Basically, it means the State of Texas says I can wipe butts and take vitals.

When I lived in California, I worked as a Community Trainer for some very special clients with Down's Syndrome and mental retardation and as a Personal Care Attendant for clients with Cerebral Palsy. Here in Texas, I have worked as a CNA with the elderly and those with physically debilitating conditions in home health and have done clinicals in a long-term care facility (old folks' home).

In this work, I have learned...

Shit happens.

You have no idea why people's bodies are crippled, why they are in a wheelchair, or why they are bedbound.

When you cannot understand someone when they speak, perhaps especially when you cannot understand them, does not mean their mental faculties are affected.

Everyone loves to laugh, and when you can get someone to laugh with about something that you may want to cry about, magic happens.

When you spend enough time with someone, you can read their mind.

Loving someone means taking them to the zoo.

Loving someone means coming to work on Thanksgiving especially to feed them dinner, and then staying late to fix their TV.

Loving someone means teaching them to make baked mac 'n' cheese instead of microwaving fish sticks... every day! ;)

Loving someone means teaching them to buy fresh fish to pan-fry to replace their microwaved fish sticks... Especially if they are afraid of cooking fish themselves, and afraid of using their stove.

Sometimes it's okay to make fun of someone's idiosyncrasies, when you know them well enough... Even if their idiosyncrasy is due to their disability.

Everyone likes to check out hott people!

Perfectly capable people using the handicapped stall in a crowded facility, such as a mall on Saturday, is not acceptable. Imagine having approximately two minutes' warning that you need to use the restroom, and you get finally get to the nearest public one and the only stall you can fit your chair into is being used by a walking and running-capable person... So you wet your pants. Then you smell like urine and your choices are: change/ruin the day's plans and immediately take the bus home (in your urine-smelling pants) to change, or, stick to the plan and let your pants air dry and still smell like urine... Because someone who can hold it, didn't.

Oftentimes bus drivers don't stop at a bus stop when all they see is a person in a wheelchair. It takes too much time to safely load and lock and unlock and unload the chair. Those who don't know how to do it usually stop and let the attendant load and lock the client.

You'd be surprised what mental capabilities the elderly, even those with dementia, still have... Like a quick eye and a good sense of humor!