Assistance Dogs International North America Regional Chapter (ADINA)

 

Assistance Dogs International North America Regional Chapter is dedicated to supporting the work of assistance dog programs across the United States and Canada. It was created in 2007.

ADI North America Board Call for Nominations

 
The ADI North America (ADI NA) Board of Directors invite you to submit nominations for two (2) board members positions to the ADINA Regional Chapter Board.
 
Two of our Directors, Jennifer Rogers of PAALS and Jenny BrodKorb of Service Dogs for America, will reach the end of their first four (4) year term on December 31, 2020.
 
Board member terms are for four (4) years and board members may serve two (2) terms. The Nomination Process and Application packet explains the role and responsibilities of ADI NA Board Members, as well as the nomination and election process.
 
The board encourages you to nominate yourself or a senior member of your leadership staff to stand for election.
 
To complete your nomination, review the documents in the link above, then email a completed nomination packet to Chris Diefenthaler at [email protected] by August 21, 2020.
 
Please submit any questions to Chris Diefenthaler at [email protected] or Sheila O'Brien, ADI NA Board Chairman at [email protected].
 
Sincerely
 
Sheri Soltes, J.D.
Vice-Chairman, ADI NA Board of Directors
Founder & President
Service Dogs, Inc.

Access and Laws

View links for information on public access laws for Canada

View links for information on public access laws for the United States of America

Airline Access Campaign

The ADI North America Airline Accessibility Campaign has added an education toolkit that is available below.  The goal of this campaign is to educate airport/airline personnel and the US Department of Transportation on access rights and expected service animal behavior for people with disabilities traveling with service animals.  With every program's help, we will further position Assistance Dogs International as the expert in the field of assistance dogs and the one to consult when laws and access related issues are challenged.  These efforts are ultimately to provide for easier access for all of our graduate teams.

We encourage every ADI NA member program to educate their local airport personnel with the assistance of a PowerPoint that has been developed.  Contacting the marketing and communications department of your local airport is a good starting point, if you don't already have a contact.  After presenting this material, please fill out the form on the link below so that we can track which airports this has been shared and determine which ones we need to target more specifically.  These is also an airline access campaign poster that can be shared in a printed format of any size that describes the differences between service dogs, emotional support animals and pets.  ADI NA encourages each program to supply their graduate teams with an ADI accredited member logo or patch on their working dogs' vests/capes or equipment to help identify our graduates while in airports and the general public.  

Click HERE for the Airline Access Campaign Toolkit PowerPoint Presentation

Airline Access Campaign Toolkit Poster

Link to Completed Presentation Form

30th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), Sheila O'Brien, Chair of the ADI NA Regional Chapter Board wrote an article, Assistance Dog Access before ADA, on the efforts of ADI to identify Hearing Dogs in public before the approval of the ADA. 

ADI NA Regional Chapter Board

Sheila O’Brien, Guide Dog Foundation/America's VetDogs, USA, Chairman
[email protected]

Sheri Soltes, Service Dogs, Inc., USA, Vice Chairman
[email protected]

Laura Watamanuk, Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS), Canada, Secretary
[email protected]

Susan Armstrong, Guide Dogs for the Blind, USA
[email protected]
 

Jenny BrodKorb, Service Dogs for America, USA
[email protected]

Jeanine Konopelski, Canine Companions for Independence, USA
[email protected]

Jennifer Rogers, Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Sciences (PAALS), USA
[email protected]

Lori Stevens, Patriot Paws Service Dogs, USA
[email protected]
 

Rick Yount, Warrior Canine Connection, USA
[email protected]

Contact ADI NA

 

Chris Diefenthaler
ADI Executive Director

[email protected]