According to the report of the Deccan Chronicle of India on February 10, more than 77% of the disabled live with their parents, another 17% live independently, and 6% live in collective families. And according to research, if parents or other relatives who provide care die or lose their mobility, less than half of parents will make long-term plans to arrange who will take over their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
According to a study by the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, more than 380 parents (mainly mothers) of disabled people participated in a nationwide web-based survey on their child rearing plans. The parents who participated in the survey were between 40 and 83 years old, and their disabled children were between 3 and 68 years old.
When asked whether parents have developed 11 projects related to the long-term needs of children (such as determining the heirs of current family caregivers, housing plans or building trust in special needs), more than 12% of parents said that they did not take any action.
Meghan Burke, the author of the study, said that disabled people live longer than their parents, so parents should make future care plans as soon as possible. Don't wait until your parents are old, weak or dead, and can't take care of your children. Moreover, the absence of a care plan will also have a significant impact on the whole family. In addition to facing the death of their parents, siblings have to take care of their disabled siblings.
Some parents said that their parents' divergent opinions and family members' refusal to discuss other arrangements were all factors hindering their plans. According to the survey, more than 7% of parents believe that this topic is too "emotional" or causes heavy family pressure. Economic constraints are a major obstacle for more than 46% of families to formulate nursing plans; More than 61% of parents said that the bigger problem is the lack of accommodation, employment and entertainment services that meet the special needs of children; More than 39% of parents said that their biggest obstacle was to obtain information about the development of care plans for disabled children.
Burke said that although more than half of the parents participated in three planned activities, such as seeking lawyers and discussing future care plans with their children or other family members, these actions were inspirational but not decisive. Decisive actions include housing arrangements or writing a letter of intent to guide future caregivers or legal guardians to decide how to care for the disabled.
(Internship compiler: Li Yu Reviewer: Tian Ruizhe)
