Review of Disability Studies Editor Shares Encounter betwwen Hearing Dog & Autistic Child

In her editorial, Into the Light, Megan A. Conway, Ph.D. RDS Managing Editor shares an encounter she and her hearing dog had with a child living on the autism spectrum while visiting her daughter's class:

 After the story and a handful of eager questions from my audience such as, "What happens when Buddy has to go to the bathroom?" I sat with my dog while the children came up one by one to pet him. At last it was Mary's turn, and the aide manhandled her to the front of the room while Mary, not surprisingly given that her hand was being given as an offering to a large furry animal with sharp white teeth, was resisting. "No, no," wailed Mary, pulling away as the aide stood behind her, blocking her exit and shoving her towards me. "Hey," I said, "Let her go. She doesn't have to pet the dog. Step away aide! Mary can come on her own if she wants to."
The aide was in such shock she actually did what I said. She stepped back, ready to pounce on
Mary if necessary, but releasing her arm from the death grip.
Mary got the most wonderful expression on her face. She stood there, surrounded by empty space, free, for a split second, to decide. And of course, as I had expected, she decided to come forward. She reached out her arm and she patted the dog, and then she gave me a great big smile, full of light, full of understanding. Read the entire article

This article is a great reminder children and animals should never be forced to interact and that a non-compliance is a vital part of self determination!

QR Codes & Service Dog Teams

I am constantly looking for ways to have emergency medical and contact information easily available for professionals who genuinely need access to it in order to assist me and/my service dog in an emergency situation without also having that information easily readable by any person walking by.
Currently my service dog has:

• An Avid Microchip 
• A standard engraved collar tag with the words "Service Dog" and my cellphone on it
• A Rabies Tag with her veterinarian's information on it
• An ID card from her program with their contact information

In the past my retired service dog also wore a matching medical alert medallion to mine and his information was in my Medic Alert Profile. I constantly think about and look for ways to have information easily available for those professionals who really need it to help us without worrying that it will be too available to just any random person on the street.  I stopped subscribing to medical alert many years ago because the bracelets and other jewelry  and I did not get along very well and it was a bit too recognizable for my comfort that I had medical problems. We now living in the age of Smart Phones and QR (quick response) codes.

 Just the other day I discovered QR (quick response) Code Pet ID Tags that come with their own customizable forever website for one simple flat fee!You can put whatever information you want too the website and transfer the tags if needed.  This just piqued my curiosity if QR codes could provide a wealth of chosen data on my service dog,what could they do for me as a handler with disabilities and what forms could they take.

Answer, QR Codes can be put on anything (i.e. ID cards, key chains, clothes, clothing labels, dog tags, stickers, clothing tags, etc.). QR Codes come different types sending the person scanning them to a variety of destinations including:  Websites,  your contact information (business or personal), your email address, or calendar events. These codes also come in a variety of sizes and the size determines how close the Smart Phone user must be to unlock the data contained in the code. I learned from QRworld that in order to be able to read the QR code the size on the dog tags (2.4 – 4 “) a person and their phone must within 1.5-2.5 feet. In other words they must within arms length of you. Learn More about QR Code Sizes and scanning distances. 
Arms length seems like a reasonable distance for someone to be able to unlock emergency information without worry that just anyone can access it to me. 

QR Codes for the Human Half of the Team

Getting a QR code for your personal information can ran in prices depending on what you looking for from a $15 one time fee to an annual subscriptions service ranging from $24-$39.95.
Depending on what you want to pay you can get:

• $-Simple Emergency information embedded
• $$-Multiple forms of your QR Code (i.e.stickers, key chains, ID Cards)
• $$$-GPS tracking of your QR Code Location sent to an emergency contact when it is scanned

 Here are a couple of companies offering QR Codes for Medical Information and Response (*Note: I get no funding from any of these companies, I simply provide these as references)
http://www.privateids.us/servlet/StoreFront
http://ermedstat.com/


https://www.myinfo911.com/

 I love to see technology put to use helping people stay safe and live more independently! Kids and Adults with disabilities can use QR codes equal safe but cool and/or discreet. What do you, my readers think about this option?