Review

Together we looked at, among other things,

• what qualities an assistance dog should have,
• how training can work,
• how important the bond between person and dog is,
• what role the individual life situation of the person concerned plays,
• what costs can arise,
• what funding options are conceivable,
• and which rights and obligations matter in everyday life.

It was especially important to us not only to talk about the dog, but about the team of person and dog.

Because an assistance dog is not an aid that simply “works”. It needs good training, a suitable task, a stable bond and a person who can take responsibility for it.

The difficulties of everyday life were also discussed openly: a lack of knowledge about access rights, uncertainty in shops or institutions, and the question of how stressful it can be to have to explain or enforce your rights again and again.

Afterwards it was clear: the topic is much bigger than a single event.

Part II – Handlers & attitude: responsibility, everyday life and rights

That is why a second part with a different focus came about.

This time the focus was not on a talk, but on an open exchange of experiences.

People with their own experience of assistance dogs, training and dog ownership contributed their perspectives.

We also discussed questions that are often not asked enough:

• What specific support do I actually need?
• Is an assistance dog the right support for that – or would human assistance be more suitable?
• Who supports me during the training?
• What happens if exactly the situations I can hardly cope with myself have to be trained?
• How do I deal with prejudice, rejection and conflicts in everyday life?
• What does the dog need so that its welfare is secured in the long term as well?

This part was particularly important to us because assistance dogs do not only open up possibilities. They also bring responsibility, training, organisation and sometimes additional stress.

One thought therefore ran through the preparation:

Don’t just ask: What can an assistance dog do for me? But also: What does this team need to really work?

Our events were aimed at people with an assistance dog, people in training, interested people, relatives and professionals. As usual at our events, participation was free of charge and did not require membership.

For us, this event series was an important look at a topic that is often presented too simply.

Assistance dogs can enable independence and participation – but good support starts with looking honestly together at opportunities, limits, rights and responsibilities.

The work in the group then gave rise to the idea of a follow-up project. The plan was a nationwide, anonymised and structured evaluation of experiences and documents from OEG/SGB XIV proceedings. The aim was not to assess individual cases, but to make recurring patterns of best practice and worst case visible.

The project was to look in particular at:

• structural shortcomings and procedural errors,
• differences between the federal states,
• experiences with expert reports and assessment procedures,
• deadlines and processing procedures,
• examples of good practice,
• and ways of better preparing the support system for the needs of survivors.

For this, a sound survey and project plan was first to be developed. This included developing evaluation categories, questions of anonymisation and data protection, securing the legal basis for using the data, and planning the later evaluation and publication.

The planning also drew on existing experience and preparatory work by KE!N EINZELFALL e.V., including existing contacts with survivors and prepared requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The long-term goal was not only to collect experiences, but to derive concrete findings about structural problems and working solutions. These were then to be passed on to, among others, the responsible state authorities, victims’ commissioners, federal ministries and institutions of the support system.

aus-unserer-sicht e.V. was dissolved as of 11 February 2026, so the planned cooperation and the project that had been worked out could not be continued in this form. KE!N EINZELFALL e.V. has continued parts of the project on its own.

Even so, this time was very valuable for us. We were able to gain experience, network with other survivors and committed people, get to know different perspectives and develop our own work in social compensation law.

We thank aus-unserer-sicht e.V. for the opportunity to take part, for the experiences we shared and for the space in which survivors’ knowledge could be contributed and developed further.

Even though this project could not be completed together, the experience gained and many of the ideas that came out of it remain part of our ongoing work.

Together, KE!N EINZELFALL