Invisible Disabilities

Since we've had Sunny full time now for a few months, we've been taking her everywhere Charlie goes...which is kinda the point of having her.  She helps him wherever and whenever.  For example, Bounce World.  It can be a sensory kiddo's dream or nightmare.  In Charlie's case, it's a little of both.  I took the boys to Bounce World a couple weeks ago to run some energy off on a day they didn't have school.  Bounce World is a large building filled with inflatable bounce houses.  Great place to get the wiggles out, but its FILLED with kids and it's loud.  It was packed when we first arrived and Charlie did ok for a little while.  The longer we were there the more difficult things got.  He slowly began having meltdowns and at one point laid on the floor screaming.  Sunny did exactly what she was trained to do, and she did it beautifully.  I took Sunny to Charlie and gave her the "full on" command where she lays on Charlie, putting pressure on his entire body to calm him down.  And it worked.  I wish it could have been caught on video because it was perfect.  After a few minutes Charlie was calm again and could play a little longer.  It was truly wonderful to be able to stay somewhere so the boys could play.

Church, Target, parks, Costco, grocery stores, school, wherever it is we go we get the same question from people "when will the dog be done training?", "where will the dog go when she's done training?" or we'll hear people comment to one another "we can't touch that dog, it's in training."  We were puzzled when we started hearing these statements.  It took Tyler and I awhile to realize why people think that we are helping to train Sunny. And then it hit us.  Because no one in our family has a visible disability and they don't think Sunny is ours.  Many people think we are helping to train her and expose her to public places during her training.  No one in our family is blind or has a physical disability or wheelchair bound.  They see everyone in our family appears "typical" and therefore don't even entertain the idea that Sunny belongs to us.  We understand.  We really do.  And we've taken the opportunity to help educate people more about service dogs and what they can do as well as disabilities that you cannot see.

Most of the time people are really receptive to hear more and we've had people ask tons of questions. It's totally welcomed!  Kids are so inquisitive as well.  I'm guessing people with Diabetes, PTSD, seizures,  or other invisible disabilities who have service dogs run into the same thing? When people ask us more we gladly will chat and answer their questions.  We usually tell them the types of tasks Sunny provides for Charlie- either in the community or at home.  And we tell them the difference she has made for him so far.  Huge differences.  Amazing, really.  We've seen a calmer Charlie with less meltdowns, a boy that sleeps better, transitions better throughout the day, rides in the car easier without screaming the whole time.  We can actually go places.  I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to go do some new activities!  Guess what?  We went to a hotel/waterpark a couple weekends ago and it was AMAZING!  It went so well and we all had SO much fun.  And, there was no aftermath meltdowns that disregulated him for days after the hotel.  We actually plan to go to a different indoor park in February.

So, no.  You can't see Charlie's disability.  You can't readily see Autism unless you're looking for his quirks.  But his need for his service dog is just as vital as it is to someone with a physical disability.