Being disabled I have learned so much. Most of us can try and sympathize with people with disabilities, but actually living it is something completely different. Although my disabilities were temporary, I basically had the opportunity to experience being fully paralyzed, being mute, not being fully blind, but unable to read, all the while being in the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced in my life.
I was talking to a friend of mine last night and she mentioned taking a caregiving course to takeover caring for her brother, so when her parents get old there's someone to look after him. He was in an accident a few years ago and is now permanently in a wheelchair. My first question for her was if she actually asked her brother about it first. She said no, but was surprised by my reaction and of course gave the response of just trying to do the 'right thing'. The thing that I learned in the hospital is that the right thing isn't always what you would expect. Some people prefer to have a professional person from homecare come and help them to take care of themselves. And sometimes the government will help pay for these programs. Some people love to have their families take care of them. Some people's families can't handle taking care of a disabled person. That can be a very large responsibility depending on the person. My point is that it really varies, and that it's important to have open discussions about these things so that everyone can make informed decisions. There's lots of counselling and transitional services available for people if you know where to look.
It was okay for my parents when I came home because they had the freedom to take sometime away from work, but not everyone has that time. And I know how hard it is for me sometimes to still accept help from my family and I'm getting to need less and less of it. But I was definitely one grumpy Gus when I couldn't do anything on my own. I was raised to be independent, and now that I'm thirty, losing that suddenly has been unsurprisingly very difficult for me.
1 comment:
I generally don't comment on blogs unless I feel like I have something of value to add.
But in this case, although I don't really have anything of value to add, I do want to say that your just an awesome chick for having gone through everything that you have gone through and coming out of it even better with such an amazing attitude.
You have definitely been an inspiration to a lot of us and have served to put our trivial day to day struggles into perspective!
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