MonTECH is Montana’s comprehensive resource center for Assistive Technology (AT) devices, information, training, evaluations, and other AT related supports. They have four primary services which are:

• Information and Assistance
• Equipment Demonstration Center
• Financial Loan Program
• Equipment Exchange Program (online)

If you are a Montanan or know of another Montanan who may be looking for assistive technology to help them in their everyday lives, MonTECH at the Rural Institute would be a great place to start. Their Contact information is:

This story comes from a lady who’s service animal was born in Montana. It is just a little glimpse into the life of someone who utilizes the assistance that a service animal can provide.

My name is Morgan Henderson. Our family lives in Oakland, Ca and includes Thaddea, my partner of 30yrs, Leigh, our12-year-old Border Collie mix and Tango, my 2-year-old Golden Retriever service dog.

From birth I’ve had severe orthopedic complications that called for various medical interventions, including multiple surgeries, traction, braces and crutches. For much of my adult life I have also walked with a cane and trekking poles in addition to needing crutches again from time to time. Three years ago it became apparent I could no longer work because of pain, balance and mobility problems. Presently I work a little, teaching Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement public classes. Most of my time is spent taking care of our home and large vegetable garden, making art and photography and walking, as much as I am able, in the woods near our home.

Despite my physical limits I had always been active and not the type to rein myself in from experiencing life. As mobility became more difficult and more painful, I had to really think about what I did and how I did it.

Thaddea encouraged me to look for a service dog. Leigh, our older-ly dog concurred. Canine Companions for Independence agreed that I was a good candidate but they had a long wait list. What to do?

I did what I said I would not do: cruise the web for a pup. I was looking for a young dog that was already crate-, leash- and house-trained. As I knew that level of training would be beyond my physical ability.

On my quest I met some wonderful breeders. Yet, when I mentioned that I needed a dog that could think and that enjoyed learning and doing, they often weren’t too sure what I was describing or what they could do for me. Florence Mattiaci (Mattiaci Golden Retrievers in Garrison and Bozeman, Montana; www.mattiaci.com) seemed to know just what I needed. We had several helpful phone conversations and she sent emails, pictures, and answered my questions. Then she picked out a young dog for me: a 6month-old Golden boy named Tango.

Tango arrived the week before Thanksgiving 2008 and we knew from the start that he was the right pup. He came out of his travel crate tail wagging. He was a bit shy, yet also self-assured and interested in all of us and his new surroundings. Leigh welcomed him and Tango became a family member immediately.

The next step was to transform Tango from a wonderful pup to real service dog. Through the East Bay SPCA, I learned of Rita Martinez of Clickin’ Canines. Rita met us in January 2009 to evaluate Tango. She found him to be a good candidate for public access work and very trainable for assistance work. We have been training weekly with Rita ever since. We do our homework: practice, practice, and practice, everyday. And we play lots of learning games.

Tango has learned many tasks. He undoes the Velcro on my sandals and pulls off my socks. He helps in the kitchen by pulling open low cabinet doors and pulling out shelves (see the movie clip). Tango hands me anything I drop and he carries whatever my essentials are in that moment; things like a small paintbrush, water bottle, camera or wallet.

Tango loves to garden, carrying the tools and hopping up to look into the 3-foot-high raised beds. He rewards himself with a strawberry or three! Tango even enjoys doing the laundry with me (see movie clip). He tugs the laundry down the hall and puts it in the washer or the dryer. Then takes it out when it’s done. He does everything but fold!

On the street, Tango carries a knapsack for our stuff and helps me stand steady if I’m wobbly. He enjoys learning and is very willing. That’s good because we still have more to learn as the Assistance Dog Public Access Certification test is quite exacting.

A big part of the training is for both Tango and me to adhere to a standard of conduct that allows us the freedom to go where I need to go whether that is airplanes, stores or offices. For example, Tango has to be self-contained in the grocery store: no sniffing the meat case! In a café he has to sit quietly under the table and not “floor surf” for food morsels, which is not easy for a dog.

Training a service dog isn’t like training a family pet, a show dog or a hunting dog. Tango has to be alert to our surroundings and to me and my needs. He has to be quiet in the library and he has to watch out for a slick sidewalk or steep steps. To get to that point the trainer has to understand my needs and to train both of us to meet those needs. Many trainers are very good with dogs but don’t necessarily have the understanding to note my abilities and what I physically can’t do in the actual training. Rita is able to focus on what I need and how to make that fun for both Tango and for me.

Out in public, people we meet often don’t know what a service dog is or what one does. Many people have only seen guide dogs for the blind or dogs helping people in wheelchairs. So, we are asked many questions: What does he do? Can he make dinner? Can I give him a cookie? That last one is Tango’s favorite because the answer is “yes.”

I like to answer these questions when I can because I believe it’s important for people to meet dogs that help people with mobility limitations, seizures, diabetes and other conditions that benefit from service dog assistance. If I’m not feeling well or we have a lot to do, I will say that we can’t talk right now.

Over time, Tango has built up his own friendships in the community. The local jeweler invites him in for a cookie; the librarian comes around the desk and shakes his paw or high-5’s him. That brings children and adults over to do the same. And they all learn not to engage with him when he’s working and to check with me first.

In the end, I’m Tango’s priority and he is mine.

The Montana Youth Leadership Forum is a unique leadership training program for high school students with disabilities.  Each year the program begins with the Forum that takes place for a week in July where students are brought to the campus of Carroll College for training.  During the Forum students have the opportunity to learn about the history and culture of disability, self advocacy skills, and how the enhance their self esteem.

Upon completion of the Forum the alumni receive a year of follow along services.  During that year alumni are contacted on a regular basis to ensure that the skills that they learned during the Forum are being utilized.  Additionally alumni are provided the opportunity to participate in local, state and national opportunities should they choose.

The 2010 Montana Youth Leadership Forum will be held on July 13-16 on the campus of Carroll College.  Currently MYLF is recruiting delegates, staff, and presenters for the Forum this year.  Applications can be found on the web site at www.montanaylf.org

For further information contact the MYLF office at 442-2576 or by e-mailing June Hermanson at mylfjuneh@bresnan.net or Mike Beers at mylfmike@bresnan.net

On January 19, 2010, the Real Economic Impact Tour stopped in Great Falls to discuss its 2010 Disability Initiative in which free tax return preparation is available to persons with disabilities.  The event, sponsored by Rural Dynamics, was designed to publicize the Internal Revenue Service’s initiative to provide certified volunteers (called Volunteer Income Tax Assistants) to the historically undeserved disability community.  In fact, their records indicate that they were able to reach less than one percent of the Montana disability community with this service last year.

Two staff persons from Disability Rights Montana attended the event and encourage any persons with disabilities to take advantage of the free service to avoid tax preparer fees and perhaps obtain a refund.  For more information go to www.montanafreefile.org.

Update 11.17.09: A video of Bob Liston from ADAPT speaking about Physician Assisted Suicide.

Establish a constitutional right to live with dignity, not physician assisted suicide.

On December 5, 2008, Judge Dorothy McCarter, Montana First Judicial District Court Judge, ruled the Montana constitutional rights of individual privacy and human dignity, taken together, encompass the right of a competent terminally ill patient to die with dignity. That a patient may use the assistance of his physician to obtain a lethal dose of medication that the patient may take when he/she decides to terminate his/her life. The Court also concluded that the patient’s physician is protected from liability under the State’s homicide statutes. See Baxter v State of Montana.

Disability Rights Montana disagrees with the lower court’s decision and wrote an amicus brief urging the Montana Supreme Court to reverse the District Court’s Decision.

DRM believes that the lower court erred in its failure to consider the impact of a constitutional right to end ones life in a flawed health care system where there is no balancing constitutional right to receive healthcare. People with disabilities disproportionately live in poverty and have limited health care. Therefore the decision to seek assistance in dying may not be the result of free choice but dictated by limits on insurance coverage and economic pressure. People who might overcome their despair with supports may instead choose death as a result of the lack of feasible alternatives. This, we believe, would be coercive.

Disability Rights Montana investigated 11 situations in which the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment was being considered for people with disabilities. These 11 people were determined by their treating physician to be terminal, however, upon closer examination, only one of the eleven was in fact in a terminal condition.

Nine of these eleven people are alive today because of DRM’s intervention. We documented these cases in a written report, Withdrawal of Life Sustaining Treatment, Eleven Case Summaries. Based on our experience in these eleven cases, the lower court is mistaken in its assertion that “whether a patient is terminally ill can be determined by a physician.” A diagnosis of a terminal condition carries significant weight and influences a patient and family about further treatment. When the diagnosis is wrong or based on the assessed quality of life, there is a substantial risk that a person with a disability, who is not terminal, will be prematurely and mistakenly offered assisted death instead of offered active life sustaining treatment.

Until Montana establishes a constitutional right to health care, to include palliative and hospice care, a right to physician assisted suicide or aid in dying cannot be implemented without substantial risk of premature death to people with disabilities and people who are economically disadvantaged.

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