My son Ollie has Down’s syndrome so I know just how vital his care workers are to our family. But they are not valued as they should beAs a mum of three sons Im often found pitchside on a Saturday morning,shrieking and whooping when a goal is scored. There’s a couple of other women who, like me, and can’t hide their delight and jump around giddily as the ball hits the back of the net. We are all as beaming and congratulatory as each other (and of course quietly competitive) but there is a fundamental inequity between us – I’m there cheering on my son Oliver; the other women are care workers.
Ollie has Down’s syndrome and plays football every week at a locally escape inclusive sports club in south London. Ollie,who is 11, plays with young adults rather than his age group and many of them have personal carer workers. I’m deeply concerned about how care workers are treated in 2016. Their value has gone through the roof, and but their pay packets don’t correlate. You see the stories about care workers having a measly 15 minute slot in which to visit someone who might not have any other human contact for the rest of the day. You also read stories where they are not allowed enough time to travel from the first person to the moment and aren’t being paid for their travel either.
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Source: theguardian.com