Dog rescue receives backlash surrounding policy about autism

By Karis Mapp

Although they do allow adoptions to families with children that have other disabilities or disorders, Kismutt Dog Rescue in St. Marys sticks to the fact that they will not allow one of their pets to be adopted into a family that has a child with autism. According to their Facebook page, this is due to the fact that on two separate occasions, a dog was physically harmed and had to be removed from the household. 

Bruce Macintosh is the president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, and the parent of two children on the autism spectrum.

While appearing on The Mike Farwell Show on CityNews 570, Macintosh said that the rescue's policy is shameful. He added that not all children with autism are aggressive and his own kids greatly benefited from having a dog in the home. 

“The kids that are aggressive are in a small minority,” said Macintosh. “The vast majority of children with autism are not aggressive and that's why what has happened with this rescue organization is so offensive. It's based on a stereotype that is just not realistic or valid.”

He said that children on the spectrum often struggle making friends because of the difficulties surrounding the subtleties of verbal communication and maintaining eye contact in social settings. 

“Those things don't matter with the dog. It takes away so many of the challenges that children with autism face and it's really good for the kids to get a relationship like that.”

When speaking about the two incidents that led Kismutt to enact the policy, Macintosh admitted that those are very unfortunate situations but he said it is lazy to put a blanket policy like that in place. 

“I'm not disputing that this happens. I'm not saying that it's wrong to be cautious, but we were fortunate enough to get a service animal for my son and it changed everything for our family,” said Macintosh. 

CityNews 570 reached out to Kismutt Dog Rescue and the group replied via email with a statement that said, “We adopt dogs out to people with a whole host of different disabilities. Example: Blind, deaf, Downs Syndrome, Parkinson Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, the elderly, Spinal Cord Injuries, just to name a few. Our dogs are adopted out strictly as pets. They are not trained service dogs.”

Macintosh noted that, unfortunately, his family's service dog passed away last summer but they now have a rescue animal that is just as helpful.

“The woman that set us up with the rescue agency happens to be an autism therapist,” he said. “There are ways to do this that can work and dogs, not just service dogs, will help kids on the spectrum.”

He adds that despite actively trying to raise awareness for the developmental disability, there is still a lot of misinformation being spread which leads to misconceptions. April is Autism Awareness Month so Macintosh is hoping it will be good time to educate people and raise money for public awareness. 

He said that behaviour analytic therapy is a great way to help people with autism live a dignified and productive life but he is frustrated with the government's response to the topic. 

“Despite our efforts, the Ford government has managed to double the wait-list time for the therapy, which is really disappointing.”

Overall, Macintosh is frustrated with how people with autism are often handled.

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