Breathe
By Mari Rouss Villegas Balmori
No one prepares us moms to face motherhood with a son or daughter with a disability or a chronic degenerative disease. This challenge does not come with superpowers. Moms of children with disabilities or chronic illnesses did not expect it, we did not prepare ourselves in a special place, nor did we have the resilience, the strength, the courage, or the mettle to face it. What we did have and have every day is LOVE. This silent, unpaid, unfair and painful struggle, most face it with dignity, without victimization, with smiles, good energy and a mask of "everything is fine". But these daily battles break, discomfort and hurt; they generate impotence, rage and pain, and this increases when we consider that there is no support, that we are not visible and that we are rather in the way, as if our struggle for inclusion and a better quality of life for our daughters and sons were frowned upon. This must change.
Primary caregivers, the majority of whom are women, assume essential responsibilities that sustain the social and economic fabric of communities. Despite their invaluable contribution, their work is often invisible and unpaid. According to data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), women perform three times more unpaid work than men. This disproportionate burden translates into fewer opportunities for formal employment, education and personal development for women caregivers.
"Behind all the care for our children are those of us who care for them, and we are invisible," say mothers who are caregivers for different groups.
