MOVING

OUT:

OPERATION GET A LIFE

by Kathy Wechsler

When you live at home, your parents tend to do everything for you. Food just magically appears in the refrigerator, electricity and water grow on trees and your service dog’s piles in the backyard disappear into thin air.

Along with freedom and independence, living on your own comes with a whole new set of responsibilities. Your neuromuscular disease (mine is Friedreich’s ataxia) may not allow you to use the oven or stove safely, but you can decide on the meal, come up with a grocery list and go to the grocery store.

I needed that responsibility. It was time to move out of my mom’s house and start doing what I could for myself.

To make this moving-out thing work, I was going to have to wage war, and what war could be won without a battle plan? That’s when I came up with Operation Get a Life.

Strategy A:
Get on Arizona Freedom to Work

Me at my new apartment complex

I knew I’d need more caregiver hours when I moved out. To get those hours paid by the state, I needed to qualify for my state’s Medicaid programs, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS).

Because of my income as an MDA staff writer, I couldn’t get on AHCCCS or ALTCS. But I didn’t earn nearly enough to pay for the number