Moving Out on His Own: Ishan’s Story of Determination, Independence, and Real Talk About Independent Living.

In this powerful and eye-opening episode, Valerie reconnects with Ishan Manerikar — a witty, fiercely independent 24-year-old student living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2. Diagnosed at 18 months and raised alongside a younger sister who also has SMA, Ishan grew up with a family who encouraged independence at every turn — even when it required a little ruthlessness.

At just 18, Ishan made the bold decision to move out of his parents’ home — not into a group setting or institution, but fully on his own. Now living in an accessible university residence, he manages his own care team, juggles a psychology and philosophy degree, plays power hockey, and navigates daily life with equal parts strategy and sarcasm! 

This episode offers a rare flip side perspective — not from a parent advocating for independence, but from a young adult with a disability who demanded it for himself.

Key Topics:

-Understanding SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) Type 2 — Ishan breaks down the different SMA types and how modern treatments have shifted life expectancy and expectations.

-Growing Up Independent (Whether You Want To or Not!) — How his parents fostered capability, confidence, and competitiveness between siblings with disabilities.

-Why Moving Out Was Never Not an Option — Even when few peers with his level of disability had done it before.

-Finding & Managing Caregivers — How he recruits support workers on Kijiji (with hilariously honest ads) and why he prefers hiring people with little to no medical background. (See Transcript for full ad)

-The Housing Dilemma — The harsh realities of finding accessible housing on a budget — and why student residence is currently his lifeline.

-The Hidden Cost of Independence — The emotional realities of living alone, the isolation that comes with autonomy, and the limitations of government support programs like AISH.

-The Broken Support System — Candid commentary on navigating healthcare funding, caregiver limitations, and why “playing the game” determines survival for many adults with disabilities.

-Independence can be empowering and isolating at the same time — both truths can exist together.

Final Thoughts from Valerie

·       This episode is a raw and real reminder of why I do the work I do with Forever Home Consulting. Parents need guidance — yes — but young adults like Ishan also need agency, dignity, and pathways to chart their own lives.

·       If you’ve ever wondered:

·       “But will my child really want to move out? And what would that look like?”

·       …this conversation gives you an answer — straight from someone who’s living it!

Live with Intention - Embrace the Journey

Connect with Ishan 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ishan.manerikar 

Instagram: @man_in_a_car

Connect with Valerie

info@foreverhomeconsulting.ca

Music Acknowledgement: Audio Coffee - Denys Kyshchuk

Editor: Scott Arbeau

Link for book: The S.H.I.N.E. Principle: The special needs mom's path to strength, hope and happiness by Valerie Arbeau

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CW18ZXGX (Canada)

https://a.co/d/03hFdZI4 (United States)

Learn more about your host at:
https://coachingwithvalerieanne.com/

Transcript

Ishan:

I can manage everything on my own, I just can't get dressed, right? And so that, to me, I feel like, more organized housing solutions don't really cater to people like me who want to live as frankly flexible life as possible. 

Valerie:

 Hello and welcome to Forever Home for our kids with disabilities. I'm Valerie, mom to two with disabilities, one visible, one invisible. I'm a life coach and an author. This space has been created to help you navigate the journey of creating a secure, sustainable forever home for your child. We'll chat with parents on this path, realtors, financial planners and other experts who can make the process easier.

 Why am I so passionate about this? Because seeing my eldest thrive living independent of us was a gift I didn't always know I could give. I want you to have the opportunity to explore giving that gift to your child.

 Hello, I'm so glad you're here. I'm Valerie, your host, mom to two with disabilities, one visible, one invisible.

 Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to our guest who I met as a young child. Our paths cross recently at a very sad event. I knew that I needed to get him on the show to share the flip side of why I do what I do in guiding parents to navigate creating a forever home for their child with disabilities.

 Ishan Manirika is a 24-year-old student at the Mount Royal University in Calgary who is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life.

He moved out at the age of 18 and hopes to encourage others in their quest for independence, while also highlighting the deeply tragic shortcomings of our health system.

Ishan is fiercely competitive, curious and allegedly nearly fun.

 So welcome Ishan.

Ishan:

Hello, it's awesome being here. Thank you for having me on the podcast.

Valerie:

No problem. We are just excited to have you here and share with us. So speaking of sharing with us, I would love for you to share with our audience a little bit about your story and about your diagnosis.

Ishan:

 Sure. Yeah. So I've got SMA type 2, spinal muscular atrophy type 2. And basically what that means is I don't have enough motor neurons in my muscles. And so the signal from my brain to my muscles is a little staticky, I say, and it's a degenerative condition. So I get weaker and I get older. I was diagnosed at 18 months. I've got two older siblings that are both perfectly able-bodied and whatnot. 

And so it was definitely a bit of a shock to the family. Like it doesn't we don't know anyone in our family with it. One in 40 adults are carriers and both adults have to be carriers for the kid to have one in four chance of having SMA. And so it's actually really quite common for a rare disability. So yeah, there's four types of SMA. There's type one, which is the most severe kind. And those individuals don't tend to live past two. And then type two is what I have is the one that you're going to meet the most of because the higher up in numbers, we go the more rare it is. So most of the type twos are the ones that sort of have early childhood as dark as that is. And that one has a massive range. So up until 2017 or so, there was no treatment. So we had much shorter lifespans.

My lifespan would have been like 30s or 40s type thing. And now that I'm on treatment, it should be nearly normal. We'll see. A little lab rat at the moment, but it seems like it's working. So it works out for me.

 And then my younger sister who also happens to have SMA type two, she was able to walk up until she was six probably could have walked a little bit longer. But for unrelated issues, stopped walking. She actually did heavily assisted ballet, but ballet nonetheless. As a four year old, four and five year old type thing before she stopped walking. And so it's just a huge range and ability. You really have no idea what you're going to get. And then type three that as you can usually walk up until like puberty’ish teenagers sometimes. And then type four. I've never actually met anyone with type four. But that's like onset in actual early adulthood. So there is a semi pro soccer player over in Europe who actually had type four and had to retire early, even though he was quite good for that league. So that huge range.

Valerie:

 Wow. Well, thank you so much for educating us on SMA. I didn't realize there was four types. So thank you so much for going into that for us and just explaining that.

Wow. It sounds pretty amazing. I'm thinking of my oldest that has cerebral palsy, which is another one of those umbrella diagnosis that has a huge range from extremely mild to very severe. And my child, my oldest is totally dependent for all care because of her CP.

So what promoted you? Because I learned when we met at that very sad event, I learned that you had moved out from home. And so what prompted you to want to do that?

Ishan:

Yeah, it's a it's a bit of a roundabout answer as I think you'll find becomes a pretty common theme with me. Basically, my parents did a really good job of making sure Shanaya and I strive for independence whenever possible. They were a little bit ruthless about it. And I love them for that.

It was also really helpful having a younger sister in a chair. She and I, I think, as a result, got a lot more comfortable with our disabilities and each other's disabilities than we might have otherwise.

We used to go to this thing called SMA camp and it's where families from across Canada with kids with SMA would go and spend a week together.

And other parents would get super nervous about Shanaya and I playing tag with their kids. Because we were just so aggressive and intense about it. Like Shanaya and I, for everybody else, it was like a gentle tap with a tag. It Shanaya and I did not count unless we rammed the other person with our chair. And so we've always kind of been built that way. And my I think we get it from my mom. She's actually insane. And it never ceases to provide entertainment for her weekend projects that end up lasting months. And like it's it's awesome. I love it. So I think with that, like a desire to do as much as we could, I still don't really know how to phrase this, but we were very much encouraged to be as "normal" as possible. And I still have a very complicated relationship, I think, with that word. And that is how I grew up. And so I was expected to do the next normal thing after high school, which was move out. Eventually, I was able to live at home longer. My older sister lived with my parents till she was like, you know, 20, 21, something like that. But I really wanted out. And people actually were taking bets on how long it would take me to move back home, because they didn't think that I'd be able to do it. And so that spite has fueled me for the last six years.

Valerie:

Love it. Love it.

Okay, so what I'm hearing, Ishan, is that you just had a growing up that was normalized in as much as even though you and your little sister were in wheelchairs, you did everything that any child your age would do as far as possible to do. So for you, as would be for most kids, yeah, I need to move out at some point in time. And just so as you know, parents kind of like that as well. They like to be able to promote their kids.

Ishan:

My mom is exactly that. She loves me tons. I don't doubt that for a second. But my older brother's like, I don't know how old he is now, 37, 38. So when I was moving out, she'd been a mom already for 32 years or something like that. And so, she was excited to be an empty nester for sure.

Valerie:

Absolutely. And as we raise our children, the natural progression of things are to develop them and to equip them to be independent so that we can experience being empty nesters. And so I love the fact that it was something that was sort of promoted, quote unquote, but it's something that you initiated yourself that you wanted to do, you wanted to experience because of the peers of yours were experiencing the same thing. So when did you know, Ishan, that you was ready to move out?

Ishan:

Yeah, I just wanted to go back on to something you just mentioned there about how, like other peers of mine were moving out. It's true in that able-bodied peers were, but it is quite rare for people with my level of disability to move out and certainly not that young. I play wheelchair hockey, power hockey, and I'm one of quite literally a handful that lives on their own, not in some sort of group home setting. Yeah, like I said, my able-bodied peers were doing it, but it was something that I only had a few examples of for just disabled people doing.

Valerie:

Wow. So it's almost like you were pioneering.

Ishan:

Um, I mean, I've been a guinea pig for most of my life, so yes, I guess.

Sorry, to answer your other ones, how did I know when I was ready? 

Valerie:

Yeah. 

Ishan:

Yeah. No, I think it was just kind of always expected that it would happen.

It was a little bit scary in a way. Like I had to find my own caregivers. I managed them all on my own. And so that part was a little bit scary. And then trying to figure out how much care did I actually need? A lot of things changed, especially considering I do have a degenerative condition. How could I make it sustainable for myself? And so, yes, there was a lot of anxiety into doing it, but also not doing it was never an option. So, for me, like just mentally, that's just not happening. So I don't know if I have a good answer to that question, because I never really considered not doing it.

Valerie:

Yeah. Okay. So I think probably what I'm hearing from your upbringing, it was the trajectory that you were going on. And I love the fact that you already identified that it was not an option not to move out. So it was how are we going to make this happen? So love that. How did it go when you told your parents you were going to go?

Ishan:

Yeah, they were excited. It was honestly, it was less the lead up to moving out so much as it was after I moved out. So leading up to moving out, everybody was just they were both excited for me. And my mom was a little bit nervous, but again, fully supportive of it. And then after I moved out, I told everybody that I did not want to see or hear from them for two weeks. So I didn't want a text message. I didn't want a phone call. I didn't want nothing. Leave me alone. So, my older sister lives quite close to me, actually. She just happens to have a house about a five-minute drive away. And so my mom would be asking her to come and check on me to see if I was still alive type thing. I think my mom was worried that like, you know, like what if he had a bookshelf and it fell on top of him and like he's been dead for two days? Who knows, right? And so I ended up writing like a satire news article to send to my older sister about how a disabled boy actually managed to survive 12 hours on his own and how he must be a beacon of hope and inspiration to the community and all that. And so she left me alone after that. It was very, very well received. Yeah, they took it well. Like I say, they were excited. My dad's been amazing and like he's bailed me out countless times. I've got caregivers overnight and not during the day. So that wasn't the case when I first moved out. I did have someone for an hour during the day taking me to the washroom. And that was quite dicey for a while. It was hard finding someone reliable. So I think there was anxiety for myself, certainly, but definitely for my parents too.

Yeah, I now can take myself to the washroom. And so since then, things have been a lot easier.

Valerie:

 All right. Well, thanks so much for sharing that. I'm just odd that number one, that it was never not an option to move out. And I love that your family were so supportive of you. I, as a parent, would have been absolutely frightened to death as well. So I can certainly appreciate where your mother was coming from. And to be told not to contact you for two weeks, I would have been tearing out my hair for sure.

Just saying.

So you mentioned caregivers. And so it started off that you had a caregiver during the day and then you have caregivers overnight. So how did you go about navigating getting caregivers? Because I think this is a problem for a lot of parents trying to find caregivers from when your child is little to when your child is an adult. It is a challenge. So how did you navigate that?

Ishan:

Kijiji. 

Valerie:

Oh!

And I like him as inexperienced as possible. My favorite caregiver for a long time was in school to be a massage therapist. She didn't have any disabled family or anything. Never had a caregiving in the job before. She worked at a movie theater for a long time before that. She was amazing. Another one was a lifeguard. She was awesome. So yeah, I like them quite inexperienced. And the reason for that is because I have no interest in living in any sort of institution. I understand that that's, to be clear, like organized housing for people with disabilities is absolutely critical. There's a huge need for it. And it is like a perfectly valid form of independence.

It's just, I feel like I sit in a gray area of independence where I am on my own for now more than 12 hours a day. I can manage everything on my own. I just can't get dressed. Right. And so that, to me, I feel like more organized housing solutions don't really cater to people like me who want to live as frankly flexible life as possible. Sometimes I go to bed at like 11 30. I've gone to bed at 2 30 before too. Right. And so I find that that's not as easy to do in other arrangements. And so, yeah, anyways, just going back to, I'm not interested in nurses or people like that. And that's not to say that, actively avoid them. I think there are lots of value to having that. And I have had caregivers with prior experience.

But I don't take that to be a major factor one way or the other. I'm much more interested in are they able to pick me up, is a pretty, pretty big one.

The other one is just, are they willing to learn? Are they in turn, because I am on Kijiji, I'm getting the whole spectrum of humanity. And so there are people there who are very much just looking to make rent the next couple months. And I empathize with that. But I need more term and security than that. Right. And so I want them to stick around for ideally at least a year.

Just because of how much effort it does take to train people. I hate training caregivers. It's exhausting. I never sleep properly for like a couple of weeks at least. Right. And so trying to do life on top of that, it's just not a fun time.

So yeah, term is really important to me. And yeah, mostly just in interest in actually learning, do they end up criticism well? Are they easy to be around? Some level of flexibility is nice. I do trial shifts.

And my ads are pretty ridiculous.

Really ridiculous. Would you like me to read one to you? 

Valerie:

Sure.

Ishan:

 I recently hired someone back in May and the caregiver that he's replacing I had for four years. So I've had really, really good success with my current team.

Another thing that I've done as well is I've built up kind of a network of spare caregivers as well.

In case somebody can't make it as vacation, they're feeling sick, whatever. I've got backup someplace for that. And then family, of course, is a last resort type thing.

I'm not going to read the whole thing because it is a little bit long.

But just to give you the gist, I've got like a little intro paragraph just explaining things.

And then I say, like, I break it up into categories. So…

 Whatever shall you do with me? One, roll me over at night. Think of an oversized hot dog. Two, shower me in other assorted personal hygienic tasks. Three, what? Okay. occasional cooking. Aren't classified culinary gods? Fear not. I shall provide recipes. And then the benefits are paid to sleep. Now, isn't that a dream come true? Bonus. You get paid to dream new dreams. I will sometimes feed you, attracting a peasant, one bread crumb at a time. Did I mention you get paid to sleep? So things like that. There's a full full page of that kind of silliness.

But it gets attention. A lot of applicants. And I think people are drawn to how not soulless and institutional it is. And so that gets me the kind of people that I'm looking for as well.

*** See end of transcript for the ad***

Valerie:

Okay. Love it. Awesome. Awesome. Okay. So you shared with us about caregivers and the importance of connecting with the right one. And I love how you have your ad that it speaks to your personality and the type of people that you want to attract to work with you. Because as you mentioned earlier, you got to be able to hang out with these people. So you want to make sure that you guys jive. So the other thing that I was curious about is what was the process for securing a home? Because obviously you're in a wheelchair, so you needed something wheelchair accessible. So how did that come about?

Ishan:

Yes. So right now I'm lucky enough to live in student residence at my university. It's quite accessible.

I'm going to be real with you. I am terrified to move out. I am taking my sweet, sweet time here because moving out of this place, like you say, I am in a chair. And I know I will never find something this accessible and this cheap. And so that's part of why I am here for as long as I am. Because when I graduate and I'm getting a job, that job needs to be what I want to focus on for a long time. It needs to be good jumping off. I understand that careers change and all that jazz, but this better be an actual career to start.

I can't afford a lack of stability really, because the housing that I will require will probably be a little bit pricier and certainly harder to get. And so I think that the housing component really does play into my anxiety just around, what do I want to be when I grow up. And I meet people all the time that say, oh, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up and they'll be in their 50s or whatever. And that's very cute. And I understand the point of what they're trying to say. It is unfortunately entirely unrelatable and still not super applicable to me. So like, sure, I can make that joke in 20 years or whatever. But it doesn't mean that I just took a giant leap of faith, so to speak, into doing something for a while.

And so, yeah, the housing component is scary. I do know other people who have made it work. And I did an internship in Kelowna. I'm from Calgary. And I did an internship in Kelowna for a few months. And that, I think, taught me a lot about what it's like living in an actual house that's not made for chairs, God no. And so that gave me a lot of insight.

Valerie:

I appreciate you mentioning that you're in student housing. So for our audience, what is it you're studying?

Ishan:

I'm a psych major, allegedly. I take all kinds of courses and all kinds of different things. Like I say, I'm dragging my feet as long as I can. I think I've gone through like three generations of front-depth people at this point. I think at residence, I am an eternal here. I am also a philosophy minor. Both fields are famously employable, he said sarcastically. So,I don't know what I'm doing with it. It might be a waste of time, but it's super interesting. And so that's all I really care about right now.

Valerie:

Absolutely. Love it. Love it. So just going back to the housing piece, because I certainly can appreciate we live in Calgary. It is a very expensive city. So we have our oldest, Melody-Anne, set up in her forever home, but it was our family home. And we had quite a difficult time trying to find something that was wheelchair accessible. So we needed everything, of course, on one level. And we were fortunate enough to buy a home that had been occupied by a lady that had MS.

And so she passed away. And so about a year later, they sold the home. So we were fortunate that my daughter gets this massive, massive master suite with this beautiful ensuite bathroom that is to die for. We're talking skylight, window blocks as part of the windows, and for the shower, rollin shower, big massive tub. Like it was well thought out, even the tracking system, because my daughter is total care. So we were very fortunate to get that. But to build something, oh my goodness, totally, I don't think we could do it. And not only that, the lot sizes are so much smaller than they used to be for us to be able to build a bungalow. The last bungalow we built was going back, I think probably 2005. And we had an odd shaped lot. So we were able to build a bungalow because it was an odd shaped lot and it was they were having a difficult time selling it. So yeah, getting out there to find something is going to be, not easy. That's for sure. So my thought process would be to go like, what about an apartment, one level condo?

Ishan:

Yeah, that's probably what it would end up being. A couple of people that I do know that are moved out in Calgary, that is the kind of setup they have. They've got an apartment building. Yeah, that is probably what I would do. It doesn't need to be truly, truly wheelchair accessible for me to make it work.

There are minimums. When I was going to Kelowna, the joke I would make is, as long as I can go to the washroom, I'll be happy. So that's still kind of true. It's just shockingly difficult to find a bathroom that can make work.

Yeah, there's little enough accessible housing that I probably would struggle to find that truly accessible. So, I might end up having to just figure it out for a while until maybe I can save up and buy myself an apartment. But that's increasingly rare for my generation.

Valerie:

Right, right?  Ain't that the truth? Ain't that the truth? So many more are actually living with their parents because they can't, in your generation, because they can't afford to move out. It's just not feasible for them. So speaking of bathrooms, that has been my beef.

Even in the home that my husband and I and our youngest moved out into, we have this massive master bedroom and this tiny bathroom. I'm like, what were the builders thinking? I do want to say, though, that I believe that there has been more awareness that bathrooms need to be bigger because people are living longer. So we're going to be needing mobility aids as we age. So let's just start off with making the bathroom big enough for a walker, big enough for a wheelchair, big enough for a commode, just to make life a whole lot easier. I know for the bathroom that Melody-Anne has in her home, it is massive. They totally thought about what they were doing with that bathroom, which we are so very grateful for. 

All right, so Ishan, how much of a difference is life now that you're living independent of your parents?

Ishan:

It's quite different. I know I was horrified that I had to meal plan. I still hate it. And the things like laundry, this is the dumb thing about me. I didn't know when I moved out that there was a difference between like a washing machine and a dryer.

I was 18 years old and I was like, the laundry machines, you know, those things. You put them in and your clothes come out clean. No, you idiot, that's not how things work. So just things like that, I had to learn.

Frankly, like money is always a neat topic. My sister is very good with her money. I'm maybe a little more impulsive, but I'm lucky enough to be on AISH, which makes a big difference as well.

Yeah, it's good though. I think it really builds a sense of self-confidence and a belief that I can do a fairly normal life. There are, I think, some mental health challenges that do come with that. And my condition, I think it can actually be quite isolating at times as well. I grew up in a fairly busy household. And so to go from that to living completely on my own is jarring. I've always struggled to make friends and whatnot. And so having that isolation has taken a lot of getting used to. And it's a net positive for me for sure. But it's definitely not been without its challenges for sure.

Valerie:

Well, I appreciate you bringing up that piece, Ishan, as far as coming from a busy household, you're one of four siblings. And then all of a sudden it's just you, and maybe a caregiver at some point during your 24-hour period. So I appreciate that you brought that up, that it can be isolating. But I also know that you play hockey. You mentioned that earlier. So I love the fact that you've purposely created a life where you get out of your home, where you get to meet with other people. You're also doing your psychology degree, plus, plus, plus. So, I love that you are out there meeting people and doing things and engaging with people. But there is still that element of, it's just me. It's just me in this house. So, thank you for addressing that. I appreciate that.

Ishan:

Yeah. I do do a lot of different things. I know a lot of different people.

The number of people I know that would also help me wipe my butt, or if I flopped over in my chair, which has happened, that would be able to come and help me is significantly smaller. So, like I say, I do get out a lot, but the isolation and independence, really, I think that word does capture both sides of the experience. The independence is really quite intense at times.

My sister doesn't like eating on her own, because as a family, we would always have sit down dinners. And so when she moved out, having food not be a social activity, which really drawing for her and she actually found it quite challenging to eat enough as a result of it. And then for me, I've always been a little bit more hermitish, so it was fine. But yeah, it was quite the adjustment, I think, just because Shanaya didn't know a ton of other people in this city that are also moved out. It's isolating from just an experience unique to us points of view as well. There's very few people that could relate with it, truly.

Valerie:

Yeah, yeah. So, independence is something that we strive to help our children achieve. But what I'm hearing you say, Ishan, that it comes with a price. Yeah.

Ishan:

Oh, 100%. I mean, it's a very Western concept that we have here, right? Of just you have to be your own man and behave your own way in the world. And that's a wonderfully romantic idea. At the same time, the world is a bit of a hellscape at times. We live with a really harsh medical system that is not equipped to give us what we need.

I am very good at navigating it. I know people who get less funding than I do simply because I'm better at playing the game than they are. And not only am I better at playing the game, I got lucky enough to get case workers and OTs that were able to help me play that game. And so it's really quite sad. Like, Alberta doesn't actually fund nighttime caregivers for my level of disability. They will only provide 24 hour or daytime.

Just nighttime isn't an option. And that's what I need. And so, I've been able to finagle my way to getting nighttime support. And that's, I think it's really gross and really sad that I have to do that because the government just isn't interested in independence for people with disabilities. Even when it comes to AISH, if you earn too much, you get cut off. And so as a result, some people do work less to keep their AISH benefits.

And that's really sad. I'm exceptionally lucky in the arrangements that I have. And I admittedly do live in fear constantly of that arrangement being altered.

Valerie:

Right. Right. That's yeah, that's hard to live with. And just for our audience, AISH stands for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, which is a government benefit that people can receive on a monthly basis just to help with their living expenses and any other expenses they may have. 

Okay, so Ishan, where can our audience go to find out more about you?

Ishan:

I've got a Facebook page, Instagram. Yeah, people want to reach out and ask questions there. I'm always happy to talk. I don't have like an organization that I think you're used to working with people that maybe do this as a job or something. I'm just a guy, man. I'm just a guy. You want to find me online. I'm the only one with my name. So you'll find me.

Valerie:

Love it. Love it. Thank you so much. So, before we conclude, Ishan, I'd love to hear some pearls of wisdom or words of encouragement from you for parents who are raising children with disabilities.

Ishan:

Yeah, I think I know people who have my condition that have grown up basically waiting to die, type thing. I think that is a reality with shorten lifespan or just disability in general.

I often get like, "Oh, wow. You're so inspiring. I could never live like that."

That's sweet. The alternative was suicide. So, it's true though. It really is.

And so I think that once you realize that you're kind of alive no matter what, unless you decide that you're not, then you may as well give it a shot. You can't really waste time that way because that's all you have. So yeah, give it a shot. See what happens. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I had to move back home for a summer part-time because I couldn't get the care during COVID. I couldn't get enough caregivers that would be able to work with me overnight. So I had to be back part-time. I hated it. And so, my dream of independence hasn't always worked for me 100%. And that's okay. That's all right. I didn't die.

Valerie:

You're still here and we're so grateful that you are here sharing with us your perspective. So thank you so much for being here, and just giving encouragement to other children with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities as well. And I love the fact that, yeah, just try. Just try. Right? 

Ishan:

Yeah. 

Valerie:

All right. Well, thank you so much, Ishan, for being with us. Really appreciate it. 

Ishan:

Oh, thank you for having me on. It was great.

Valerie:

All right. Audience, I want you to remember to keep building your child's future and live with intention. Embrace the journey.

Until next time, take care and keep building your child's future.

Ishan’s ad:

YOU WANNA HELP THIS ATROPHIED BEAST FOR MONEY?!

Well hello there! I am a student/resident at Mount Royal University, and I am on the hunt for a caregiver. While my brain is allegedly fully functioning (experimental data begs to differ even when medicated), my muscles have decided to take an extended hiatus and are generally useless (SMA Type 2). But good news: I have you! At this point in the ad you probably want me to stop rambling and get to the description. Double good news: I shall.

Boring Details

-10:00 PM to 9:00 AM

-$243.1 per shift (that means you’ll wake up with 243.1 more monies than you started with)

-Monday and Tuesday nights (some flexibility available; still apply!)

-At MRU residence

Whatever Shall You Do For Me?

-Roll me over at night (think a charismatic corpse or a nearly conversational noodle)

-Basic exercises/stretches (or at least that’s what I tell my doctor)

-Shower me and assorted personal hygienic tasks
-Cooking (aren't blessed by the Culinary Gods? Fear not for I shall provide recipes!)
-Light cleaning

-Get paid to sleep. Now isn't that a dream come true? Bonus: you get paid to dream new dreams :)

When does this dream job begin? ___________!
Any gender accepted! You must be able to lift me. I am 120-130 lbs. So ideally you’re jacked out of your goddamn mind (sorta).

So, there you have it! Are you brave enough to join me on my quest for a decent night’s sleep? You are?! Well then, I shall see you at the interview, valued comrade!

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR RESUME (that was in all caps for the people who can't follow directions): ishanmanerikar@gmail.com