The word carer

[wendy]

I do not want to offend anyone so please excuse me if what I say is ignorant or upsets you.

I was thinking of the poor response we get with laptops when we ask for them to enable family carers to get on the internet.
People have said to my face, why cant carers buy them themselves.
I usually respond by saying that carers allowance is the lowest benefit there is.
But this got me thinking.
What has happened to just being a mother, a wife, husband, or a daughter, who cares for a loved one?
Why does the name carer have to come into the situation?
Surely any campaigning could be done by the major charities for cancer, disability, dementia, MS or other illnesses.
Why have people chosen to use the word carer?
I would never have said that I was a carer for my mum when she was poorly, I was her daughter who tried to get the best medical support and care for her.
The same with other family members who became ill and passed away, we just did our best as best we could.
Please can someone direct me and put me straight.

[JaneJ]

You are right Wendy.

We seem to need to label everything these days. But I think we also feel we have to justify what we do as people. Saying housewife to a high flyer probably seems quite lowly yet one of the hardest jobs.

Also we seem to Americanise things. Housewife is a homemaker and we seem to have changed a lot of our titles and explanations for things to an American way.