Author: OUR BEAUTIFUL CHALLENGES
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What I Wish People Knew About the PCA Waiver
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Eight Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. Throughout this series, I’ve talked about what having a PCA means to me, learning to be my own boss, choosing the right people, building trust, setting boundaries, asking for help, and redefining independence. But there’s one more thing I want to…
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Why Independence Doesn’t Mean Doing Everything Alone
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Seven Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. For a long time, I thought independence meant doing everything myself. If I could do something without help, I was independent. If I needed someone to help me, somehow that felt different. As a woman with cerebral palsy who spent years…
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Seven Things I Look for in a PCA
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Four Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. Having a PCA is about much more than having someone come into my home and help me with certain tasks. This person becomes part of my everyday life. They may see me when I’m having a great day and when I’m…
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Building Trust With My PCA
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Five Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. Trusting a PCA can almost be like trusting a partner. That might sound like an unusual comparison, but when you think about how involved a PCA can become in your everyday life, it makes sense. Depending on what kind of assistance…
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The Challenge of Being My Own Boss
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Three Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. Being part of a PCA Waiver program has given me something incredibly important: choice. I have the ability to choose the people who help me and have a say in how that help is provided. That freedom is a huge part…
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The Benefits of Having a PCA- and the Benefits of Learning Without One
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part Two Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. When I first started living on my own, it was at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving into my own apartment was already a huge step in my independence journey. But moving out during a pandemic made that experience…
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What a PCA Really Means
Living Independently: The PCA Journey — Part One Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie W.O.W.C.P. When people hear the words Personal Care Assistant, or PCA, they may assume that having one means a person with a disability cannot be independent. For me, it means almost the exact opposite. Having a PCA doesn’t mean I’m not independent.…
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The Doors That Opened When I Chose to Believe
Closing Disability Pride Month As Disability Pride Month comes to an end, I’ve found myself reflecting on the journey that brought me here. This month, I’ve written about disability history. I’ve reflected on the meaning of the Disability Pride Flag. I’ve shared stories about growing up with cerebral palsy, the barriers I’ve faced, and the…
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Meeting Disability at Different Doors
Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie Disability Pride series One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that not everyone meets disability at the same door. Some of us are born with a disability. Some acquire one through an illness, an accident, or simply through the aging process. No matter how we arrive, we all become…
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The Love I Never Expected
Disability Pride Seres Our Beautiful Challenges — Marie When people think about disability, they often think about doctors, therapy, accessibility, or advocacy. What they don’t always think about is love. Yet love is something every person hopes to experience. For many years, I wasn’t sure what my future would look like. I wondered if someone…
