Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week

Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of what life can look like after a spinal cord injury and the support that can help people navigate everyday life. For people living with spinal cord injury, a Physical Assistance Dog can provide practical assistance with everyday tasks, while also supporting greater independence, confidence and connection.

Spinal cord injury: how Assistance Dogs can support everyday life

A spinal cord injury can happen suddenly, changing the way someone moves through the world and manages everyday life.

In Australia, approximately 20,800 Australians are currently living with a spinal cord injury.

The effects can be significant and lifelong. While every spinal cord injury is different, an injury can affect movement, sensation and the ability to carry out physical tasks independently. It can also bring enormous emotional adjustment as a person adapts to changes they may never have expected.

This Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, we’re looking at some of the everyday impacts of spinal cord injury and the role a Physical Assistance Dog can play in supporting greater independence, connection and confidence.

How can a spinal cord injury affect everyday life?

The spinal cord carries messages between the brain and the rest of the body. When damaged, those messages can be disrupted, affecting movement and sensation below the level of the injury.

The impact depends on where and how severely the spinal cord has been injured. Some people may experience reduced movement or sensation, while others may have significant or complete loss of movement in parts of their body.

This can change how someone approaches everyday tasks many of us rarely think about. Picking something up from the floor, getting dressed, opening the fridge or moving through a doorway can require assistance or a completely different way of doing things.

A spinal cord injury can also affect much more than physical function. Adjusting to significant changes in independence, relationships, work, family life and plans for the future can take time.

Organisations such as Spinal Cord Injuries Australia provide services and lived-experience support to help people with spinal cord injury navigate life following an injury.

How Physical Assistance Dogs can help

Physical Assistance Dogs are specially trained to perform practical tasks for people with physical disability, helping make everyday life more accessible and supporting greater independence.

Depending on the needs of the person they are matched with, an Assistance Dog can be trained to:

retrieve dropped or out-of-reach items

help remove socks and jackets

open and close doors

open drawers

open and close the fridge

These skills can reduce the need to rely on another person for some everyday tasks. Something as simple as retrieving a dropped phone or opening a door can make a meaningful difference when limited movement makes doing it independently difficult or impossible.

But the support of an Assistance Dog isn’t only practical.

Dogs can also be trained to bring physical closeness to someone using a wheelchair. A ‘visit’ involves placing their head on their handler’s lap, while a ‘lap’ brings their paws and upper body across their handler’s lap.

These skills can provide closeness, comfort and connection when reaching down to hug or interact with a dog may not be physically possible.

An Assistance Dog cannot take away the challenges of living with a spinal cord injury. But the combination of practical assistance and everyday companionship can provide valuable support as someone builds a life around significant physical change.

From receiving support to supporting others

ADA Assistance Dog recipient SJ knows how suddenly that change can happen.

Twelve years ago, SJ sustained a spinal cord injury and became a quadriplegic. Her world was turned upside down, beginning a long road through grief, recovery and acceptance.

Her young son Hamish was an important part of getting her through those early years. Physical Assistance Dog Cossie became another.

Cossie provided practical help by retrieving items, opening doors and supporting SJ in everyday life. She also offered something less tangible, but no less important.

Speaking to Cossie about what their partnership meant to her, SJ said:

“You saved my life. You’re the best girl. I’m grateful for your big heart. You and Hamish were my everything.”

Today, Cossie is enjoying retirement and successor Assistance Dog Lenny is by SJ’s side.

SJ now uses her own lived experience to help others. As a Peer and Family Support Coordinator with Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, she supports people with spinal cord injury and their families as they navigate their own roads through grief, recovery and acceptance .

For SJ, that experience has given her a new focus.

“It’s now all about how can I help other people.”

This Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, SJ’s story is a reminder that while a spinal cord injury can profoundly change everyday life, the right practical and emotional support can help people find greater independence, connection and a way forward.