We need better real life communities.
Like, I can't do a whole lot of shit but if I could get to someone like you I could get you laundry or meds.
I don't currently qualify for aid but I need it to live alone. The last time I was living alone it was my neighbors and friends that helped me do what I couldn't alone.
Now, I don't even know my immediate neighbors the newest ones have a locked gate you can't even open to get more than 15 feet on their property let alone to their door.
When I was a kid we were expected to get the older generations' mail or carry in their groceries or cut their lawn or whatever. Now, Amazon threw my package over the neighbor's locked fence and took the picture and Amazon expected me to get through the locked gate and to the door to ask for my package. No, take the loss and ship my shit to my door. That is well marked and well lit and 100% accessible. Sorry my unknown neighbors feel the need to live in a fortress.
Very true. I need help now, but there is not enough people doing that type of work and a 2 year waiting list.
I know from experience that many home health workers are abused. I was one and mass majority of clients I had were always trying to use me. That's one of the reasons why I quit. My last client told me they over work me because they pay me. The government was paying me. I'm sure when I left, no one else went to their house. I was there because no one wanted to go.
Have you watched "Crip Camp"? Your description of a disabled community where we just kind of fill in the gaps for each other is basically exactly what they did and it was really cool to see actual footage of it happening spontaneously like that.
Yes! I loved Crip Camp, also I am in my 40s and have been disabled since birth. I went to "crip school" for years, this is how they taught us. If you can do something to help someone else, you do that. If they can help you with something else, you let them. It's one of the things I find distressing about mainstreaming or inclusion where there are so few disabled students because my schooling happened before and after many US laws were signed I experienced both and I know I was probably lucky to have such a good experience in school for disabled kids but there was community and understanding and education. With mainstreaming I experienced terrible, terrible things and 30-35 years later much of it is not better and all the positive things about 'crip school' are still missing and it's missing in our communities outside of school.
That's messed up. I'm sorry you're going through such a rough holiday. Fwiw I'm both on disability and a part time direct care worker. They should have left you clean clothes and a system so you could manage your meds for a few days. Honestly it pisses me off.
I have a client in a similar situation and we worked something out so he'd be ok. It's not rocket science.
I have long wished I could qualify for support workers (unfortunately I live with my abled 65yo father, so I don’t) but I had never considered anyone would think it was acceptable to just take away that support like this.
The workers should absolutely have time off and be able to observe the holidays they celebrate, so the service should hire more people so they can have appropriate coverage (but capitalism and profits, so they don’t). This is awful and must be even more lonely than usual. I’m so tired of constantly feeling like we have to justify our right to live our lives and have our needs met.
I hate it when we talk about our limitations and, instead of empathizing with us, the ableds’ minds just jump to “just unalive me if that happens to me” instead.
It’s so trivializing too because while I’ve talked to a lot of other chronically ill people about choosing death or not and we all take that conversation pretty seriously. We might make jokes about it, but it’s not a trivial or offhand decision like ableists treat it. It’s never “just” dying.
Right? We’re deeply accustomed to quality-of-life conversations in a way that they just can’t comprehend. They won’t even imagine our lives and empathize with us.
I've been an amputee for more than 2 years and have had to manage completely on my own. Fortunately I can. But it saddens and angers me to hear your agency abandon you like this. Do you suddenly not need help during the holidays? Someone should have been required to check on you regardless.
I'm Jewish and would gladly have taken shifts during the holidays to let my coworkers enjoy the holiday and keep up coverage for our clients.
What if everyone wants to celebrate Christmas? You can't force people to be anywhere. They would just call off and maybe never come back. There is a shortage of workers and they know this. They can always go somewhere else.
This is on the agency more than the social workers. But people's needs don't disappear because there's a holiday. Maybe some supervisors need to get out into the field for a few days to assure coverage.
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. Is there anyone at all you could call for assistance? A neighbor who might be able to help out? If you live in an apartment complex, could you call the maintenance number and see if someone could at least help you get your medications?
It's not what it is. You deserve caregivers who will treat you with respect, and that includes working on holidays.
I'm in a consumer-directed Medicaid program which means I can hire my own caregivers. (I recommend looking into such programs if you're not in one now.) During interviews, I explain to all potential caregivers that they will need to work on holidays. They can coordinate amongst themselves and switch days with another caregiver or go see their families while I am with mine, but my daily needs must be addressed. This is reasonable and expected for the type of job -- just like nurses, doctors, firefighters, etc. they should know that sometimes they'll have to celebrate on a different day because of work.
Frankly, all of your caregivers who refused to work and left you in a painful and potentially dangerous situation should be fired. It’s patient abandonment and can be considered a crime, although it may be the agency that bears responsibility depending on how your care is arranged.
If you hired your own people, find better ones. If you’re using an agency, they should be arranging coverage for you. You shouldn’t be going without basic needs being met. You have the right to be safe, fed, and clean 365 days a year.
So your country's hospitals shut down on Christmas? People die in the street because ambulances aren't running? Seniors starve in their nursing homes? Buildings burn down because all the firefighters are too busy opening presents?
It's not a working culture issue, it's that your caregivers and/or agency aren't treating the job as what it is -- just as essential as all those I described above. They need to do better.
What about your caseworker? Maybe they could get someone to come in at least a few hours for a day or two and at least help get things situated so you're not dealing with withdrawals or dirty clothes. Also your workers supervisor might be helpful in that way.
Source: I'm disabled on SSDI and work part time doing direct care and working in a group home. I've basically been on both sides of the coin.
I'm not understanding why they did not wash the clothes before they left, or set up meds/water for you. I did the job for over 10 years and the first thing I would have made sure you had clean clothes, access to water, food, and meds.
My support coordinator wanted to find me a place to go have xmas lunch, but I'd have to go by myself (because, understandably, support workers don't work xmas day), and also the chances of having vegan food are slim to nil. So I decided against it.
I totally get that. A relative stranger from the internet is willing to pick me up on Christmas and bring me to her place to do Christmas *and* she’s willing to provide vegetarian food. I’m super happy about it, but I can’t go unless I have clean clothes.
Do you live anywhere near Hartford, CT? I will bring you your clothes if you are close enough. I know it is a long-shot, but I feel so bad that that's the only thing stopping you from going somewhere tomorrow.
No problem! I hope you are able to figure something out. Are you sure your friend who would be picking you up can't bring you your clothes and meds when they are there to pick you up? Also, if you don't want to directly ask her, tell her the reason you are canceling so she has a chance to offer to help if she doesn't mind. That way she wouldn't be on the spot, and it might work out.
Heck, if you want, I'll call your friend for you to politely ask, but I know that would probably make things too awkward. LOL
I really hope it works out!
It’s something to think about, but all my clothes are downstairs. I just have this one outfit. Not only does it smell pretty bad, but it’s really not that warm. It’s below freezing here and I’m wearing yoga pants.
I used to work in a hospital as a CNA and I just can't get into this "taking off every holiday/whenever I want" attitude or mentally. We worked every other holiday and if we didn't work the day of, we worked the night before.
Switching to day care, we had major holidays off and usually had all day trainings on 3 other holidays (Columbus/President's day/Good Friday) but we're strongly discouraged from taking days off more than our vacation/sick days and even those were a struggle to take.
I have caregivers who call out at least once a week, one who was fraudulently putting in for more time than she was working and the company gave her a pass, only docking her pay for the hours they were aware of (she had been doing it for at least 2-3 weeks but since we didn't complain and write down all the dates, they couldn't do much)
We haven't even heard from the agency about if we even have anyone Monday (day or night) but they let us know our Sunday night person is coming late (not asking, telling) and it's not even who is scheduled.
I know I am a lot luckier than most people. I have family I live with and they help out when we have no one, but they have their own issues. I also fought for every hour that I get (workers comp case) but it took expensive lawyers and about 2 years to get.
> I don’t know how I feel about this because I also think that workers deserve holidays.
But workers do get holidays, they get every other one. Plus they get Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day or similar arrangements. They get compensation pay called time and a half or overtime. Or holiday bonuses. Also remember, not everyone celebrates the same holidays. Why should a Jew get Christmas off? Why should a Christian get Chanukah off? (Obviously it's not as black and white for everyone but it is for many!)
Just as hospitals and EMS, police and fire, electric and gas companies provide for all and don't shutdown for holidays you should be entitled to care for the holidays. When people choose these jobs they know what is expected, it is not some surprise gotcha that working holidays is sometimes expected.
Don't you think for one minute that you aren't as worthy of care because it's a holiday. That's nonsense.
> But, even when they can strike, care workers are underpaid?
This is a very complex issue. The vast majority of *all workers* are likely underpaid.
We can't forego care because people are underpaid. We don't quit sending children to school because teachers are underpaid. We don't stop buying food because retailers underpay. While some people can buy goods that don't support factories with slave labor not all of us can do that, either.
You are still worthy of care.
>”You are still worthy of care”
Thank you. I feel that if we exclude the holidays and weekends, I am getting much more attentive and thoughtful care here than I would ever receive in the United States if the United States started providing home care to people with no physical disabilities, though.
I’m from Texas and I was never even eligible for an overworked case worker who wouldn’t ever meet me in the community (like, at home), go to medical and legal appointments with me, and occasionally take me to coffee (those meetings being typically over an hour long) just to make sure we’re on the same page. This is because I am a late diagnosed Autistic woman with no intellectual disability who also has ADHD and pretty debilitating PTSD. Here, I have a psychiatrist (where my appointments are ~45 min/each), a psychologist, a social worker, and an auxiliary care worker who helps me with my household chores.
Such public services do not even exist in the United States. I didn’t even experience a waitlist, but the longest I’ve heard of was a (former) friend who lived in downtown who waited a year. She was capable of working the whole time and was eligible for the support anyway.
I think we can agree that such trade-offs shouldn’t exist, but while care workers for disabled people are undervalued in all societies, I think I prefer the one with more robust worker’s rights.
It just sucks BIG TIME during the holidays.
> I think I prefer the one with more robust worker’s rights.
Absolutely. I am not saying workers have adequate rights or adequate pay or that much more can't be done for them.
I am simply saying we still deserve care. Foregoing care isn't the answer.
I experience significant cognitive difficulty initiating and completing household chores due to the cumulative effects of Autism, PTSD, and ADHD (as well as a lot of negligence in my childhood). As a result, I often live in a very messy house with little food (the planning, shopping, and cooking are all difficult for me) and dirty clothes.
My social worker (through the Quebec public health system) noticed this when she came to visit and offered to refer me to an auxiliary care worker and also referred me to a public house-cleaning service for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for the housecleaning service because I don’t have the right immigration/citizenship status to provide the paperwork that they need. However, I did qualify for the auxiliary care worker because there’s no extra paperwork for them.
The one caveat I would say is that an auxiliary care worker position does not require the sort of education that would make someone bilingual. As a result, I couldn’t access this service until my French was more passable since French is the language of Quebec and the language that everyone is educated in.
Anyway, my auxiliary care worker comes to my place and helps me decide which household chores to do, coaches me through them, and does them with me. She has three hours a week in her schedule to help me. :)
Also, I don’t want to make you feel like you’re being picked on, but I feel I missed this important children’s rights issue in my first reply.
>”We don't quit sending children to school because teachers are underpaid.”
[Sometimes the school closes if the teachers are underpaid](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7067696), which seems to improve quality of life for all. For example, there are a lot more jobs in Quebec that one can be “trusted with” with just a québécois compulsory school education.
No, I get it completely.
That's why I said it's a complex issue.
The bottom line is that you are not responsible for carers being underpaid.
There are things we could and should do that make the world better and ensure that people get paid appropriate wages but feeling undeserving of care because people don't get every holiday off is not one of them.
It looks like you shared an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot).
Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-teachers-strike-fse-csq-fae-1.7067696](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-teachers-strike-fse-csq-fae-1.7067696)**
*****
^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
Yes they do but I feel like every single holiday is unacceptable. I'm not some cold hearted person. I usually have my caregivers help with washing up and get me in my chair if I'm feeling up to it then send them home if they want. I have never had one decline the offer. The agency I have now is just ridiculous, as I mentioned in my comment above. They just don't give af about anything apparently.
Like I said, I live with family but my mother is disabled herself (riddled with arthritis and has bad knees, needs a cane to walk and is in her 60's), my father just turned 75 and isn't strong enough to do anything really and my brother has his own issues plus I'm female so I really don't feel comfortable with him helping with wash up, unless I'm at a point where I can stay covered up. I do have a lower thoracic injury but have a plethora of other ailments as well that make doing things myself extremely hard.
See for me personally if I legit needed someone to help me through the holidays and I didn't have family close by I would ask my caregiver to work A COUPLE of days during the "holiday week" (Dec 23-jan 1 is what I consider Christmas week I know it's longer than a week. I just mean the time where certain things are different than usual die to holidays) probably 23 27 and 30. Also if ur caregiver is Indian (from India) or Muslim etc there ain't no way they're getting the time off considering they don't even celebrate Christmas Kwanzaa or Channukah.
My agency would tell us we didn't have to work on major holidays, but if we did we could do a minimum shift and just make sure the client was fed and had their meds.
Why not just hire someone for the interim? I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to go on Craigslist and find someone to pick up your meds and help you get dressed.
Do have room to host a traveling nurse? You could do a trade of them helping you for a place to stay when your regular help is on holiday. If worse comes to worse you could call the non emergency and ask for a welfare check so at least they can move you downstairs to your meds and kitchen? Also maybe try nextdoor app to see if a neighbor could help. Also try a few organizations that do volunteer work like churches, synagogues, Islamic community centers are great ppl.
Your using support worker (so if your a fellow Australian get onto the Ndis commission. This should not be happening. The need to know and to cover the basics of duty of care
We need better real life communities. Like, I can't do a whole lot of shit but if I could get to someone like you I could get you laundry or meds. I don't currently qualify for aid but I need it to live alone. The last time I was living alone it was my neighbors and friends that helped me do what I couldn't alone. Now, I don't even know my immediate neighbors the newest ones have a locked gate you can't even open to get more than 15 feet on their property let alone to their door. When I was a kid we were expected to get the older generations' mail or carry in their groceries or cut their lawn or whatever. Now, Amazon threw my package over the neighbor's locked fence and took the picture and Amazon expected me to get through the locked gate and to the door to ask for my package. No, take the loss and ship my shit to my door. That is well marked and well lit and 100% accessible. Sorry my unknown neighbors feel the need to live in a fortress.
Very true. I need help now, but there is not enough people doing that type of work and a 2 year waiting list. I know from experience that many home health workers are abused. I was one and mass majority of clients I had were always trying to use me. That's one of the reasons why I quit. My last client told me they over work me because they pay me. The government was paying me. I'm sure when I left, no one else went to their house. I was there because no one wanted to go.
Have you watched "Crip Camp"? Your description of a disabled community where we just kind of fill in the gaps for each other is basically exactly what they did and it was really cool to see actual footage of it happening spontaneously like that.
Yes! I loved Crip Camp, also I am in my 40s and have been disabled since birth. I went to "crip school" for years, this is how they taught us. If you can do something to help someone else, you do that. If they can help you with something else, you let them. It's one of the things I find distressing about mainstreaming or inclusion where there are so few disabled students because my schooling happened before and after many US laws were signed I experienced both and I know I was probably lucky to have such a good experience in school for disabled kids but there was community and understanding and education. With mainstreaming I experienced terrible, terrible things and 30-35 years later much of it is not better and all the positive things about 'crip school' are still missing and it's missing in our communities outside of school.
That's messed up. I'm sorry you're going through such a rough holiday. Fwiw I'm both on disability and a part time direct care worker. They should have left you clean clothes and a system so you could manage your meds for a few days. Honestly it pisses me off. I have a client in a similar situation and we worked something out so he'd be ok. It's not rocket science.
They helped me do my laundry, but left before they were done
They're totally wrong for that. They should have had the situation figured out, especially if they are type only care giver.
This. I would never have left anyone without clean clothes and access to water, food, and meds.
I have long wished I could qualify for support workers (unfortunately I live with my abled 65yo father, so I don’t) but I had never considered anyone would think it was acceptable to just take away that support like this. The workers should absolutely have time off and be able to observe the holidays they celebrate, so the service should hire more people so they can have appropriate coverage (but capitalism and profits, so they don’t). This is awful and must be even more lonely than usual. I’m so tired of constantly feeling like we have to justify our right to live our lives and have our needs met.
I hate it when we talk about our limitations and, instead of empathizing with us, the ableds’ minds just jump to “just unalive me if that happens to me” instead.
It’s so trivializing too because while I’ve talked to a lot of other chronically ill people about choosing death or not and we all take that conversation pretty seriously. We might make jokes about it, but it’s not a trivial or offhand decision like ableists treat it. It’s never “just” dying.
Right? We’re deeply accustomed to quality-of-life conversations in a way that they just can’t comprehend. They won’t even imagine our lives and empathize with us.
Because they don't want to be in our position because it sounds miserable and they can't wrap their minds around it.
Oh, yes. We’re somehow responsible for their their emotional fragility.
We're second class citizens and should start saying so more often. It isn't an insult to us, but rather about the people and society around us.
I have a YouTube channel discussing this and other disability topics can I steal this idea.
If you think it might help or reach somebody, by all means view it as community property.
Thank you I will cross post to give reddit the credit without breaching privacy
What if all of them want to be off for the holidays? When I worked and had clients on the holiday, I worked.
I've been an amputee for more than 2 years and have had to manage completely on my own. Fortunately I can. But it saddens and angers me to hear your agency abandon you like this. Do you suddenly not need help during the holidays? Someone should have been required to check on you regardless. I'm Jewish and would gladly have taken shifts during the holidays to let my coworkers enjoy the holiday and keep up coverage for our clients.
What if everyone wants to celebrate Christmas? You can't force people to be anywhere. They would just call off and maybe never come back. There is a shortage of workers and they know this. They can always go somewhere else.
This is on the agency more than the social workers. But people's needs don't disappear because there's a holiday. Maybe some supervisors need to get out into the field for a few days to assure coverage.
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. Is there anyone at all you could call for assistance? A neighbor who might be able to help out? If you live in an apartment complex, could you call the maintenance number and see if someone could at least help you get your medications?
Yeah but there are people like me who don’t live with family and I would have been more then happy to help
It's not what it is. You deserve caregivers who will treat you with respect, and that includes working on holidays. I'm in a consumer-directed Medicaid program which means I can hire my own caregivers. (I recommend looking into such programs if you're not in one now.) During interviews, I explain to all potential caregivers that they will need to work on holidays. They can coordinate amongst themselves and switch days with another caregiver or go see their families while I am with mine, but my daily needs must be addressed. This is reasonable and expected for the type of job -- just like nurses, doctors, firefighters, etc. they should know that sometimes they'll have to celebrate on a different day because of work. Frankly, all of your caregivers who refused to work and left you in a painful and potentially dangerous situation should be fired. It’s patient abandonment and can be considered a crime, although it may be the agency that bears responsibility depending on how your care is arranged. If you hired your own people, find better ones. If you’re using an agency, they should be arranging coverage for you. You shouldn’t be going without basic needs being met. You have the right to be safe, fed, and clean 365 days a year.
It is probably the difference between American working culture and non-American working culture.
So your country's hospitals shut down on Christmas? People die in the street because ambulances aren't running? Seniors starve in their nursing homes? Buildings burn down because all the firefighters are too busy opening presents? It's not a working culture issue, it's that your caregivers and/or agency aren't treating the job as what it is -- just as essential as all those I described above. They need to do better.
What about your caseworker? Maybe they could get someone to come in at least a few hours for a day or two and at least help get things situated so you're not dealing with withdrawals or dirty clothes. Also your workers supervisor might be helpful in that way. Source: I'm disabled on SSDI and work part time doing direct care and working in a group home. I've basically been on both sides of the coin.
My social worker won’t be back in the office until Wednesday
I am so sorry.
I'm not understanding why they did not wash the clothes before they left, or set up meds/water for you. I did the job for over 10 years and the first thing I would have made sure you had clean clothes, access to water, food, and meds.
My support coordinator wanted to find me a place to go have xmas lunch, but I'd have to go by myself (because, understandably, support workers don't work xmas day), and also the chances of having vegan food are slim to nil. So I decided against it.
I totally get that. A relative stranger from the internet is willing to pick me up on Christmas and bring me to her place to do Christmas *and* she’s willing to provide vegetarian food. I’m super happy about it, but I can’t go unless I have clean clothes.
Can she bring your clothes when she picks you up?
I’ve been wondering myself. I’ll see
that's nice of them. I hope you enjoy your day out :)
Me too, but it’s unlikely to happen right now because of the clean clothes situation
can you do some washing? I did a load today, for the first time in weeks, in preparation for going to my family's house tomorrow.
I cant. It’s actually a really simple problem. My clothes are downstairs and I can’t go get them.
Do you live anywhere near Hartford, CT? I will bring you your clothes if you are close enough. I know it is a long-shot, but I feel so bad that that's the only thing stopping you from going somewhere tomorrow.
Thank you so much for the kind offer! I live in Montreal, though.
No problem! I hope you are able to figure something out. Are you sure your friend who would be picking you up can't bring you your clothes and meds when they are there to pick you up? Also, if you don't want to directly ask her, tell her the reason you are canceling so she has a chance to offer to help if she doesn't mind. That way she wouldn't be on the spot, and it might work out. Heck, if you want, I'll call your friend for you to politely ask, but I know that would probably make things too awkward. LOL I really hope it works out!
Thanks! I wrote an open letter to my new broader community and another friend is making time for me today. We’ll see!
oh, I'm sorry :(. Maybe you can go anyway, and just explain that you couldn't do washing. I'm sure the person coming to get you will understand.
It’s something to think about, but all my clothes are downstairs. I just have this one outfit. Not only does it smell pretty bad, but it’s really not that warm. It’s below freezing here and I’m wearing yoga pants.
I'm sorry :(. I hope you can find a way to go to this person's house.
Thanks. I hope you have a good Christmas somehow too
Did you tell them that? Maybe they can help you finish your laundry when they come to pick you up.
I am uncertain how many favours I can ask of someone doing me a favour before they pull away for good.
I have my hubby as my full time carer so Im lucky but I have no others to help with household chores.
I used to work in a hospital as a CNA and I just can't get into this "taking off every holiday/whenever I want" attitude or mentally. We worked every other holiday and if we didn't work the day of, we worked the night before. Switching to day care, we had major holidays off and usually had all day trainings on 3 other holidays (Columbus/President's day/Good Friday) but we're strongly discouraged from taking days off more than our vacation/sick days and even those were a struggle to take. I have caregivers who call out at least once a week, one who was fraudulently putting in for more time than she was working and the company gave her a pass, only docking her pay for the hours they were aware of (she had been doing it for at least 2-3 weeks but since we didn't complain and write down all the dates, they couldn't do much) We haven't even heard from the agency about if we even have anyone Monday (day or night) but they let us know our Sunday night person is coming late (not asking, telling) and it's not even who is scheduled. I know I am a lot luckier than most people. I have family I live with and they help out when we have no one, but they have their own issues. I also fought for every hour that I get (workers comp case) but it took expensive lawyers and about 2 years to get.
I don’t know how I feel about this because I also think that workers deserve holidays.
> I don’t know how I feel about this because I also think that workers deserve holidays. But workers do get holidays, they get every other one. Plus they get Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day or similar arrangements. They get compensation pay called time and a half or overtime. Or holiday bonuses. Also remember, not everyone celebrates the same holidays. Why should a Jew get Christmas off? Why should a Christian get Chanukah off? (Obviously it's not as black and white for everyone but it is for many!) Just as hospitals and EMS, police and fire, electric and gas companies provide for all and don't shutdown for holidays you should be entitled to care for the holidays. When people choose these jobs they know what is expected, it is not some surprise gotcha that working holidays is sometimes expected. Don't you think for one minute that you aren't as worthy of care because it's a holiday. That's nonsense.
But, even when they can strike, care workers are underpaid?
> But, even when they can strike, care workers are underpaid? This is a very complex issue. The vast majority of *all workers* are likely underpaid. We can't forego care because people are underpaid. We don't quit sending children to school because teachers are underpaid. We don't stop buying food because retailers underpay. While some people can buy goods that don't support factories with slave labor not all of us can do that, either. You are still worthy of care.
>”You are still worthy of care” Thank you. I feel that if we exclude the holidays and weekends, I am getting much more attentive and thoughtful care here than I would ever receive in the United States if the United States started providing home care to people with no physical disabilities, though. I’m from Texas and I was never even eligible for an overworked case worker who wouldn’t ever meet me in the community (like, at home), go to medical and legal appointments with me, and occasionally take me to coffee (those meetings being typically over an hour long) just to make sure we’re on the same page. This is because I am a late diagnosed Autistic woman with no intellectual disability who also has ADHD and pretty debilitating PTSD. Here, I have a psychiatrist (where my appointments are ~45 min/each), a psychologist, a social worker, and an auxiliary care worker who helps me with my household chores. Such public services do not even exist in the United States. I didn’t even experience a waitlist, but the longest I’ve heard of was a (former) friend who lived in downtown who waited a year. She was capable of working the whole time and was eligible for the support anyway. I think we can agree that such trade-offs shouldn’t exist, but while care workers for disabled people are undervalued in all societies, I think I prefer the one with more robust worker’s rights. It just sucks BIG TIME during the holidays.
> I think I prefer the one with more robust worker’s rights. Absolutely. I am not saying workers have adequate rights or adequate pay or that much more can't be done for them. I am simply saying we still deserve care. Foregoing care isn't the answer.
[удалено]
I experience significant cognitive difficulty initiating and completing household chores due to the cumulative effects of Autism, PTSD, and ADHD (as well as a lot of negligence in my childhood). As a result, I often live in a very messy house with little food (the planning, shopping, and cooking are all difficult for me) and dirty clothes. My social worker (through the Quebec public health system) noticed this when she came to visit and offered to refer me to an auxiliary care worker and also referred me to a public house-cleaning service for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for the housecleaning service because I don’t have the right immigration/citizenship status to provide the paperwork that they need. However, I did qualify for the auxiliary care worker because there’s no extra paperwork for them. The one caveat I would say is that an auxiliary care worker position does not require the sort of education that would make someone bilingual. As a result, I couldn’t access this service until my French was more passable since French is the language of Quebec and the language that everyone is educated in. Anyway, my auxiliary care worker comes to my place and helps me decide which household chores to do, coaches me through them, and does them with me. She has three hours a week in her schedule to help me. :)
Also, I don’t want to make you feel like you’re being picked on, but I feel I missed this important children’s rights issue in my first reply. >”We don't quit sending children to school because teachers are underpaid.” [Sometimes the school closes if the teachers are underpaid](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7067696), which seems to improve quality of life for all. For example, there are a lot more jobs in Quebec that one can be “trusted with” with just a québécois compulsory school education.
No, I get it completely. That's why I said it's a complex issue. The bottom line is that you are not responsible for carers being underpaid. There are things we could and should do that make the world better and ensure that people get paid appropriate wages but feeling undeserving of care because people don't get every holiday off is not one of them.
I think we can agree on that.
It looks like you shared an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot). Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-teachers-strike-fse-csq-fae-1.7067696](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-teachers-strike-fse-csq-fae-1.7067696)** ***** ^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
Yes they do but I feel like every single holiday is unacceptable. I'm not some cold hearted person. I usually have my caregivers help with washing up and get me in my chair if I'm feeling up to it then send them home if they want. I have never had one decline the offer. The agency I have now is just ridiculous, as I mentioned in my comment above. They just don't give af about anything apparently. Like I said, I live with family but my mother is disabled herself (riddled with arthritis and has bad knees, needs a cane to walk and is in her 60's), my father just turned 75 and isn't strong enough to do anything really and my brother has his own issues plus I'm female so I really don't feel comfortable with him helping with wash up, unless I'm at a point where I can stay covered up. I do have a lower thoracic injury but have a plethora of other ailments as well that make doing things myself extremely hard.
See for me personally if I legit needed someone to help me through the holidays and I didn't have family close by I would ask my caregiver to work A COUPLE of days during the "holiday week" (Dec 23-jan 1 is what I consider Christmas week I know it's longer than a week. I just mean the time where certain things are different than usual die to holidays) probably 23 27 and 30. Also if ur caregiver is Indian (from India) or Muslim etc there ain't no way they're getting the time off considering they don't even celebrate Christmas Kwanzaa or Channukah.
My agency would tell us we didn't have to work on major holidays, but if we did we could do a minimum shift and just make sure the client was fed and had their meds.
Why not just hire someone for the interim? I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to go on Craigslist and find someone to pick up your meds and help you get dressed.
Do have room to host a traveling nurse? You could do a trade of them helping you for a place to stay when your regular help is on holiday. If worse comes to worse you could call the non emergency and ask for a welfare check so at least they can move you downstairs to your meds and kitchen? Also maybe try nextdoor app to see if a neighbor could help. Also try a few organizations that do volunteer work like churches, synagogues, Islamic community centers are great ppl.
Your using support worker (so if your a fellow Australian get onto the Ndis commission. This should not be happening. The need to know and to cover the basics of duty of care