Keep being disquieted(when not downright petrified) by stories like this one out of Minnesota where people with disabilities are forced into nursing homes in their primes because caregiving jobs pay lousy wages and it can be argued that working food service is easier, or, well, at least less responsible.
I am one accident away from this myself, and while it can be bracing sometimes to live as though there is no tomorrow, I would much rather feel that as a metaphor than as my literal truth in my mid-forties
. Although nobody's work is particularly valued in today's America, the lack of respect and pay accorded to caregiving reflect a lack of concern both for people getting the care and for the largely female workforce that provides the care..America needs to decide we are all valuable. Incidentally, institutionalization does not actually save any money as the medicalized settings can cost many times what attendant services with a less medical component does.
.I know that my mom has been treated as...somewhat less than loving at times when there is a problem with her attendant paycheck and she fights to fix it, for example. I guess we should be able to buy things with Labor of Love coupons or something, but strangely, our tight relationship does nothing on the bill-paying front, especially since my mother would never allow me to put a webcam in here(rimshot)I think her fighting for what she is owed shows a real commitment, not just to our family, which I'd never question, but to also make sure her brand of "Women's work" is not invisible and underpaid.
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