Bre Avery Zacharski
This 22-year-old woman has a 25-year-old cousin named Mia, and Mia is intellectually disabled as well as autistic.
Mia operates more on a 10-year-old level than an adult level. She can handle the basics, but Mia isn’t able to stay at home by herself overnight or leave her house alone. Mia also cannot have a job, so she receives a disability check.
“I’m also autistic, and she’s always had a certain affinity for me and said that she feels that I understand her,” she explained.
“Mia’s mother, my aunt, has recently been diagnosed with cancer. She’s undergoing treatment, but she is very sick and has been told there is a very real chance of it becoming terminal. This has caused her to worry about who Mia is going to live with if she passes away.”
“My mother talked to my aunt and said on my behalf (without even speaking to me) that I may be interested in living with Mia, which my aunt thinks is a great idea.”
Her aunt has since sent her a very long text message, promising to let her inherit her home if she agrees to care for Mia.
She knows that’s a very kind thing for her aunt to even offer, and she does feel appreciative, but this puts her in a tough place.
She thinks Mia would do better in an assisted living facility as opposed to living with loved ones for her entire life.
Her other concern is that should she sign up to be Mia’s caregiver, that could impact the remainder of her own life.
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