By My Side
About Brodie and Bee
"The support that can help autistic people to live independent, fulfilled lives looks different for everyone (and can also change through our lives as our support needs change). For me, that support currently includes having 24/7 human support available, as well as my beautiful assistance dog, Brodie.
I have owner-trained Brodie, which means I have lived with him and trained him since he was a puppy. It was - and still is - a fair bit of work, but it is absolutely worth it.
Brodie now knows how to spot when I am getting overwhelmed so that he can offer distraction and gentle pressure with his paw or his chin to keep me grounded.
He helps me navigate safely in busy places, and finds my safe people when I am too overloaded to process my surroundings. He has learned how to settle calmly so that he can support me on long bus journeys or trips out.
With Brodie by my side, I can manage more communication with people, and more engagement with the world. We aren’t perfect, and we both make mistakes sometimes, but we are a team. I love working on helping him learn new things, and Brodie loves training to find new ways he can help his human."
About Assistance Dogs
Assistance dogs are specially trained to provide support for disabled people and those with medical conditions. There is good public awareness of both guide dogs, medical alert dogs, and hearing dogs, but dogs can also be trained to support autistic children and adults in various, life-changing ways.
More information about autism assistance dogs and UK based organisations can be found here:
www.assistancedogs.org.uk
www.autismdogs.co.uk
www.dogsforgood.org
I would also highly recommend connecting with the accounts on social media who often document their personal journey through owner-training and life adventures with their furry best friend.
Brodie and Bee are on Instagram.
About the Art
A little different from my standard graphite pencil portraiture, my style is a little looser and more colourful in this lived experience project. The rainbow infinity symbol is widely used to represent neurodiversity, including autism. I chose to represent this with the multicoloured dog lead in the shape of a heart around Brodie and Bee, who are featured in graphite with their noses touching, to celebrate their special, unique bond. The yellow "assistance dog" lead slip features silhouettes replacing various letters - all of which were taken from photographs shared by Brodie and Bee documenting their adventures together. From walks along the beach to university graduation, Brodie is always by Bee's side.