POSTPONED - Speaker meeting - Ability Dogs for Young People

Ability Dogs 4 Young People is an Isle of Wight charity (started April 2012), training assistance dogs to enhance the independence of disabled young people and children living on the Isle of Wight. We are training Ability Dogs to help with physical and mental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism, diabetes and epilepsy.
As well as helping with practical tasks (picking up items, opening doors, helping dress and undress, crossing the road), our trained Ability Dogs help increase disabled young people's well-being, confidence and self-esteem, enabling them to go on to further education or gain employment without needing full-time carers. In addition, having a jacketed Ability Dog by their side means that more people feel able to come and talk to them, thereby increasing their general social interaction.
Training a puppy to be an Ability Dog takes two years with a lot of dedication. We place specially selected Labrador puppies with volunteer puppy parents, who care for the puppies in their own homes, fully socialise them and start their initial training. With the help of our puppy trainers, the young dog's training continues through to assistance dog level by about two years when each Ability Dog is placed with a disabled young person. The disabled young people are supported every step of the way, and we fully fund our Ability Dogs throughout their working lives (paying for food, equipment and vet bills), so we can give the young people all the benefits without an added financial burden.
We also have an 'Own Trained' dog programme and a 'Dog Phobia Desensitisation' programme. We help people who have their own dog and would like to try and train it to help their disabled child. For disabled children and young people who have a servere dog phobia, we provide an individualise programme to help them feel more comfortable with dogs. Please contact us if you would like more information.
Can you help us raise more funds so we can train more puppies? We are looking for volunteers who can help us organise large and small fund raising events and activities. Alternatively, perhaps you can raise some funds for us by washing some cars, making cupcakes, or doing a sponsored parachute jump? Please get in touch if you are able to give us a little of your time.
If you would like to be a puppy parent, help with fundraising or would like to apply for one of our dogs, please contact us.