>> LAURIE SCHALLER: Welcome. Thank you for joining us today. The webinar Seeing Eye Dog and Therapy Animal Services will begin momentarily. Please note this webinar is being recorded and the materials including a transcript will be placed on the national disability assistive technology program site along with other assistive technology spotlight webinars. We will begin in about one or two minutes allowing people to get signed in. Thank you for joining us. Welcome and thank you for joining us today. The webinar Seeing Eye Dog and Therapy Animal Services will begin momentarily. Please note please note this webinar is being recorded and the materials including a transcript will be placed on the national disability Institute assistive technology loan program site along with the other assistive technology webinars that have been recorded. Real-time captioning is provided during this webinar. The captions can be found by clicking on the cc button in your controls at the bottom of your screen. As you have questions today, please enter those into the Q&A box and we will share those questions with today's presenters and they will have a period of time to answer those questions before the clothes of the webinar. If you're listening by phone and not logged into the webinar, you may also ask questions by emailing aprice@NDI – INC.org. We welcome you today's session is Seeing Eye Dog and Therapy Animal Services. My name is Laurie Schaller, I am the manager of financial empowerment here at national disability Institute. I work in the assistive technology loan program. So national disability Institute or NDI, we envision a society in which people with disability have the same opportunities to achieve financial stability and independence as people without disabilities. Our mission is to collaborate and innovate to build a better financial future for people with disabilities and their family members. We have this assistive technology loan program here at national disability Institute. Our services include outreach, and the provision of these promotional webinars. We provide financial education and guidance on spending plan development. We provide referrals to financial counseling programs and other services that can help people purchase assistive technology that they need. For example, I provide referrals helping people to find grants or other lines of funding to help them purchase assistive technology. NDI received grant funding through the U.S. Department of education rehabilitation services administration. Today, we welcome Don McGowan and Nancy George-Michalson. They will be sharing their services and volunteer and training opportunities available. This recording along with our other assistive technology spotlight webinar are posted to our site for future viewings. You can view it at any time. It will be posted probably within the next two weeks. I would like to introduce Don McGowan. Let's start off today with, Don. Here's a volunteer at the seeing eye and one of the donors of the organization. Don schedules outreach visits to hundreds of organizations reaching thousands of people each year. Don coordinates the pennies for puppies dollars for dogs program which raises over $100,000 for the organization each year. Don and his wife Diane live in Denville, New Jersey. In his working life Don spent 40+ years in information technology. Don, can you unmute yourself? >> DON McGOWAN: Thank you to everyone for joining and I appreciate several topics today having to do with service dogs in particular on my part. As introduced, I volunteer at the seeing eye which is located in New Jersey. We provide service dogs and guide dogs to help people who are blind and visually impaired live the best possible lives that they can giving them independence and dignity. We have been in business since 1929. We have placed over 18,000 matches and all of that history. It is a great privilege to spend time with the organization. While we are in New Jersey in Moorestown, we have service dogs placed in every state of the union and every province in Canada and in Puerto Rico. We are national in scope in terms of people that we serve although our location is in New Jersey. When I talk to people about the seeing eye most of them who are cited schools, churches, senior citizens and so forth, I always asked the question, what is the most important element of your life? What part of your life is just important beyond any others? People say, my vision, my friends, my family and those kinds of things. I say to them that I think the most important quality in any of our lives is our independence. The ability to do things on our own without having to rely on other people. In giving people who are blind and visually impaired seeing eye dogs, we are really giving them independence. People who are blind use Keynes some work with cited guides and they get around in a variety of ways. The dogs help to give them independence to do things, go places and live their lives with dignity with the help of the seeing eye dog. Our mission at the seeing eye as I said is to enhance independence, dignity, and self-confidence for people who are blind through the use of these trained seeing eye dogs. We breed and we raise puppies to become seeing eye dogs. We train the dogs to guide people who are blind to keep them safe. We instruct blind people in the proper use and handling and care of their dogs. On a broader scale, we conduct and we support research on canine health and development. Our vision is to be recognized for our efforts and to be viewed as the best guide dog school to attend and to support. As a donor, as a volunteer, puppy razor, employee or of course as a blind person using the seeing eye dog. We work primarily with three breeds of dogs. Labrador retriever, golden retrievers, and German shepherds. We use these dogs for all of the obvious reasons. They are very friendly, they are strong, they are energetic, they are good with people. But most importantly these dogs like to please. They like to be trained to do certain things. They like to be praised when they do them. It is just like all of us, we all like to know what we are supposed to do and would like to be praised when we do them. We breed our own dogs. We know their lineage, and parents, great grandparents, and the health and success of the dogs in their lineage. We breed our dogs carefully and with compassion. Females have one or two litters and retired from breeding. The males they get to have all of the fun. The females, we breed them carefully so that we are not by any stretch a puppy mill. We breed them out carefully. With trusted breeders to keep the gene pool fresh so that we know we have the best possible dogs we can. In the beginnings of their lives in the first weeks for the first eight weeks or so our puppies spent time in what we call our puppy play room. Where they are beginning to be explodes to the sights and sounds of the world. Little tiny puppies have everything to learn just like babies. They have everything to learn about the new world that they are in. Volunteers work with these puppies to keep them busy and to observe their behavior. So we can begin to identify dogs if they want to be good dogs to breed and to train or perhaps they may not be. Perhaps they are too aggressive or they bark too much or all kinds of things. We are observing them from early on. Every puppy and we breed about 400 puppies per year. Every puppy goes to live with a family for 14 – 15 months while they are growing up. These puppy raising families give their puppies love, care, attention while they are growing up. They trained them to be good dogs around the house. Not jump on the furniture, not that the food not jumping on people and all those kinds of things. The puppies during puppy raising are crate trained. They become used to having a safe place where they can go when needed. The crate becomes for a young child, it becomes like his room where they have the room where they can feel safe. The puppies feel the same way about learning to be in a crate. After 14 – 15 months assuming the dog is healthy and all is well the puppy goes back to the seeing eye to be trained to be a seeing eye dog. If a puppy isn't suitable to go on for training than the puppy raising family can keep the dog to have as its own pet. The puppies come back to the seeing eye at about 1 and a half years old. They are assigned to trainers that will take them through four months of intensive training. They learn how to keep their future owner safe. They learn to wear a harness and they learn things like stopping at cross streets so that person can evaluate traffic and decide when it is safe to cross the street. They are trained to avoid obstacles and leave their person safely around obstacles. Obstacles can be other people, it could be a fire hydrant, a tree, any kind of thing that is in the path of the dog and the person as they are walking down the sidewalk or wherever. We train the dogs to go up and down stairs safely so there person does not fall over and tripped on stairs. And many more things. We take the puppies to New York City so they can experience that. We take them to Norwalk airport, we take them to stores, restaurants, everyplace that we think a dog is likely asked to go by its owner. So the trainers can observe how the puppy reacts to all of these situations. Matching seeing eye dogs with their new owners is a very important part of what we do. People who are blind or visually impaired will contact the seeing eye to discuss if the seeing eye dog is right for them. We gather information about them, Doctor certificates, ophthalmologist certificates, and all of that kind of information. If a person looks like a good candidate for a seeing eye dog a trainer visits him or her at home and it is their home to learn more whether they live in New Jersey, California, Canada, Puerto Rico, we go and visit. We want to see where these people live how they live, what they do all day, who they live with, what their routine is. We want to know all these things so that we can match them with the proper dog in the best possible dog we can for them. We take people for a Juno walk where the trainer takes a blind person or visually impaired persons, give them a small harness and they walked together. Not the dog but the trainer leading the person on a harness. To see if they trust and to find out what their walking speed is. Trainers then back at the seeing eye discuss candidates to receive a dog and they discussed the dogs they have been training. They say, I think for this person Bobo is the best dog to have for whatever reason. Why think rover or wherever the dog is is right for the person based on their age, health, abilities, strength, ability to walk fast or slow, all of the needs of a person. We then invite 24 people at a time to come to the seeing eye and live on campus for about 3 and a half weeks. During this time people bond with their dogs and learn how to work with them safely. The trainers take the dogs out into town, and into Morristown, they go up and down sidewalks, cross streets, go in and out of buildings and do all things together. So that the blind person is learning how to work with his or her new dog. And the dog is learning how to respond to the person who he is learning to work with. After 3 and a half weeks of training the dog owners returned to their homes with their dogs to begin their lives with their new seeing eye dog companions and experiencing the independence that it gives them. The cost to a blind person or visually impaired persons who receive a seeing eye dog is $150. This includes transportation to the seeing eye and return home. Whether it is airfare, bus train, however people traveled to the seeing eye, we pay that cost. Accommodations at the seeing eye during training for those 3 and a half weeks. Intensive training learning how to deal with people and the dogs and how to have them to work together. And very important people who are blind meet others who are blind and they learn from other people tips and techniques on how do you do this and how do you do that. And we give the graduates support for a dog for as long as the dog is working with the person. When a person leaves the seeing eye with a dog, it is his dog or her dog. It no longer is the seeing eye dog. It belongs to its seeing owner. When the person leaves the seeing eye dog it is her his or her responsibility for doctors appointments etc. If there any questions, we will answer questions at the conclusion of both of the talks. I am happy to talk to people if anybody wants to talk, you can reach out to me directly. My information is on the slides that are in front of you. I will tell you a cell phone number which is 973-479-4020. You can talk to me directly. I am glad to tell more information, answer more questions, and help you in any way possible understand the seeing eye and what its mission is and how to contact and enroll at seeing eye for those who are blind or visually impaired. So those are the end of my comments. We will take questions at both the end of both presentations. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you, Don. I want to remind people if you have questions for Don, you can type it in the Q&A and will be certain to share those questions with Don. We would like to now introduce Nancy George-Michalson. She is from New York therapy animals. Nancy will help us to learn about therapy animals and the jobs that those therapy animals complete. Nancy? >> NANCY MICHALSON: Hi am Nancy George-Michalson direct of Therapy Animal Services located in New York City. This is my therapy animal partner. This is Melody. Melody is going to sit on my lap while I give my presentation to you. Our mission for New York therapy animals is to provide healing and education to the human animal bond for people in need. I want to thank Laurie and everyone for this opportunity to give a presentation to national disability Institute. This is Melody and me on the left side of your screen. Our organization trains people and their own dog to become a therapy dog. The complete opposite of a service dog or emotional support dog. Therapy dogs are not service dogs and they are not emotional support animals. The center picture is a photo of one of our partnerships and it was a visit to this little girl. You can see the love and admiration that the little girl has for this dog. On the right is a picture from Alzheimer's Association. She is just pure joy with a therapy dog coming to visit with her. Our dogs are always on leash when volunteering. New York therapy animals is a non-for-profit organization. We are an affiliate of our headquarters which is located in Salt Lake City, Utah call Intermountain therapy animals. This is a domestic and international organization for therapy animals. In New York City one of our partnerships and official opportunity for literacy program is reading education assistance dogs called R.E.A.D.. This is a literacy program in our community. These are some of our therapy dogs and we called them a team. One cannot do it without the other. It is the human and their own dog that are going to attend our training school to become a therapy dog team to go out into healthcare facilities, educational venues and help people with their therapy dog. It is a very unique kind of volunteering. We educate both ends of the leash and inquire handling program workshops. Our teaching methods promote healthy relationships through humane education and expert behavior training. If you had a dog in New York City and you wanted to become a volunteer, you will come to our school on the upper East side of Manhattan. You would go through our seven week training program. I am a licensed instructor for animal assistive interactions. We have a therapy dog trainer and expert therapy dog trainer. We have classes every seven weeks for people interested with their own dog that has met our requirements to become a therapy dog. You can see some of the pictures in our training program. Our criteria for dogs are well mannered, social, reliable, predictable, and controllable. They inspire confidence in their interactions with people. The dog never show aggression towards people or other animals. You can see some of our therapy dogs having their photo after passing their team assessment. We have over 130 therapy talk dog teams. Definitely less than we had pre-pandemic. We had almost 200 – 250 therapy dog teams and volunteered with us. We are still building back our programming. Many people left New York as you well know. Many dogs didn't want to do it anymore and the handlers didn't. We are definitely looking for more people interested in becoming a therapy animal team with New York therapy animals. Want to talk a little bit about what the differences between a service dog, emotional support dog, and a therapy dog. Let's talk about service assistance dogs. They have a full-time career just as Don was talking about with his program. Any animal individually trained to assist the person with the disability with one or more life activities is protected under the American disability act of 1999. These are thought some of the therapy dogs or service dogs that are assisting people in different environments. In emotional support animal or ESA assist persons with stress and anxiety. There is no training required. They only require access with a physician's prescription and this is data from the American disability act. Emotional dogs are pets. Mental health professionals prescribe emotional support animals under the law to a person with a disabling mental illness and must determine that the presence of the animal is needed for mental health of the patient. As you may know or not know airlines are no longer required to accommodate emotional support animals. Because people were taking advantage of this opportunity. That took away from people who really needed to have an emotional support animal travel with them. I therapy dog has a rare temperament to interact with the constant stream of strangers. They have no special right of access. They must meet our requirements for New York therapy animals. Therapy animals volunteer part-time with a human partner. In the hospital, Alzheimer's facility or assisted living facility, in schools, and our literacy program. We help children with various challenges that they are going through especially from the pandemic. A good therapy dog is happy doing the work. Predictable, reliable, controllable and responsive. Adaptable, flexible in various environments. They have been medically screened and they are healthy. They love people and are willing to engage and they are sociable. They are able to cope with stress and surprises. An important to us is that they are not dependent on treats. Treats can be a corrupter and they are only looking for a treat in their humans pockets are back and not paying attention to the job. Giving treats is fine but we want a dog that doesn't depend on treats. A great handler their first priority is their dog. That is the most important job. It is to be observant of their dogs stress signals, how they are feeling, their body, how they bend in their environment. The handler is proactive for the dog. They are paying attention to their dogs behavior, body language and stress signals. They demonstrate a solid loving relationship with their dog. They enjoy the company of others and cancel is still a take can facilitate. They are a great listener for those who just want to chat. Our therapy handler and their dog participate in our ongoing teaching skills and continuing will workshops. These are happy dogs and happy handlers. How can therapy dogs contribute in a therapeutic setting? Therapy animal teams can motivate people in occupational, physical therapy, and in psychotherapy. They may bridge communication gaps with healthcare providers. They may assist in crisis intervention. They lessen loneliness, callous to social interaction and conversation. They may help to reduce a client symptoms of stress, anxiety, uplifting spirits and helping with trust. They provide an opportunity through touch and petting a therapy dog giving and receiving affection. Sometimes they help motivate, grass, reach, movement and physical exercise with physical therapist or occupational therapist. We use a baby brush to help a person that has had a stroke and needs to practice brushing the therapy dog with the baby brush a soft bristle brush that will not be harmful. We also know therapy animals gives unconditional love. They are nonjudgmental and don't care what person looks like or smells like. They are very trusting in themselves and people and they love people. The enhanced self-confidence and self-awareness. These are some of our examples in the photos. The person on the right is the person with the therapy dog coming to visit them. The dog resting on the person arm. On the bottom left is an example of the handler is giving the young person a baby brush and they are instructing how to brush the dog safely. This is a way for a person wanting to help to give the dog instruction. The dog will be sitting there very happy and they are brushing the dog. They are actually helping the handler with this activity. The one in the center is a person that the therapy dog is just gazing and giving the unconditional love. On the right side is a student in the school with their therapy dog team. Sometimes we use a second lease leash for motivation. You can see how happy this dog is and the student and the handler is happy together. The student is walking with the second lease. This is empowering to the student. He's like, hey, I am walking a dog. Maybe that child does not have a dog at home. In the school environment this is helping to improve the understanding of the opportunity to be able to walk the dog and feeling empowered. Therapy dogs bring comfort, support, and smiles to everyone as you can see and some of these pictures with the golden retriever, Husky, chocolate lab. We have mixed breeds. On the right is a Husky. They love their humans. They love to give comfort and support and bring smiles to everyone. There are many volunteer opportunities for our therapy dog teams. Once you have completed the training program with us for seven weeks, they have to pass the team assessment. We have licensed evaluators that provide that opportunity. They had to complete paperwork and we also have a copyrighted training manual that they had to read. They have a open book test that they had to take. They submit their application and their test and they passed their evaluation submitting all of the paperwork to headquarters. There receive an ID badge with a an insurance policy when they volunteer. When they volunteer, they can volunteer up to two hours with their therapy dog. We only require them to visit for one hour. Believe it or not the dogs get tired. They are giving and taking on people's reactions, people's feelings and this is their job. In some of these pictures the first one on the left is a little girl who is interacting and this was at the New York school of the blind. It closed unfortunately. We have a program every month coming into the schools. The center one is a senior interacting with one of our therapy dog teams. On the right is in the hospital bringing a therapy dog. You can see the handler is holding the leash at all times. Protecting, observing the dogs behavior and you can see the patient is really loving this opportunity. The bottom left is an opportunity for our therapy dog teams to volunteer at a college, school, or an office visit. We call these wellness programs. We go into many colleges and schools during exam times when we know we are invited and we know the students are stressed because of the exam times or completing college out applications. The center photo is an example of our reading educations assistance program. This is in the New York public library where the handler is sitting with the student. The dog is in the middle and the student is reading to the therapy dog in a non- judgmental environment. They are actually reading to the dog and helping to become the tutor helping the dog to understand the story. This takes the pressure off of the adult. The adult handler is helping with and facilitating with fluency and comprehension. Assisting the student with particular words that the student might not understand and they have conversations about their interactions. On the right is another opportunity for students to with special needs. We have been invited to the New York City criminal courthouse. They closed down an entire courtroom for us. They had us 10 minute opportunity to come in and visit with the therapy dogs. The handlers and their dogs and that is me on the left side with Melody. We were still wearing masks at the time. We spread out in the courtroom and X number of people came in the room so it was not overcrowded. They were able to sit and relax and take a break from their visit from their very important job. This was an amazing highlight for us to be invited into a criminal courthouse like this. On the right we were invited to the "New York Times". This is an office visit visiting with the staff. It was a celebration and it was a wellness business to the staff of the really great work that they were doing on their articles. We have been to so many different places. We have been to the office of Homeland security, the commission on human rights. Believe it or not we are still doing virtual visits once a month of the New York City chapter. We create half hour program for people for all over New York State that have Alzheimer's and want to participate in this half-hour presentation we create a PowerPoint presentation for the. It has trivia, talking about dogs, talking about monthly visits. We do it every month and they love it. They are really enjoying themselves. They are talking about their dogs, animals and their life or maybe they do not have a dog. Maybe have a cat or a bird. It is an opportunity for give and take and they are great listeners. Talking about maybe they lost a pet and they want to talk about that with us. This particular mode on the bottom left is in a facility in New York City. On the right is a photo of us in a school on the upper West side. This is our handler doing a trick with their therapy dog. It is quite amazing and the boxes turned on the other side in the dog actually turned the box in a dog can step into the box. This is a great little trick and you can see she is still holding the leash when the dog is doing the trick as well. These kids love this program. They asked questions through their aid to their talker. This is our reading education assistant dogs program in the New York public library. We are in Westchester schools as well for the New York school for the blind as well. This is a program where children are reading to the therapy dog. I am in the bottom middle one with Melody. I still volunteer even though I am a director and found the founder, I still want to keep my feet planted on the ground. I am the volunteer coordinator for the Ronald McDonald house for children with cancer. I organized the program with New York therapy animals team. This is an example of what we take the R.E.A.D. program. We are also invited to very fun things as well. This is the New York City Marathon. This is our seventh year invited and this year it is on November 5 as a wellness visit with therapy dogs. It is very organized for security and people coming to the areas on Staten Island. Runners have a long time before the race so they have their badges on, Road Runner cap on. They have been preparing for the New York City Marathon and they are nervous. Some of them cry and they let out their emotions because they are petting a dog. Maybe they are homesick or nervous. We are there to help comfort them. On the bottom right picture is all of the therapy dog teams that participated. We are coming back on November 5. You can watch it on television. I love this quote specifically for New York therapy animals from Maya Angelo. People may not remember what you say or do but they will always remember how you made them feel. This are just some of the photos of interacting with different groups. I think it is really important to say that this work changed my life. I have been doing this for 20 years with my other dog who I did lose. Melody filled in for her and I have to say, it changed my life to become a therapy dog team is my dog. This is what we do for New York therapy animals. Thank you for joining us. This is our QR code if you want to go directly to our website or you can visit us at NewYorktherapyanimals.org. I am ready to take any questions as well. This ends my presentation. Thank you. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you so much, Nancy. Let's take a look here. We have a question. What a blind individual who uses an electric wheelchair qualify for a seeing eye dog? This individual is experienced in using a service dog. >> DON McGOWAN: The answer to that is, yes. We have people come in from time to time but not just with electric wheelchairs but with nonelectric wheelchairs. The answer is, yes. It would be contingent on other considerations as well. Evaluation by the training team and so forth. But the use of an electric wheelchair does not preclude having a service dog assuming that the individual is blind. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: People are asking both Nancy and Don, do you train hard of hearing dogs? >> DON McGOWAN: I assume you mean for people who are hard of hearing for dogs who are hard of hearing. The answer is, no. At the seeing eye guide dog is for people who are blind. Not with other impairments. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Are there programs for people who are hard of hearing hat provide training? >> DON McGOWAN: I'm sure there are but I cannot speak to that directly. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you. Are there therapy animals the affiliates in other parts of the country, Nancy? >> NANCY MICHALSON: Yes. Intermountain therapy animals is our headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: How would people find those providers? >> NANCY MICHALSON: You can go to our website which we have a link. Or you can go directly to the website. That is our headquarters. New York therapy animals is the affiliate here in New York City. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Don is their waitlist to apply for a seeing eye dog? >> DON McGOWAN: I will answer that in two ways. There is no waitlist. To receive a dog there may be a wait. Part of it is because we are still digging out from under Covid which through all of our timing and scheduling. The wait time for a seeing eye dog would depend on the person we need to support and that person's needs, the availability of the right offer that person and any other considerations seeing eye dogs. That female German Shepherd may not be available and there may be a wait. Other people say, I don't care. Give me a dog that would be right for me and I don't care what the breed is and what color it is and what sex it is. Those dogs will be service more quickly. Wait time is in the order of several months at this point. Not years, several months. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: This is good because it is such a life changer for people who need a seeing eye dog that they are readily available. Thank you, Don. We have a question regarding service animals that can detect seizures. Any of the prisoners today have a recommendation for people who need assistance in that way? >> DON McGOWAN: Dogs are trained to recognize epilepsy and alert the person who has a seizure coming on. They are able to sense the aura that the person gives off. They are trained to behave in a certain way either bark or run around in a circle or do something to alert the person so that they know to get themselves in a safe place. To get to a safe place and if they are driving to get off the road. I can't give names of facilities that do this. I know it is out there and I'm not able to provide further information. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: This is great so this is a good question. We will do some research here at national disability Institute and will be certain to post some information on our website. You are welcome to give me a call in a week's time and I will provide that information as well. How are therapy animals trained for the seven weeks and what is the cost? >> NANCY MICHALSON: We are not a dog training school. We are therapy animals and it is a therapy training school. We require first people to train their dog for basic commands. A dog that likes people, and is okay in a group of students with their dogs as well. I interviewed everyone on the phone and we ask people to come and interview in person. Dogs must be at least 17 – 18 months old, we don't want puppies. We want a dog that has matured. We want them to be able to be a good listener to their human. And we want them to want the job which is really important. We want to make sure the dog is going to enjoy its job. The seven week training program is something that I will be happy to talk with to a person that has a dog in their life. This is not a service dog and this is not an emotional support animal. This is a person that wants to do therapy work to volunteer with their own dog their pet that has become trained with them as a therapy dog. I would be happy to give information on the cost in a phone conversation. I wanted to also say around the country there are many other types of therapy animals not just dogs. There are cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, horses, llamas, goats, chickens, birds. In New York City we concentrate on dogs for New York therapy animals. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you, Nancy. I would like to cover a little more information on what people think of additional questions for the presenters today. Many people who have a disability may be eligible for special savings investment accounts as a result of the ABLE act. A person who has a disability that began before the age of 26 can open a savings investment account at any age. In New Jersey and New York offer ABLE savings account. There more than 46 programs available across the United States. Savings in a ABLE account up to $100,000 does not count on the SSI resort resource. It does not impact Medicaid, Medicare eligibility's, snap, FASFA, HUD services for example. And ABLE account holder, a savings account may contribute up to $17,000 into a transplant ABLE account. Those who work and do not have transactions in the retirement account may deposit from employment earnings and as of two additional $13,590 and is for people who live in Hawaii or Alaska. In the continental U.S. a ABLE can receive up to $30,590 in deposits this calendar year. What can a person use those monies for? They can use the money to pay for qualified disability expenses which includes food, seeing eye dog, therapy animal, vet bills, transportation costs, employment costs, the purchase of a home and their range is very wide. We invite you to go to ABLE resource Center and learn more about ABLE accounts. National disability Institute assistive technology loan program has partnered with banks in New Jersey and New York and we can now offer loans up to $45,000. Those loans are offered at 4% interest because NDI pays our partners to work with us. We guarantees those loans so that the lending terms can be much more favorable for people who need assistive technology. That could be housing modification, purchase of a modified vehicle, purchasing a hearing aid, equipment for self-employment. If you are interested in any of those types of assistive technology, we welcome you to visit our site where we spotlight cutting edge assistive technology and equipment that is available across the United States. We also have a resource guide for residents of New York and New Jersey that can help people to explore assistive technology and other lines of funding that can help a person to purchase assistive technology. If we cannot find a grant or other lines of funding national disability Institute can help families to purchase the assistive technology that they need with a low interest loan and the interest rate is 4%. A person doesn't need for example a credit score so this could be a way for a person to develop a positive credit score by paying for that loan on time each month. If you have questions regarding topics related to having a disability and how to achieve financial capability, how to become more resilient NDI has a website called financial resilient center. The link is posted here on this slide. Next month on September 21, we will have a presentation specifically on service animals presented by Katie from canine companions. If you are more questions about service animals specifically, we welcome you to join us for that presentation. We have another question that just came in, are there breeds that are recommended to be the best therapy animals? Nancy and Don if you would like to answer that? >> DON McGOWAN: Nancy, you take it for therapy animals. >> NANCY MICHALSON: We want a dog that has a good temperament. That is healthy and likes people. We are not and we do not discriminate against breeds. The dog has to never been aggressive or have bitten a human or another animal. We do have qualifications for that. It doesn't matter what breed. I have a toy poodle and we have mixed breeds. The big mixed breed is the Burmese poodle. It doesn't matter what breed it is but it does have to meet our qualifications. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you so much, Nancy. >> DON McGOWAN: The dogs we work with our golden retriever's, labrador retrievr's and German shepherds. We will bring in a French poodle to train because they have hair not further. They do not affect people in the same way that dogs do that have for and dander that goes with it. I will make two more points just to wrap up from my point of view. I know that some of the interest in NDI is for financial assistance. It is $150 which is not a big financial burden for seeing-eye dogs. A person who wants to have a seeing eye dog needs to have a yard that is fenced in so the dog can be out and exercise. There is lots of goodies and things that you buy for the dog. There are financial needs beyond the $150 acquisition. There are vet bills, harnesses, toys and all kinds of things to go with dogs. Secondly, just as a point of interest many seeing eye dogs that do not make it through the program successfully many of them become therapy dogs. They often find their way into therapy situations. It all comes together in the end. >> LAURIE SCHALLER: Thank you so much, Don. That is an important thing to remember that dog ownership and service animal ownership can be very expensive. Some communities are offering assistance and free veterinary care in some instances. If you are struggling to provide for your pet at this time you can call 211. We have a post webinar survey that we welcome you to complete. We would like to know what information in this webinar was most helpful? Do you need help finding employment? National distilled disability Institute has an employment program. If you receive SSI or SSDI to find employment. What type of assistive technology would you like to learn more about? Do you want to schedule NDI loan presentation for your agency or community organization? I want to thank Don and Nancy for your presentation today. What a great session. I learned so much just speaking with you to schedule today's information session. Thank you so much for your time. I hope your phones are ringing off the wall. Thank you for your help today. I would like to thank our ASL providers. And I would like to thank our captioner today. Thank you for your assistance. Have a great day everyone.