Living Independently by Diane Rhodes

I am a self-motivated woman who has been successfully living independently for about five years. I like living on my own because I can make all of my own decisions. I can go where I want when I want. That freedom and independence is very important to me. I have cerebral palsy so I have a personal care attendant who helps me with the daily needs that I can’t manage on my own.

Hiring personal care attendants is challenging. Personalities can be hard to deal with at times, if you know what I mean. Hiring is a challenge because the attendant care provider does not always tell you everything during the interview before they may be hired. People are often not aware that having a good personality match with your attendant is very important.

The agency that helped me hire my personal attendants didn't realize my needs at first. Then they took some time to talk with me and realize what I needed in order to make things work for me. I soon realized how the agency worked and they got to know me better too. I now have a good working relationship with my staff and the agency. I have a good support staff and it makes a big difference in my life to successfully manage attendants and it allows me to continue to live on my own.

Hiring a good group of attendant care providers was difficult. It was a challenge to do it but I finally did and I am happy with the attendant care providers who work with me now!

There is often a high turnover in attendant care providers due to the low pay they receive. I think they should get more money.

There were times when one of my attendants quit and I needed to hire someone right away. The agency I work with helped me to hire someone as fast they could.

Besides living independently, I want a job! I am in supported employment program with East Bay Innovations. I am working on all kinds of vocational skills and this is a continuing process. I have been taking tutorials over the Internet. I have been learning how to use Microsoft Excel and Word. I also have been working on basic math to improve my bookkeeping. I am also assisting the speech and language pathologist at the Center by making low-tech communication boards using the Boardmaker software by Mayer-Johnson, Inc.

I was at a different program for about two years and they were supposed to find me a job. However, they were unable to because of my severe disabilities and the attitudes of employers toward people like me. I know that I have some good job skills. I just have to convince employers that my disability is not an obstacle to doing a job.

I am glad to be living independently and working on my vocational training. My life is pretty good right now and will be even better when I get a job.

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