Michael et al,
    I don't know Kathy Jo personally either but, as she has acknowledged in
previous recent posts, she has not only some severe mobility and
communication limitations, but a documented history of attempts to hurt
herself and others. I suspect that the requirement that she have an
overnight awake assistant serves a dual purpose, to help with any middle of
the night physical needs and to intervene if she should become depressed
late at night and attempt to hurt herself or anyone else.
    Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michel Gagnon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: Your summer


> "pam" <[log in to unmask]> a écrit dans le message de
> news:007901c49ba1$0c806ec0$0c0110ac@pamelallbmpn7i...
> > I think wake staff might mean that your overnight attendant stays awake
> all
> > night in case you need help. People who work overnight and stay awake
are
> > paid more than those who can sleep during the night - rightly so, but
> this
> > is an added expense if you're paying out of pocket.
> >
>
>
>
> OK. That's what I thought. Still makes me wonder why a person with CP
would
> really NEED wake staff? I see its use for people who have breathing
> difficulties (or a person on a respirator or having some other grave
> illness), for instance, because staff might need to ressuscitate them
ASAP,
> but I wonder why a person with CP would really need that. OTOH, I could
see
> why a person with CP or other similar physical handicap might need to have
> someone around who might be sleeping, but who could still react on a
> relatively short notice if you ring a bell, for instance.
>
> Which makes me wonder, Kathy Jo, whether your needs have been correctly
> assessed. There are two potential situations that I think of:
> - Having someone around, awake 24 hours/day makes you _feel_ more
> comfortable, but is not really necessary. IOW, if you were alone a few
> hours a day, you would need to learn to rely on yourself. In that way,
> weaning out the support would be great for your sanity.
> - Your parents and your case workers are trying to make sure you remain
> dependent, that you come into a full-time centre, etc. by convincing you
> (and eachother) that you really can't be on your own, that you need to be
> kept on leash like a dog, etc.
>
> Obviously I don't know you, I haven't met you and I haven't seen how you
> move around. But I have two good friends with fairly severe movement
> limitations who cope very well indeed with 2-4 hours per day of support.
It
> takes a certain amount of organisation and planning, but it can be done.
>
> Another thought: 2-3 days ago, you were talking about a centre in another
> town. I don't know the centre, nor your location vs that of your parents'
> and job, but moving in a different city might be a way to cut links
> "diplomatically" with your parents. I mean if you move into a centre 2 km
> away from home, your parents could drop in often; but if you move 100 km
> away, they won't drop in too often and you'll be able to live without
their
> clout.
>
>
> --
>
> Michel Gagnon
>