Assistive animals are trained to provide for different needs and disabilities, and they can be a catalyst for patient success. These animals can help in various ways, such as:

• Neurological Functioning
• Sensory Support
• Mobility
• Therapy
• Offer Comfort and Companionship

So, What Are the Different Roles of Assistive Animals?

In our lives, assistive animals can enrich many areas, especially for those with a disability or who need the comfort of an animal to maintain a healthy, independent lifestyle. Animals can offer help through their unique charac­te­ristics; for example, dogs have a fantastic sense of smell, whereas horses can be a docile, friendly riding partner. So what jobs do these animals take on?

• Emotonal Support Animals
• Pschiatric Service Animals
• Medical Detection Dogs
• Disability-Assistance Animals
• Guide Dogs
• Autism Assistance Dogs
• Assisted Psychotherapy Animals
• Hearing Assistance Dogs

What do Emotional Support Animals do?

Animals can offer comfort in a way humans can’t. Animals don’t judge, and this quality lends itself to those seeking therapy/­counselling or who need an animal companion.

 

What is the Role of Psychiatric Service Animals?

Psychiatric Service Animals are trained to perform roles that the owner cannot complete or requires prompts to complete. For example, people with an anxiety disorder may have a Psychiatric Service Animal that can predict panic attacks, and it will be trained to give support to the owner pre-panic attack, by picking up on heat rate.

What is the Role of a Medical Detection Dog?

Medical detection dogs use their enhanced sense of smell to detect medication. Scientists are also looking into the use of these dogs to detect illnesses such as Cancer.

 

What do Disability-Assistance Animals do?

For a disabled person, activities of daily living can be a struggle and prevent a person from being independent. An assistance dog can be trained to help the owner carry out ADLs such as transferring, toileting and dressing.

What’s the Role of Guide Dogs?

Guide dogs, one we are all familiar with, are helpful to those who lack vision. They judge special awareness keeping the owner away from danger and guiding them to safety.

 

What Do Autism Assistance Dogs Do?

Autism assistance dogs are typically used for paediatric help as more research has been conducted on the positive effects of children and assistive dogs. However, as you may know, those with autism can have a more polite word for immature mentality, which could mean we see the use of assistance dogs in the days of autistic adults in the future.

Assisted Psychotherapy Animals

Many types of animals can be used in animal-assisted therapy, ATT for short, which includes typical pets such as dogs, cats and guinea pigs but can include cows, birds and dolphins. Depending on the patient and animal, these therapy sessions may be conducted on a one-to-one basis or as a group.

Animal-assisted therapy comes in many forms and is an educational tool helping to learn to care for animals, caring for farm animals, grooming and pet health.

What Support Do Hearing Assistance Dogs Offer?

For people with a lack of hearing or completely deaf, a hearing assistance dog may be placed in their home. They are trained to distinguish the difference between doorbells, alarm clocks and smoke alarms.

 

Tenura Products to Help you Care for Your Pet

Animals are tricky to look after. They have many needs and are a costly expense. The clean-up after a pet is also a constant, but you can use Tenura products to help make life with a pet more effortless.

If you would like to explore Tenura Products to Help you Care for your pet you can via our blog. For example, placing food and water bowls on a Tenura Extreme mat can prevent them from sliding.

Some companies are taking up the Purple Tuesday initiative to make their company values align with the disabled community. This blog will outline how you can get involved and what Tenura is doing to ensure we provide inclusive customer service.

So, What’s Purple Tuesday All About

Fourteen million people in the UK live with a disability, equating to roughly 22% of the population. With that many people classified as having some form of disability, you’d think we would have better infrastructure as a nation to cope with the challenges the disabled community face.

 

We are excited to be taking part this year and joining in with over 5,000 organisations, pledging towards the Purple Tuesday campaign. Each organisation reflects inward to evaluate their customer service to make it a better experience for the disabled.

How Technology and Companies can Help

As technology and our understanding of disabilities continues to grow, the future for inclusivity is bright, which is precisely what Purple Tuesday is all about.

The technology push towards a more accessible customer experience is essential. It can start with ideas such as website accessibility, voice recognition devices, and providing different channels disabled customers can access your services. Companies coming up with technology advancements in the name of disability inclusion are fantastic, as all these changes can vastly improve a disabled person’s experience with your company.

Companies can make changes offline too, which includes; training staff helping them to communicate with disabled people, installing wheelchair ramps, and creating clear signage.

If you are a company that wants to join in on the Purple Tuesday campaign, you can via their website, you need to register, then pledge a commitment that will benefit disabled people using your company. Put your ideas into action and deliver on your goals, so you can celebrate your achievements when it comes to 2nd November.

 

How You Can Help

Those of you speaking out on social media, informing others about businesses stepping in the right direction and making those positive-discrimination steps is impactful. Helping companies recognise ways they can improve accessibility helps create the market pull, pulling companies in line with the values of the disabled community and beyond.

You can use the following hashtags to join in on the conversation:

• #PT2021
• #Purple­Tu­es­da­y2021
• #Disabi­lity­In­clu­sion
• #Acces­sibi­lity­ForAll

Tenura’s Pledge to Purple Tuesday

We aim to provide a better user experience for disabled people using the Tenura website. We want to be inclusive, and with products aimed at those who are disabled, it seems like a step in the right direction.

One step we have taken to reach our goal of a more inclusive website is a website audit. The website audit picks up areas where we can make our website accessible. We will be implementing these ideas in the coming years, as we have big plans, ranging from image naming formulas that aid those using screen readers to releasing a guide on website accessibility in the form of a blog.  We started our strategy last year and have been making small manageable steps towards our goal ever since. As I am sure you appreciate, these adaptations take both time and money.

To further help us towards our website accessibility goal, please send an email informing us of any website accessibility techniques you feel we could implement.

We want to show our appreciation to the community pledging towards a better future by offering you a 10% discount on all Tenura products via our website. Use the discount code PURPLETUES10 at checkout to redeem. 

This promotion is running from 26/10/21 to 16/11/21.

This blog post will explore the advantages both mentally and physically that owning a pet can have on someone with a disability such as arthritis.

Having a disability can affect your everyday life, harming your heart rate, communication and causing depression. However, a furry companion like a cat or dog can help to reverse the negative impact.

Owning a pet positively influences two main aspects of life, mood and health, which means pets affect the body in terms of decreasing rates of depression, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Let's explore these benefits in more detail…

Pets and Their Effect on Blood Pressure and Arthritis

With arthritis, inflammation can occur in joints, constricting arteries and reducing the rate blood can flow through the body to supply muscles with oxygen. The restricted flow leads to increased blood pressure, which is troubling for arthritis patients as they are at a 50% higher risk of heart attacks.

So, it's essential to reduce blood pressure, and pets can help. Pets have therapeutic calming auras. When a pet is in your lap, you talk, stroke and nestle into its warmth, forgetting your worries, which decreases your heart rate. When you are tired or nervous, it's nice to have a companion.

Pets can make a person feel safe in their home or when out and about; animals can be a security blanket, guard the person or their belongings, and be a protective barrier or conversation starter. Feeling safe and secure can also lower levels of anxiety and stress that heighten blood pressure.

 

Pets and Their Effect on Cholesterol Levels and Arthritis

Those with rheumatoid arthritis are at high risk of heart disease, 50% to 70% higher, and cholesterol is a contributing factor. Having elevated cholesterol levels in the body increases pain within joints and other tendon complications.

You may have high cholesterol levels due to long periods of stress, a lack of exercise or a poor diet containing too many saturated fats. Studies have shown that pets decrease the triglycerides present in the body. Triglycerides are the three fatty acids that contribute to high cholesterol levels.

Reducing cholesterol in the body can help keep heart disease at bay. To lower cholesterol levels, you should exercise daily for at least 30 minutes, and having a pet is an excellent excuse to go for a walk and is undoubtedly a great benefit. Having a pet with you can reduce the stress or anxiety you may feel when out walking.

 

Pets and Their Effect on Cognitive Behaviour/­Depression

It's estimated that up to 41% of disabled adults have depression, which is staggeringly high, and there is no one cure to suit all. Many factors cause depression in a person's life, and it can be a struggle to help change a person's mindset.

The companionship of a pet, a being they need to care for, can give a disabled person the necessary motivation and responsibility for a positive change. Caring for others can come more naturally than caring for yourself when struggling with depression, so an animal's natural temperament to play and exercise can have promising long-lasting effects on their mental state.

 

Pets Effect on the Elderly

Pet owners over 65 visit their doctor 30% fewer times than non-pet owners. There's no clear-cut reason, but the benefits of reduced stress, increased exercise, and companionship all help play their role.

 

Some Tenura Products that Make Pet Ownership Easier for the Disabled:

Tenura products can help those who have weak grip strength or conditions like arthritis care for their pets.

Tenura Extreme Grip Mats

When it comes to feeding your pet, they tend to be pretty eager, diving headfirst into their food bowl, knocking it around the floor, with no worry about the mess they create. You can prevent this previously inevitable mess by placing the pet's food bowl onto a Tenura Extreme mat. Tenura Extreme mats stop the food bowl from sliding across the floor or getting tipped over.

Nothing is sacred when you have a pet, they wonder where they please, and cats especially seem to find themselves upon the cabinets displaying your favourite ornaments. Instead of watching their next steps with fright, place your vases and such on a Tenura Extreme mat. The objects stick to Tenura mats, so the next time your cat is up there, you won't need to worry nor tidy up anything broken. 

Tenura Grip Roll

You can line underneath pet products such as litter trays, scratching posts and other large products that unwantedly move. Just cut Tenura silicone grip roll to size and place it between the floor and pet accessory.

Tenura Grip Strips

During walks, you may find that the lead is tricky to keep a hold of, and it's uncomfortable. You can instantly improve these issues by twisting Tenura grip strips around the lead's handle. Grip strips add a layer of cushioning silicone comfort with grip-enhancing properties that stops the lead from sliding out of your hand.

Similarly, you may wrap Tenura grip strips around the brushes handle when grooming your pet, which aids your grip, giving you more control. Brush handles can be thin and difficult to grasp, so build up a few layers of Tenura grip strips to increase the handle's width, which is a helpful idea for those with arthritis or other conditions that limit dexterity or strength of grip.

 

Extensive research into the animal should be completed before being housed, as not all animals/breeds will be appropriate. It's very much dependent on the person's specific disability needs.

Subscribe to be notified of new blogs and our latest offers. You get a 10% off code when you subscribe today!

This Tenura blog will look into ways you can stay positive and safe post-UK-lockdown both mentally and physically. Things as simple as speaking about your worries can be a big help, so let’s explore some great ways you can deal with post-lockdown life.

How can you Feel Happy Post Lockdown?

Call Helplines for Support

There are many to choose from, so find one that suits your needs. Your first call may be a little awkward, or it may not have been quite what you were looking for, but there is an abundance of helplines to choose from, so don’t be disheartened and try another.

Try Local Services through your GP or Council

Contact your local GP or Council to provide you with localised advice such as support groups and other information, including benefits and housing.

Walking and Exercise to Clear the Mind

Go for walks in areas that aren’t popular to avoid large crowds of people. Coronavirus is airborne, which means that it’s primarily spread when in close contact with an infected person.

If you struggle with mobility in regards to walking, perhaps do some research into walking aids. Tenura silicone grip roll can be a neat addition as it adds grip-enhancing qualities once you’ve wrapped the roll around the handles of walking aids.

You may be a wheelchair user and want to venture outside, but to avoid frustration, search for destinations that are wheelchair accessible. A Tenura non-slip floor mat can help with transferring the wheelchair user in and out of the wheelchair. Tenura floor mats provide a foothold, reducing the risk of slips and falls.

Follow Government Guidelines

Our government have the money, power and statistics to understand the extent of the virus. Therefore you should follow their advice to a T.

If you are apprehensive about going out in public through the worry of members of the public complaining that you aren’t wearing a mask, use a lanyard to carry your face covering exemption card. It’s then easy for people to recognise you’re exempt.

You can visit the government website for information regarding covid and caring for someone with a disability. 

Discuss your Worries with Friends & Family

Talk to your friends and family. They can help you and follow your requests, such as remaining outside when you meet them. Talking things through can help, and they may have advice or ideas that you hadn’t thought of, so take time to speak to them.

Returning to Work - Discuss Worries with Colleagues

If you are going back to work and aren’t sure of the Coronavirus procedures in place at your workplace, ask. It’s both important that you as an individual feel safe and those who work with you.

If somebody isn’t looking themselves, make sure you ask if they are okay, this one goes for friends and family too, it’s been a hard time for us all, and this simple question can make a person’s day, it can also help you both relieve built-up stress or anxiety.

To remain safe at work, follow their guideline and use disinfectants such as hand sanitiser. It would be best if you also tried to stay 2m apart from your colleagues.

Look Online for Help

The charity and website Scope is full of information on money, work, education, housing, and health, all related to Coronavirus.

As socialising is difficult at this time, and you may feel this is not the best thing to do for your health, online forums and social media platforms can help alleviate the loneliness you may be feeling. On Facebook, you can join groups full of like-minded people with similar hobbies and interests.

There’s a social media platform called The Mighty, and this platform is developed especially for those with disabilities.

Get a Hobby – Find a New Passion

Some hobbies may be tricky to pick up with a disability. However, at Tenura, we have many products to enhance adaptive equipment to make hobbies more accessible. Tenura silicone grip rolls both grip-enhancing and non-slip. You can wrap it around handles to give you more control of objects such as tennis rackets, golf clubs or walking sticks.

If you want to explore the realm of cooking, the Tenura kitchen pack could be a great fit. It has a grip-enhancing bottle opener and jar opener as well as a non-slip coaster, which you can use to gain purchase on surfaces when twisting off lids of bottles or jars.

See all the Tenura products that could aid with your new hobby and get you back to a sense of normality via the website.

 

We hope this post gives you a few things to consider if you are feeling down. But don’t forget to reach out and seek the help of others.

You can follow us on our socials for more advice and ideas, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

In 1992 the United Nations started the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. An observance day that gives us the opportunity worldwide to reflect and raise awareness of public health and ethical issues surrounding disabilities. On the 3rd of December, the world will come together to support this cause.

In the UK alone, 13.9 million people have a form of disability which equates to 22% of the UK population. In support of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we have hand-selected some Tenura products that are of great value to those with a disability, and we are offering a 10% discount code you can redeem on these items.

An International Picture of People with Disabilities

Over 1 billion people worldwide have a disability, which is roughly 15% of the world's population.

In the UK, many of us have access to fantastic healthcare systems such as the NHS, but take a moment to think of the struggles a disability can have on a person in the developing world. We need to make sure that everyone has access to the help and healthcare they need.

Types of Disabilities and the Community

Another interesting point regarding disabilities is that there are many different types, with some affecting your cognitive behaviour, mental wellbeing or physical form.

Body dysmorphia has had substantial coverage in the news due to social media being a massive influence on our younger generation-this condition is a mental disability but can take a very physical form too. Our middle-aged population are currently feeling the effects of a high-calorie diet, which leads to many health implications. People in their later stages of life are often living with conditions such as dementia and heart disease. Adapting to a disability you weren't born with can be hard to overcome, taking serious will-power and a robust support system.

Disabilities are everywhere in life and can affect any age, which is why it is essential to be mindful and supportive. So join us in raising awareness this International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Many things are connecting this community of people, and it's beyond any one condition. As many of us are affected by disabilities daily, we may not have a disability ourselves, but perhaps a family member, friend, or work colleague might. It is also a day to reflect on the hard work young carers in our community complete daily, doing their best to support their parents, it's almost inconceivable what they go through without any recognition.

We hear in the news, now, more than ever, that a disability is not always visible, which is why we should treat everyone with respect.

Education and the Disabled – Employment and the Disabled

The education system in England is one of the best in the world, we lookout for early signs of learning disabilities such as dyslexia (problems with reading, spelling and other language processing skills), dyspraxia (movement and coordination, language and speech) and ADHD (issues with paying attention, controlling behaviour and hyperactivity).

Education could be affected by a disability which later down the line could affect employability. Therefore, we must learn more about disabilities and adapt our schooling system to be as inclusive as possible.

Tenura Products can be Helpful to Those living with a Disability.

Visual Aids for the Disabled – Tenura Non-Slip Mats

Tenura's silicone range comes in three bright colours and can be helpful visual aids for the disabled.

Red can signal heat or danger, so by placing a Tenura red non-slip mat in the kitchen, it can indicate that objects placed on its surface may be hot. By having that signal, a person can avoid touching the pan and prevent burns or other injuries. Of course, for a disabled person, an accident like a burn can affect their world differently. One disabled person may be unable to compute what's happened while another may not have felt the heat at all, and the burn goes untreated. There are many disabilities and many ways to help, with one being visual aids. This example demonstrates why it's super important to have visual aids and other disability aids around the home.

Tenura silicone non-slip mats are available in three bright colours-red, blue and yellow.

Bathing Aids – Tenura Non-Slip Bath Stickers

Dip your toe in the water of Tenura products with our most popular aid, Tenura non-slip bath stickers. Baths are notoriously slippery. To avoid injury, you can apply Tenura bath stickers. They help build confidence, and positively promote personal hygiene as the idea of a bath or shower is no longer as daunting knowing there's a bathing aid to help.

 

Bespoke Aids to Help in any Situation – Tenura Silicone Grip Strips and Grip Rolls

You can claim your 10% discount code off Tenura grip strips and rolls. You can create bespoke household aids as we see many customer wrapping strips of the grip roll around handles to make them easier and more comfortable to hold.

A disability often helped by Tenura grip roll is arthritis or other hand mobility impairment due to their decreased dexterity.

Tenura Jar and Bottle Openers

We all struggle to open jars and bottles. However, there is a solution, Tenura jar and bottle openers. Using these gadgets puts less strain on muscles and joints, which is vital for those living with conditions such as arthritis or other such hand deformity. This simple cooking aid can help to make one of the small daily tasks easier for a disabled person.

Tenura Non-Slip Fabric

Another adaptable aid is the Tenura non-slip fabric which can be cut down to size and fitted to the area you want to add non-slip qualities. Our customers have lined bookshelves and cupboards with Tenura non-slip fabric as it protects the surface and the objects that reside on it.

The Future of Disabilities

In recent years, we have come so far with the way we can diagnose, treat and care for those with disabilities, but we still have not reached the pinnacle. As science experiments continue, and so does the hard work of the care keyworkers, we can all help to achieve and understand better than we have before.

Don't forget to claim your 10% discount code, IDPD20 at checkout.

There is so much to say on the topic of disabilities, and we can't cover it all in one blog. But you can join the conversation over on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

As much as we don’t like to admit it, sometimes we do struggle with things, and you wouldn’t think that jars or bottles would be a problem, more occasionally, for me, beings as I’m male, tall and strong (ish). But to be honest, I’m still a humble bloke and admit that, from time to time, I have struggled to open bottles and jars.

Now we’re not all the same but you will find most able-bodied people will have varying degrees of problems opening containers. But, imagine if you had a disability that made it impossible to open even the easiest of containers, imagine your struggle with that one odd jar or bottle every blue moon, and pretend you had to face this struggle every day…. You’re now thinking exactly what I’m thinking.

Conditions such as arthritis, especially in the hands or wrists, cause impairments to your strength of grip, and what some people do without even giving it a minutes thought, is a daunting task for others due to lack of grip strength, and more often than not met with excruciating pain. That is why people with arthritis often use daily living aids to help them with day-to-day tasks.

My Mum struggles opening containers all the time (that isn’t my Mum in the pic by the way), and I gave her some of our Tenura jar and bottle openers to help her out (of course, it used to be me who opened everything when I lived there), and she finds them a revelation. My Mum told me how much easier opening containers has become since using these, with them being really comfortable to use.

If only I could find something that would make it easy for her to use a computer, life would be a lot easier for me too :)