How much of yourself do you have to give to your partner in support, and what is the true cost if...
Category: Caregiving Relationships
Taking on care work responsibilities change all of our relationships, not only the relationship with the person we’re providing care for. Care work pushes us to re-prioritize our relationships, sometimes temporarily, sometimes forever.
The #Midwessay: Sarah Cords, You Can’t Go Home Again
Just lately it is even harder to stay in my house, my geographical middle. This is because my...
My Autistic Brother And I
Being away from Casey after growing up with him for almost 20 years is difficult. I worry about...
The Caregivers
A few years into the illness, Janie could sense it worsening. Buzz, who had never yelled at her,...
Can I Sever Ties With My Selfish Sister?
Several years ago, I told my sister that I wouldn’t be upset if we never spoke again. Recently her...
A Disability Day of Mourning: Remembering the Murdered and the Vulnerable
On March 1 every year, disability communities gather to mourn disabled people murdered by their...
Queen Latifah On Being Her Mom’s Caregiver: ‘I Would Just Want to Fall Apart’
On top of her work in entertainment, she’s also held the role of caregiver. In 2018, Latifah lost...
My dad now makes risky choices and I need to accept the role reversal
I pull up in front of the house, knowing Dad will not be waiting to greet me. Having trouble...
How to Coordinate a Parent’s Care With Siblings
When it becomes clear that an aging parent needs caregiving, it’s uncharted territory for adult...
I feel guilty for checking my mother into long-term care against her will
For close to two hours, my mom had stubbornly resisted our cajoling, pleading and arguing as we...
What the Conversation Around the “Great Resignation” Leaves Out
Since the beginning of the pandemic, one in five health care workers has left their job. They’ve...
When siblings become caregivers
All of Marlene’s children live within an hour of her Michigan home, yet Sheila, who lives the...
The Care Crisis Isn’t What You Think
What my research participant made clear to me that day is that the lack of robust and accessible...
How My Father Escaped Jail for Christmas
My mother and father never married. This meant, as my mother explained, that I was his legal next...
When My Wife Developed Alzheimer’s, the Story of Our Marriage Kept Us Connected
In December 2012, at age sixty-one, Judy received a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. The news...
A hospital offered a payment plan for baby’s NICU stay — $45,843 a month for a year
Under the 2010 health law, nonprofit hospitals are required to provide financial assistance to...
The Art of Disability Parenting
Robert has cerebral palsy, and he has weathered multiple complications in his seven years. I don’t...
What if There’s No Such Thing as Closure?
[Pauline] Boss, an emeritus professor of family social science — the study of families and close...
United in Grief: Two Widow’s Perspectives
The first months after our partners passed away, we saw all the survival mechanisms we didn’t know...
Things I’ll Do Differently When I’m Old
Soon after my 50th birthday, 10 years ago, I started keeping a list of “Things I will do/things I...
Churn
Nobody just “stops by” this house. My mother won’t let anyone she knows come near the outside,...
Sandwich Generation: How Do You Decide Whose Needs Come First?
Your parents need your help right now, and so do your adult kids. But what about saving for your...
Wash
She showers once a week, and for the next six weeks—approximately four months into our new...
Some young adults with disabilities are stuck in long-term care. They say that’s discrimination.
For the past decade, [Victoria] Levack has lived, reluctantly, at the Arborstone Enhanced Care...