The vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care.

Whether you’re a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. During this week’s anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we’ll revisit the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Camille Christian, home care provider and SEIU member Camille Christian & Brenda Jackson, home care providers & SEIU members; Patty Berne, co-founder and director, Sins Invalid; Jessica Lehman, executive director, San Francisco Senior and Disability Action; Kenzi Robi, president, San Francisco IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) Public Authority Governing Body; Rachel Stewart, queer disabled woman passionate about disability and employment issues; Alana Theriault, disability benefits counselor in Berkeley, California; Ingrid Tischer, director of development, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF); and Alta Mae Stevens, in-home caregiver.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Laura Flynn & Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum, and Contributing Producers, Alice Wong and Stephanie Guyer-Stevens. Our executive director is Jina Chung. 

MUSIC: This episode includes Dexter Britain: The Time To Run (Finale), Gillicuddy: Adventure, Darling, Steve Combs: March, Jason Shaw: Running Waters, Jared C. Balogh: BRICK BY BRICK DAY BY DAY, Jared C. Balogh: INCREMENTS TOWARDS SERENITY, Nheap: Crossings, Cherly KaCherly: The Hungry Garden, Trio Metrik: Vogelperspektive, & Kevin MacLeod: Faster Does It.

Learn More:

• UCSF: UCSF Study Projects Need for 2.5M More Long-Term Care Workers by 2030

• SEIU: Longterm Care Workers

• Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

• Disability Visibility Project

• Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network

• National Disability Leadership Alliance

• Senior and Disability Action

• Sins Invalid

• San Francisco In Home Supportive Services Public Authority

• Family Caregiver Alliance