Everything you thought you knew about carers.....

I was listening to the debate the other day in the Dail Eireann (Irish Government) about the Sinn Fein  (Irish party) motion on family carers. 

Whilst I welcome this initiative and those that supported the motion it is staggering how much people can misunderstand the role and work of family carers. For a start it seems to be an idea that carers are people who care for elderly people suffering with dementia. 

Well. some of us are. A lot more care for people with disabilities of varying degrees, from birth to death of either us or the people we care for. Some of us care for family members who have been incapacitated through accidents or diseases, spouses , children, aunts and uncles or in some cases friends and neighbours. Some of us care for a very short time, others for many decades. Some of us care because we want to. Some of us care because we have no options. 

Funnily enough I know of nobody who cares because of the pay and conditions. Maybe not so strange when you consider that; pay: Euro 220 a week if you are poor enough, conditions: none. We are not entitled to any holidays, holiday pay, overtime, sick pay and many of us will not be entitled to contributory pensions,…I could continue, but you get the point.

 There always seems to be this notion that we are ‘different’ than other people, that somehow we are ‘better’, ‘kinder’, more ‘caring’, more ‘resilient’. Let me declare here and now, we are exactly the same as you. We are good, bad, strong, weak, silly, clever, capable, incapable, funny, serious, just like you. We are not selected because we are ‘special’. Telling us that we are ‘special’ is condescending and unhelpful. Assuming that we are ‘special’ gives you the power to imagine that we are finding the hardships of caring less difficult than you would. It makes it easier for you to imagine that we all do the work we do because we want to, not because in many cases we are forced to do it without adequate supports. No one should have to care alone! 

The reality is we ARE forced to care alone, because of the lack of investment in services and supports in this country, both in disability and services for the elderly. People often assume that we are ‘being looked after’ and that we are not as bad off as the media says when in fact we are much worse off! We have no rights, and the people we care for have no rights.  The Disability Act 2005 is one of the worst scams inflicted on the disability, and on people caring for people with disabilities, ever in this country. It is not a right based approach to disability, it is an accountant’s approach. (no disrespect to accountants!). It is an act predicated on the State deciding if it has enough money to give people with disabilities any rights. You have an entitlement, but only if state thinks it can afford to give it to you! 

All we want is recognition and support for the work we do. We want the respect due to capable co-workers within the health services, we want decent working conditions. We do not want empty praise and crocodile tears. Several weeks ago the Minister for Health said that carers are a group too diverse to vaccinate. Today he implied that we are all the same. We ARE a diverse group, but the State prefers to see us as all the same, poor downtrodden people that can be pitied, praised and then ignored! We cannot and will not accept this anymore – as one political representative said in the Dail today “we are vital but not valued”!