Topic Tuesday // Does the label 'Carers' make you feel uncomfortable // Tues 27 March, 7pm AEDT

[NikNik]

I'm not sure if any of your saw on our Facebook page we advertised a survey asking a couple of questions about the term carer.

This is what we found:

1. What word do you use to describe a person who provides unpaid, ongoing support to someone for their health or mental health needs?

What I found really interesting was the next question. In the above question we asked for a 'definition' but when we asked level of comfort for each term, 51% said they felt 'very comfortable' with family terms (husband, brother, son etc), but only 28% felt 'very comfortable' with the term 'Carer'.

[Determined]

I didnt actually see that survey @NikNik, it would have been good to participate.

I am not completly supprised by the results though. 

[Adge]

Paid care workers are not called Carers anymore, that hasn't been for years now.

It's usually Support Worker, which is my job title in Disabilities.

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[NikNik]

@Henry there's an amazing stat that I will never forget that I found through Carers Australia:
"It is estimated that carers provided 1.9 billion hours of unpaid care in 2015"

The roles of paid and unpaid are very similar..... minus the money

[Susana]

Hello @Shaz51 and hello everyone,

I have never thought about the term "carer" and how I feel about it.....

Hmm... I neither feel positively or negatively about it.

However, I have always preferred being identified not by my role(s) but to explain what that role entails. Eg.. Rather than say.... "I am a carer", I might say, I" support my mother in such a nd such a way..." Much in the same way as I prefer to say "My son has autism and this is how he manages day to day life.. " rather than to say "My son is autistic and he..... ". I guess maybe it's because it opens out the conversation more open endedly and not have the hearer have a perceived idea of what that role is before you have the chance to explain....

Having said that, I think identity such as mother/ daughter/ wife/ grandaughter is fine.... Because it describes the relationship not the role per se.... Can always expand.

[Former-Member]

I am very mindful of Mr D's feelings in relation to use of the term and use it as little as possible. I noticed recently with an orthopaedic doc (rather than pdoc), Mr D announced I was his carer even though I said I was his wife.

[Adge]

Clients in the Disability (& aged care field) are not called clients anymore.

We are told to refer to them as "Customers" - personally I think that sounds far too much like retail (a shop).

A Client sounds like a more caring relationship (to me) - & Support Worker sounds far too clinical & uncaring.

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[NikNik]

Welcome @Susana 🙂
Good on you for opening up conversations - that can be really tricky!

[Henry]

In my experience and in many media stories, paid care workers are often reffered to as carers.  There have even been occasions where I hear or see the word carer and then find the story is about wildlife carers.  From my perspective there is no clear universal use of the word.

[Adge]

1.9 billion hours of unpaid care - that's huge @NikNik