RIC Disability Ethics Collection

Throughout the U.S., exhausted parents are providing all day, every day care for their developmentally disabled loved ones, while battling for the help and resources they need. How long can they do it alone? For 18 years, Rob and Betsy have taken care of their profoundly disabled daughter at home. Now middle-aged, exhausted by the constant stress of juggling Megan’s unrelenting care needs with the demands of raising their other daughter and hanging onto their jobs, they feel that they have hit the wall. Marsha and Larry’s son Stuart was born autistic in 1957. As a violent young man, he was confined to state hospitals and jails, but today his elderly parents are able to care for him at home with the assistance of a state-funded caregiver. But with state funding cutbacks, and facing cancer herself, Marsha wonders what the future holds.

Keywords: Developmentally disabled, exhausted parents, stress, autistic

Call number: ED/FAN-24/7-DVD-33-2005