However the ones that I am
perhaps most indebted to – believe it or not - are surprisingly not human
beings at all.
Rather, they are the incredible animal
friends that I’ve befriended over the years whose aid through the amazing power
of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) have done wonders for my psyche in helping me deal
directly with my disability.
Whether it was in overcoming bouts
of depression or confronting self image issues and learning to move on in life,
my pets, namely my dogs, came through for me.
These were the exact words I
shared with about 60 students at the HELP University in Kuala Lumpur last week.
As president of my national AAT
society Petpositive, I was invited to speak together with other animal NGOs at
their full day animal-awareness function called “AniHELP” that was also opened
to the public.
Although this was the third year
that the public relations students of HELP Matriculation Centre were hosting
such an event, this was the first time the input of disability and AAT was
featured.
Most of my audience appeared
totally awestruck to watch a video of my service dogs in action helping me to
accomplish my daily chores at home.
It included my Rottweiler waking
me up in the morning and helping me to open the door of my home to allow me
access outside.
There were smiles on their faces
when they saw my German Shepherd Dog pick up my toothpaste for me in the
bathroom.
Another poignant moment that captivated the audience was when the same canine started pushing my wheelchair towards me when it was out of my reach as I was seated on my bed.
The canine was the impeccable assistant – keeping his nose to himself, away from the products and other customers. He was totally focussed on me and my needs.
Murali Rajaratenam, HELP’s senior lecturer on public relations and human communications and advisor of AniHELP wrote to Wheel Power after the event:
“Dear Mr Anthony,
Thank you for your special talk which proved that the term "Man's Best Friend" could not bring any deeper meaning than to the disabled.
You have showed us how canines are truly a blessing to the disabled.
We never realised that assistance dogs do much more than just guide the visually impaired – they can also warn persons with epilepsy before they get a seizure attack and offer additional strength and mobility for the physically and emotionally disabled.
I, myself, was pleased to notice that dogs can benefit their disabled owners in many ways.
The most common is mobility assistance, in which the dogs help people with physical disabilities by carrying out tasks such as opening and closing doors or even fetching food from the fridge.
These are tasks that we who are able to do it on our own often take for granted.
But for disabled persons and their special canine partners, these are literally life-changing.
It was also interesting to note that through practical tasks, dogs offer the sense of freedom and independence to the disabled.
Assistance dogs thus gives people with disabilities a godsend opportunity and reason to go out and engage in fresh opportunities including developing friendships, hobbies, education and even finding a job and having a career.
Kunasunthari Subramaniam, our organising chairperson told us, after listening to your presentation, your presence helped us realise that people with disabilities deserve the very best.
She was totally impressed that with the aid of special dogs, disabled people can do almost anything and feel just like any other person when it comes to personal achievements.
Samantha Keo, treasurer of the AniHELP committee told me that she was initially worried about working with a disabled person in the project.
She was glad, however, that everything turned out all right in the end. She said she reminded herself to focus on the person first and the disability second.
She said the valuable lesson she learnt from the entire experience is to always remember that when it comes to people with disabilities, they are the experts of their own needs.
It is important to consult them in everything.
To sum up Mr Anthony, thanks so much for showing us through your own life how your special dogs make a huge difference in your life in helping you remain positive all the time.
“We assure you that this is not the last time that you will be hearing from us. We plan on inviting you to give more talks on disability to our students in the near future.”
THE END
