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. In honor of Disability Pride Month, we’ll revisit the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

• Camille Christian, home care provider and SEIU member
• Brenda Jackson, home care provider and SEIU member
• 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)
• Alta Mae Stevens, in-home caregiver

Episode Credits:

• Host: Laura Flynn and Anita Johnson
• Contributing Producers: Alice Wong and Stephanie Guyer-Stevens
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman 
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music:

• 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 | 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 Worker
• 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

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast 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.