Autism service dog for safety and independence

My name is Olivia and I am autistic. I am trying to save and raise money to train an autism service dog. I struggle with self harm, sensory sensitivities, and social differences that limit my independence. My service dog will be trained to interrupt and redirect self harm behavior, be trained in deep pressure therapy as well as assisting me in public places by being a constant, familiar presence, easing anxiety and leading me away from crowded, overwhelming situations if necessary. Another benefit to having a service dog as an autistic person is that I function best when my life has structure, routine, and familiarity which a service dog will provide, making me more independent. I am an adult and there are little to no resources available for autistic adults. I am trying my best to create my own resources so I can be as independent as possible and live a productive life.

How the donations will be used:

-at a minimum, $7,000 will be reserved for training, puppy classes through task specific service dog training. This is a conservative rate for training your own service dog as opposed to buying one fully trained, based on the pricing information from my local service dog qualified trainers.

-anything left over will be used for the purchase of the dog, vet expenses like vaccines and spay/neutering, and initial costs such as training materials, leash, harness, crate, ect.

Here is a link to additional information about the tasks that autism service dogs preform as well as other non task specific benefits that service dogs have on the lives of autistic individuals.

https://ellasanimals.org/tasks-and-work/autism-service-dog-tasks-work-and-benefits/