Cinderella Gets Empowered

So Naomi J asked me how the networking with disabled folks (for jobby things) is going (specifying at Paganicon) Well to begin with, I’ve actually switched gears re: the job thing. I’ve had a couple people hire me to do cleaning and chores for them, and I enjoyed doing it. I mean, yeah obviously its not super-glamorous work, but I really like having more personal control over scheduling, where and who I’m working with, helping people without the middleman of corporate policy that often gets in the way of helping people! It’s weird, because I’ve never really considered starting my own business. Everyone in my family works for someone else. The only real accommodation that I do for myself, is I prefer to use my own vacuum cleaner, because I have dust allergies and mine has a HEPA filter. And the neighbor lady I am helping (she broke her foot) has 3 cats, so lots of vacuuming! Later on if it seems logical/necessary/advantageous at some point, I may get a PCA* license. Ironically, that’s something people have suggested I do, but I didn’t want to do it! Probably part of the reason I changed my mind is I’m hoping to be a mom at some point, and a lot of the care tasks PCAs do is not so different than what parents do (which is part of why it’s rather socially and financially devalued work, sadly) though in this case, the client is the one in charge- they get to decide when they are going to bed!

I’ve been meaning to get my driver’s license anyway- I have seizure-free long enough, and hopefully once I get back on the ADHD medicine my brain will behave itself more! There are enough people I know that live close enough that I could probably be OK without driving for a while, though for the PCA part, driving is generally a requirement, which is one of the reasons I haven’t done it before.

I am just generally a major fan of the idea of disabled people being in social/health services, education etc. helping other folks with disabilities. I am meeting (online or in person) more and more of us who are getting social work, special education degrees, speech therapists etc. We really need more people with empathy for each other. I’ve dealt with various condescending pompous people with letters behind their names who thought they were always right and I know hard it is to tell them they are not, you’ve done your research, you know your rights, you’re an adult dammit and you want to make your own decisions!

*Personal Care Attendant There’s also HHA- Home Health Aides which I believe takes another layer of training (thus paying more) To do that I would also need work on my muscles, because you have to be able to lift people in and out of chairs, beds etc. Terminology, requirements et al may vary according to your state or country.

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