Develop Your Personal Assistance Animal Advocacy Plan

Purpose

This assignment is designed to help you consolidate your learning, reflect on your own self-advocacy needs, and create a practical plan for advocating for yourself and your Assistance Animal in real-world settings.

By completing this assessment, you will have a personalised resource that you can refer to when preparing for access situations, communicating your needs, responding to challenges, or deciding what to do when something goes wrong.

Instructions

Complete the sections below.

Your responses should be thoughtful, personally relevant, and practical. There is no expectation that everyone will advocate in the same way.

You may base your responses on your current Assistance Animal, a prospective Assistance Animal, or realistic hypothetical situations.

You are not required to disclose your diagnosis, trauma history, medical records, or other private information.

Estimated completion time: 60–90 minutes.

Part 1: Reflective Scenario Analysis

Choose one scenario you encountered during the course or create a realistic scenario that you might experience with your Assistance Animal.

For example:

• Your Assistance Animal is denied entry to a café.
• You are asked to provide an “official certificate.”
• Someone asks invasive questions about your disability.
• A rideshare or taxi driver refuses to transport you.
• Someone repeatedly tries to touch or distract your Assistance Animal.
• A workplace, education provider or service has a policy that appears to conflict with your access needs.
• Another person has needs that appear to conflict with your Assistance Animal’s presence.
• Your Assistance Animal becomes distressed or behaves unusually during an access challenge.

For your chosen scenario, answer the following:

1. Describe the situation. Who is involved and what is happening?
2. Identify the issues. What rights, responsibilities, privacy, communication, safety or animal-welfare considerations might be relevant?
3. Identify your goal. What would you actually like to happen?
4. Consider your options. Identify at least three different ways you could respond.
5. Choose your approach. Which response would you be most likely to use, and why?
6. Apply the WAFA self-advocacy framework:

   STOP → IDENTIFY → EXPLAIN → ASK → DECIDE → RECORD → ESCALATE

7. Reflect: What would you do if the situation could not be resolved in the moment?

Part 2: My Personal Advocacy Plan

Using insights from the course, develop a personal Assistance Animal Advocacy Plan that you can refer to in your daily life.

Include the following:

1. My Assistance Animal Partnership

Briefly explain:

• how your Assistance Animal assists you;
• the type of information you are comfortable sharing with others; and
• information you generally prefer to keep private.

You do not need to disclose your diagnosis.

2. My Key Responsibilities

Identify 3–5 responsibilities you commit to as an Assistance Animal handler.

These might relate to:

• animal welfare;
• behaviour;
• hygiene;
• public safety;
• appropriate control;
• preparation;
• responding when your animal is struggling.

3. My Communication Strategies

Identify at least three ways you can advocate for yourself.

For example:

• verbal communication;
• written communication;
• AAC;
• prepared scripts;
• WAFA information cards;
• email;
• support-person assistance;
• asking for additional processing time.

Include at least three short phrases or scripts you could realistically use during an access challenge.

4. My Boundaries

Identify the boundaries that are important to you.

Consider:

• medical disclosure;
• questions about your disability;
• touching or distracting your Assistance Animal;
• photographs or filming;
• other people speaking on your behalf;
• when you would end an interaction.

5. My Access Challenge Strategy

Outline what you will generally do if your Assistance Animal access is questioned or refused.

Consider:

• asking why;
• clarifying whether something is a legal requirement or policy;
• providing relevant information;
• using a WAFA information card or other reliable resource;
• requesting a manager;
• negotiating an alternative;
• leaving and following up later.

6. My Incident and Escalation Plan

Outline what you would do if an incident could not be resolved.

Include:

• what you would record;
• evidence you might retain;
• who you might contact internally;
• when you might make a formal complaint;
• when you might seek advocacy or legal support.

7. My Support Network

Identify people or services you could turn to when you need assistance.

You do not need to provide their personal contact details in your assessment.

Consider who could help with:

• communication;
• emotional support;
• Assistance Animal care;
• transport;
• advocacy;
• legal information;
• veterinary or training concerns.

8. My Backup Plan

What will you do if your Assistance Animal is temporarily unable to work?

Consider illness, injury, distress, retraining, environmental conditions, emergencies, or other unexpected situations.

Part 3: Commitment Statement

Write a short paragraph of approximately 3–5 sentences summarising your approach to self-advocacy.

Include:

• how you will advocate for your own needs and rights;
• how you will meet your responsibilities to your Assistance Animal and the community;
• how you will protect your own privacy and boundaries; and
• how you will use what you have learned when challenges arise.

You may instead provide this reflection through audio, video, AAC, supported communication, or another approved accessible format.

Submission

This assignment does not require formal submission; however, completion is required to receive your digital certificate and badge.

Your Advocacy Plan belongs to you. You are encouraged to keep it somewhere accessible so that it can be used and updated as your needs, Assistance Animal partnership, environments, or circumstances change.

Some people prefer to keep their reflections private, while others find it helpful to discuss ideas and experiences. If you would like to share, ask questions, or talk through your Advocacy Plan, join us in the WAFA members Facebook group. It is also a place to connect with other Assistance Animal advocates, ambassadors and allies.

Remember:

Know your rights.
Know your responsibilities.
Know your options.
Speak for yourself.