P.A.W.S. for Autism began as an idea and became a statewide legislative push to allow service dogs in the classroom. Thanks to Anna Laura’s commitment, lives are changing all over the state and soon, hopefully, the country.

One in eighty-eight children are diagnosed with autism, and there is no one cause or type. The neurological disorder affects a child’s ability to communicate, and Anna Laura said it sometimes could go as far as creating sensory overload for children. “Sounds that may not bother us upset them, but they don’t know how to communicate it, so they may have a meltdown.” 

Service dogs are usually tethered to autistic children, and go everywhere they do. In the classroom, the dog obediently slips under the student’s desk, but stays alert for any problems that may arise. “Animals have an acute sense that people do not,” Anna Laura said. These dogs sense if “their” child is becoming upset or uncomfortable, and they know to guide the child out of the situation. “They become their best friends in the world.”

And yet there are lawsuits in at least seven states—including Alabama—denying children the right to have a service dog in the classroom. Anna Laura aligned herself with advocates and public officials in favor of changing this, and in 2011, with their help, she wrote a bill that passed unanimously in the House and Senate and was signed into law by Governor Robert Bentley. Alabama House Bill 502 amended a previous section of the Alabama Code that only authorized blind or hearing-impaired people to be accompanied by a service animal. Now, according to the bill, “Every person with a disability, including a person who is … diagnosed on the autism spectrum shall have the right to be accompanied by a service animal in any public place, including a public or private school …” 

Anna Laura constantly finds new opportunities to share her message and mission, and for her work, she chosen the winner of the 2013 Quality of Life Award.

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Written by: Erika Fifelski, fourpoints staff writer