My name is Catherine and I’m a 28 year old woman with CP. I need help with several activities of daily living, from showering to cleaning to driving to places when buses aren’t available. The lack of quality, consistent direct care services limits me in many ways. I feel trapped because workers don’t want to stick around and I’m always worried about losing workers. I can’t finish my degree when I don’t know how I’m going to get to school and back. There are so many things I want to do and people I want to help. I want to become a social worker so I can help people in similar situations. I would love to help people born with disabilities and people who acquired disabilities during military service become responsible, reliable, hardworking adults and live a full and active life. I would like to move to Ann Arbor, but I can’t because if I leave Livingston County, I’ll lose the workers I do have, with little hope of finding qualified replacements. All of the things I’d like to accomplish depend upon reliable, skilled direct care staff. Wages for direct care workers are too low to make the work attractive.
– Catherine Hein
