by Guest » Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:16 pm
It, to me, is a matter of individual choice and surely provision of care is supposed to make life as normal as possible for the individual? People without disabilities take these choices for granted, it doesn't matter whether it's jumping into the car and going to the supermarket or for a drink or the more personal things that able-bodied people do for themselves, they have choice and autonomy, people with disabilities have very limited choice and autonomy. And how can someone choose to become a paid carer and not expect to carry out intimate tasks, it's part of the job. In this case the carer is happy to provide the service and has done so for some time, the agency providing the service isn't.
Until people are in a situation where they have to compromise or do without purely because of disability it's difficult to realise how significant these things can be, the constant erosion of the choices that others take for granted, the loss of autonomy and the knowledge that you are most definitely not an equal citizen but someone whose life is constrained not just by your disability but the attitudes of others, including those with the power to make your life more normal.