Motivational Zone Meeting
04/20/2009
Lightning and thunder pounded outside of The Pufferbelly Restaurant while Lions from area Lions Clubs gathered for a Zone Meeting Dinner. Zone Chairman Dave Byington welcomed Lions, guests, and a very inspirational guest speaker, Kimberly Carnevale.
Kimberly is the author of Canine and Abled™, Taking the Dis Out of Disabled, an amazing true story of how courage, perseverance, and two four-footed friends helped turn tragedy into triumph. Kimberly, a former professional athlete who trained for a spot on the United States Equestrian Team until a horrible accident left her permanently disabled.
With her service dog Nadja by her side, Kimberly spoke of her ordeal and demonstrated how Nadja helps Kimberly in her everyday life.
"She is a fabulous retriever and has mastered opening/closing doors, retrieving objects from all over the house, lights, helping with the laundry, physical support (bracing like a cane), cognitive support, can reach groceries from shelf and deposit them into shopping cart, and can throw away trash."
Kimberly also spoke of the need to spread the word about the importance of Service dogs.
Service dogs are specially trained to assist people with all types of disabilities (including invisible ones, such as traumatic brain injury).
These dogs can do many things to make the lives of their partners more safe and independent. Tasks such as retrieval, opening/closing doors, turning on lights, taking clothes out of the dryer, getting a drink from the fridge, alerting to seizures, and blood pressure/sugar levels, and many more can be accomplished by these very special canines.
Because service dogs are specially trained and recognized under local, state, and federal laws, they are permitted to go where most dogs can not. Stores, restaurants, movie theaters and other public businesses must accommodate these dogs according to law.
Many businesses do not take the time to teach their employees about service dog access; and/or do not know about the laws that apply to their businesses. This lack of education leads to access denial and rude behavior for service dog teams all over the country; every single day.
For more information about Kimberly's program Canine and Abled™, visit www.canineandabled.com.
See All News Headlines
|
