ADAA wants to make a difference to the lives of assistance dog teams that struggle to gain access to everyday services.

You wouldnt believe in 2022 that assistance dog teams are still refused access to services that others take for granted, imagine going out with your friends to a coffee shop but being denied access and trying to keep that smile on your face whilst you find somewhere else to go. Imagine going and doing your weekly shop but being told you are not allowed in because you have an assistance dog, without your dog you wouldn't be able to do your shop, but because of your assistance dog you are being denied. Imagine wanting to go to university, but being denied because of your assistance dog, being denied access to further education.

Any refusal has a major impact on each teams day to day struggles, and in some cases can have detrimental affects to the assistance dog handler.

ADAA wants to help educate service providers about the varying types of assistance dogs and the varying tasks they can do for their handlers, the varying breeds of dogs that can be and are being used as assistance dogs, and that different disabilities can require an assistance dog, its not just people in wheelchairs, or blind people. But we need your help to achieve this we need to raise funds to create marketing material for service providers, to aid with training their staff and security teams and to raise awareness to all about all assistance dogs.

ADAA offers an independent public access assessment that assistance dog teams can choose to take, our assessment gives handlers peace of mind; that their dog has been trained to the expected standard and that the dog is safe and comfortable working in the required environments.

ADAA standardising assistance dogs.