The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘Autism assistance dogs are vital to help families’
IT costs around €22,000 to train an Autism assistance dog and such is the demand for this vital support that Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland launched a major fundraiser for the month of July to raise money to train the dogs but more importantly raise awareness.
Susan Walsh from Ballinskelligs was one of those who took part in the nation-wide fundraiser and she, along with her friends Moira Lynott (Ballinskelligs) and Alma Cronin O’Sullivan (Cahersiveen), raised nearly €4,500 for the charity.
It is a charity close to Susan’s heart as she hopes in the future to get a dog for her son, JC, who is four-years-old.
Though he has not yet been diagnosed with Autism, Susan believes that it is likely that her son has the condition, and in the future she believes that an assistance dog may be a vital life-line for her son.
JC has a rare condition known as Ayme Gripp which affects walking, talking and vision.
Susan is critical of the difficulty in the getting an Autism diagnosis for JC who has been waiting two years for a test. This has been further delayed by Covid and it will be another six months before he gets tested.
“A two year wait is insane. It will be two-and-a-half years now before we get the test. We know he is fourth on the list now. This is a big issue for parents who are waiting for a diagnosis,” she said.
However, in the interim, Susan has undertaken her own research on what Autism will mean for JC and came across the fantastic charity Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. She decided to dedicate the entire month of July to raise awareness of the charity and also help raise funds through their ‘Jog 62 Miles in July’ challenge which asked supporters to commit to jogging 62 miles (100kms) over the 31 days in the month of July.
Susan and her son JC completed the challenge via walking the 100km with
JC in the push-chair with her.
Moira and Alma also completed the 100km walking around the Iveragh peninsula. Susan raised more than €3,200 through her online fundraising and over €1,200 was also raised by Moira and Alma.
This money will be used to help train the dogs which costs around €22,000 per dog. The nation-wide appeal raised more than €150,000 and means eight more dogs will be trained to help young children with Autism.
However, Susan, says it is vital that more fundraising takes place for the charity as there is a huge need for such dogs for reliant families across the country but, such is the demand, families may have to wait up to two years for a dog. JC cannot apply for the dog yet as he does not have an Autism diagnosis.
“My goal was to raise awareness of the charity ... The dogs are expensive to train and there is a big demand so the charity needs support,” says Susan.
She said she is grateful to everyone who donated and to the huge online support she received for her campaign.
“Without support we would have raised nothing and without that there would have been no awareness. I wanted people to learn about the charity and to help support it,” she said.
More information on Autism Assistance dogs can be found on their website www. autismassistancedogsireland.ie