After many months of searching for a job I feel comfortable, passionate, and safe working in, I finally got approved to be a substitute teacher. I felt nervous stepping back into classrooms not only because of past traumas that I am still working through, but also because being a teacher is scary - Needing to be on, and prepared to help the growing generations learn information that will help them make change in the world to come is a lot of pressure to put on (underpaid) teachers.
Anyway, I did my due diligence in making sure that the substitute company that hired me had Nova's emotional support animal documentation and that she is a necessary part of my every day life; She accompanies me everywhere I go as a way for me to better maintain health and stability in managing my disabilities/diagnosis of traumas. I made it through the entire hiring process and accepted my very first assignment as a teachers aid. I showed up to the school an hour before my assigned time. Nova lay quietly within her backpack and did not cause any disruptions as I read a book, waiting to be guided from the front office to the classroom to meet the teacher and students I would be helping serve that day. An administrator came over to inform me that my "pet" would not be allowed inside any of the schools within the district and that they would not make any exceptions for an Emotional Support Animal because the ADA (American's with Disabilities Act) does not recognize ESA, or cats for that matter, as an acceptable healing animal.
My ability to provide for myself and Nova is threatened because an act designed to stop discrimination against humans with disabilities does not see me within its bill of rights.
My ability to find and keep safe housing is threatened because I cannot find a job that will allow me to bring Nova with me - therefore, causing further distress to a disabled person who has just come from homelessness, and needs stability in order to find more peace within my healing journey.
Becoming homeless this past February due to continued sexual and labor trafficking - despite my active participation within an aftercare program designed to help liberated survivors of trafficking - I faced adversity when it came time to travel everywhere with Nova. We became more bonded then I ever dreamed possible between a cat and her human mom.
- We survived a trafficking attempt because she triggers my built in mom instincts and I knew that I had to get her and myself out of the situation.
- We survived being turned away from every SLC homeless shelter - walking until sunrise to stay warm and not become a target by falling asleep somewhere unsheltered/unsafe.
- We survived another domestic violence attack/sexual assault and memory flashbacks of other domestic violence attacks/sexual assaults that we had experienced every year without cognitive memories - we trusted the local police authority - and finally found peaceful rest in a place that accepted both Nova and myself.
While staying at the short term shelter, Nova and I continued to stay with each other - her always in a harness attached to a leash, and always in her backpack when we left the shelter for outside activities. The healing that has taken place within my physical body, emotional brain, rational brain, the ways my triggers/flashbacks are better because of her energetic intuition to comfort me while I am experiencing the flashback/trigger have all come about in greater quality since I have 100% kept her by myside.
This experience reminded me of when I was homeschooled and experienced anxiety whenever it came time to focus on school work. I had a hamster as a "pet" and would put her in my training bra while I studied. She slept peacefully, and her warmth near my heart chakra helped me to overcome my anxiety and to study more effectively. Animals of all shapes and sizes have the ability to help us heal as human beings; So why is it that The American's with Disabilities Act - a civil rights law designed to prohibit discrimination based on disabilities - is failing me, and others like me? (The ADA only accepts dogs and miniature horses as acceptable service animals).
Emotional Support Animals are recognized within the Fair Housing Act - so its easy to argue that I can find a place to rent and leave Nova there while I go work 8-12 hour shifts.
Besides the already mentioned elevated quality of life I experience while having her with me - She is safer while I am around to be her big protector. The argument I often use is: "You wouldn't leave your new born baby unattended while at work - or ever- so why would I leave mine?".
Part of my disability/trauma management is the active need to be a mother to her. All of my children have been sold/ adopted out of my arms without my consent or knowledge AND some of those lost children are the direct result of a family member raping me and a pregnancy resulting from that rape.
I have left her alone, un-attended within my apartments, in the past while I attended work. My ability to manage my disabilities, and trauma flashbacks was harder for me while away from her. While she was alone, abusers had direct access to her, and subsequently she was harmed physically, and sexually while I was away from her. Her behavior has radically improved and her overall wellbeing is elevated since the discovery of abuse and safety steps implemented to keep her safe.
Not only have I faced social discrimination within searching for a job, I was recently asked to leave a four week finances for women course before the start of week 3's class because a member of the class had called to complain about Nova being with me. I was filled with reckless emotions upon receiving the news that I was no longer welcome to attend the class and was better able to regulate those emotions because I had Nova with me and needed to keep us safe until we were able to take the bus back home.
Ways that she directly impacts the management of my disabilities and trauma triggers:
- She grounds me when I am experiencing dissociation or when my littles are scared. She does this by intentionally rubbing against my leg until my energy shifts and I am not longer dissociating, laying on my chest, womb area, next to my body between my arm and side body, or sitting on my lap.
- Uses energy healing to help me release stuck energy in my body: She self initiates these energy releases by putting pressure on the part of my body that is energetically stuck, I feel the energy release, I experience a physical release - i.e. crying, vocally, body tremors, etc.
- Comforts me with touch when I cannot except it from myself or others.
- Reminds me to take care of myself, and her needs. I have trained her to ring a bell when she has a physical need - to help differentiate between her needs and my own.
- Training her to be carried in a baby front carrier has brought the pieces of me that have lost children immeasurable comfort and energetic healing.
- She knows exactly when to snuggle me and purr - a proven healing frequency - during migraine attacks, dissociation, flashbacks, when I am emotionally unbalanced, Restless or unable to sleep due to insomnia.
- She keeps me from making irrational, unsafe, impulsive decisions; I no longer find myself at a random bar at 11PM at night, or accepting an invitation for a spur of the moment activity with someone I just met/don't know well.
- Financially, I am more mindful when I spend money (Not that I currently have any - haven't held a job since last October...), I see myself thinking about spending money differently due to knowing that Nova has needs on top of my own and that has stopped me from being vulnerable to financial traps, or schemes.
- She interacts with other humans and animals well - establishes boundaries, chooses to play/interact with others if she feels safe/respected, and does NOT attack another being unless her boundaries were not respected, or she was harmed/abused by that person or by someone recently.
Online Resources: "Truth About A Cats Purr"
"One hypothesis is that the purr is a powerful healing action. It’s thought that the vibrations
from the activity are physically rejuvenating – a way for the cat to ‘heal’ itself after stress.
The frequency of those vibrations –
which range from 20Hz up to 150Hz – is thought to promote bone growth, as bones harden
in response to the pressure. Other frequencies may do something similar to tissue.
Purrs at a frequency of 25-100Hz correspond with established healing frequencies
in therapeutic medicine for humans," Weitzman says. "Bone responds to 25-50Hz and skin and
soft tissues to around 100Hz according to researchers."
In reality, it's a form of self-repair. Cats may have adapted their normal behavior –
The purr has developed as a low-energy way to keep bones and tissues in good condition
while they rest.
And the purr may not just be of benefit to the cats themselves. Petting a cat has long been seen
as a form of stress relief – cat ownership could
cut the risk of stroke or heart disease by as much one-third.
Those same frequencies cats purr at might also be doing good to us as well.
"I think the purr has a big benefit for humans," says Weitzman. "The physiological benefits
aside, we’ve always responded to purring's psychological effects. It calms us and pleases us,
like watching waves against a beach.
We respond to a cat’s purr as a calming stimulus."
Interesting facts/comparisons between emotional support animals and service animals:
You do NOT need a therapist diagnoses or to certify your ADA service animal in order to take that animal
with you into ALL public spaces. You do NOT need to answer questions about why you have the service
animal with you beyond the two questions stipulated in their written requirements, and you do NOT have
to articulate your disability to them. You DO have to train them to fulfill a specific healing service before they
are seen as a working animal. They MUST be either a DOG, or a MINIATURE HORSE...
You ARE required a therapist diagnoses documentation in order to have an Emotional Support Animal - and yet,
In most situations, you can be turned away from public spaces and are required to display your personal trauma
diagnoses to strangers in order to plead your case to be allowed to stay. The ADA does NOT recognize them as
a necessary healing animal, therefore, the disabled person is NOT protected against public discrimination. They
are accepted by Fair Housing Act, CAN be any animal, and are NOT required to be specifically trained to
perform a working task - they intuitively perform a healing service.
Training her to ring a bell since 2023, and have been on the receiving end of her intuitive energetic healing
abilities since rescuing her in 2019. I have witnessed Nova intentionally using purring to help heal her body
when in recovery for her broken hip. (Unfortunately, an abuser broke her
or only as a means to communicate a need, but rather, during times of healing meditation,
to self-regulate their nervous systems, and to help heal, or regulate those they are bonded too.
On top of the amazing service she lends to me every day, I have had the great pleasure of working to heal
Nova from her many trauma triggers and have seen symptoms in her that mirror my D.I.D Symptoms.
.
At the end of the day - Nova and I need a safe place to live, a safe job that we can feel passionate about
working in and one that does not see her as a hinderance but sees her as elevating the environment and
acknowledges the healing service that we bring to each others lives. Without a job, we will remain: vulnerably
unsheltered, at risk of further traumatization and abuse, unjust separation, halted in our quest to recover
from past traumas, and managing/learning to live a full life with our disabilities.
I believe in the ADA's origins and it's mission to bring about fuller quality of life by establishing equality
practices within our established seen world/social structure. I believe in the steps that have already been
taken by the ADA, and I see ways in which the ADA can change, grow, and create more equality
and acceptance -
which would lead to more liberty within the equality of disabled members of our community.
.
May myself and others be emboldened to change the seen world to further equality for ALL.
May Nova and I find a job that we excel in - that we may build our self-confidence in providing a
healthier quality of life.
May the ADA help us find a way to accept more animals under their healing service animal agenda,
and may emotional support animals be recognized as life saving medicine.
May I continue to educate myself on the varying types of disabilities, seen and invisible, that I may always
be a person that makes room for, and accepts with love, all types of people/animals.
May I find compassion in my heart for those members of our society that do not yet see the unhealthy
limitations, boxes, and acts of discrimination that they are imposing upon some of the vulnerable
members of our seen world.
May we all live well, acknowledge our privileges, love more openly, and heal our broken pieces.
-A
Merci, de m'avoir vu.
Gracias, por verme.
Thank you, for seeing me.
