to prove to you that she is one.

   If she ever growls, barks, bites, shows aggression, is destructive, or damages something in a public place, then you may have something to comment on. You will never see that from my trained dog, and unless you do, your speculations and comments to me that Chihuahuas are barking, yipping, yapping, ankle biters, are not welcomed.

   Thank God that Dr. Joan Esnayra’s interdisciplinary research group was awarded a clinical research grant from the U.S. Army to test the Psychiatric Service Dog Therapeutic Model in the context of a pilot study at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She is the Veterans best bet on Objectivity as it relates to the subject of Service Animals, and the ADA. No matter what type of working dog they are.

   A&A
7. Tim Taylor

   September 23, 2009 - 5:04 pm

   I have a PSD, a Golden Retriever named Pax. I have had PTSD from Nam that untel now no medication will touch. To me, That is my “Physical Disability”. before Pax, I would stay bunkered in my house 24 hours a day. When I have a nightmare, Pax is there to shorten the trauma of it by licking my hand. As well as a Vietnam Veteran I am a Registered Psychiatric Nurse and for thoes who think that having a mental illness doesn’t translate to anything physical better think it again.
   A pulse rate of 180 during one of my panic attacks could be called a medical emergency. Blood pressure of 190/110 could be called a medical emergency. All physical. Pax doesn’t do parlor tricks. He lowers my pulse and B/P by physical contect.

   We need to work togeather, or is this some sort of attack and predudice once again of the “mentally ill” for which I am one.
   • STIGMA is the Weapon of Attack

     September 29, 2009 - 6:49 am

     [QUOTE] We need to work togeather, or is this some sort of attack and predudice once again of the "mentally ill" for which I am one. [END QUOTE]

     Tim,

     Your quote above about sums it up in my view. Heck, even I who also have bi-polar among other things that are diagnosed as physical still do not obviously show outwardly that I am disabled in anyway.

     I’ve read stories that this is not only about Veterans and Military Families but about our society in general. Children with autism comes to mind. Most but not all do not reflect any outward physical or even cognitive disorder unless they have a related illness that impacts mobility.

     We must change the mindset of society to understand that cognitive (ability to think or remember or connect the dots) impairment ultimately impacts mobility.

     Frankly, I believe that in addition to stigma there’s the competition at shopping malls and such for handicapped parking spaces with the result being instead of corporations or even government buildings making more spaces availalble to handle the growing handicapped population society rather have those without disabilities questioning those who have them, but worse yet those with various severity of disabilitie questioning each other.

     We’ve seen that in the Veterans community with Vets questioning the service of other Vets, or the severity of their disabilities, or did they earn their medals, and so on BUT what is the common denominator in all these attacks besides stigma – a hidden agenda or ulterior motive that has nothing to do with medals, Veteran status, or disability severity = POLITICS!!!

     Robert L. Hanafin
     Major, USAF-Retired
8. Joe 'Ragman' Tarnovsky Vietnam Combat Veteran 68-69-70

   November 26, 2009 - 6:27 pm

   My wife and I were way ahead of the times about having dogs in order to cope better with the PTSD and we did not even know it. We got our first home in 1986 and we then were able to have a dog if we so desired. It worked out that at one time we had five German Shepherds and one Doberman Pinscher and Abby, Bear,Sgt. Ricki, Trooper, Murphy, Reno really gave me a purpose to go on with life which helped me to cope better and in turn gave my wife a break from the stress I was causing her. PTSD is real and usually those that fail to admit it exists have never been through trauma or if they have, they must suppress it for one reason or another; usually because of their work where the stigma of mental illness will end their career. For those service organizations that misrepresent what the laws say about what a servie animal shoud be, shame on you! One would think you would be all in favor of doing whatever needs to be done to help a Veteran that has kept you free! I know, I live in a dream world where I think everyone in this country respects Veterans and are willing to do what is best for them, but I do know the reality that many do not care. So, for the agencies that are not behind this effort for dogs to help Veterans with PTSD here is some succint advice from one Veteran: Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, if you haven’t been there then shut the hell up!
9. Jinx W

   March 17, 2010 - 9:01 pm

   I stumbled across this site just now. I am not a veteran, and would like to thank everyone on here who has served our nation, from my heart. Anyway, I have a severe case of PTSD. I won’t go into details, but my psychologist (who I have been seeing twice a week for 4 years now) says its one of the two hardest cases he’s ever treated, the other being a vietnam veteran. He compares me to a POW, please, no offense to the true soldiers on this site. Well, I do feel great great comfort having my dogs around me. I am in constant fight mode, defense mode. If not for my dogs I honestly don’t know what I would do. I recently heard about PSD’s and am very interested in training one of my dogs , Neuton, he’s the smartest and best behaved, to be a PSD. I also have epilespy, Aspergers sydrome (a form of autism), schizoid-behavior (was first diagnosed with schizophrenia) and other stuff. Basically, is there a valid site that lists training needs for PSD’s? Does the law recognize them as actual service animals or is that an ongoing struggle still? If anyone could please send me info, my email is jinx.ward/@gmail/.com (take out the slashes just didn’t want spammers grabbing it). Thanks in advance, Jinx W
10. Jean Smith

    March 21, 2010 - 5:22 pm

    I wanted to share a link to Service Dog Patches and ID badges.

    http://www.workingservicedog.com/service_dog_access_required_vest_patch.aspx

    http://www.workingservicedog.com/customservicedogpvcidbadge-2sided.aspx

    God Bless our troops!

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