I just want to urge the committee to do whatever is possible to give an opportunity to women like me to have better lives in case they get sick or their children get sick. I hope that our government will give more chances to people like me. Maybe there is not enough information about how it is to be penniless. Maybe there is not enough. Maybe another effort should be made to know how it is, truly, to be in the position I am in.
I really don't have the luxury of reading newspapers anymore or watching news anymore, because I am so consumed serving my child. There is nothing from disability benefits. He receives only $410 a month, which many times is not enough to pay for his antibiotics. It's part of my duty as a parent to provide my child with toys, but I don't buy toys. I buy teaching equipment, and it is very expensive. And I need to provide some food as well as the medication. There should be something available for my child or for me, some kind of respite. I have only four hours a week. That is too little when you have literally to work 24 hours a day. There's very little time for sleep.
So I would appreciate it if the committee made very serious changes in the employment benefit itself and had some kind of program for the very, very unique and difficult cases. I do not have family. I do not have anyone to go to. I only have the government offices and knocking on doors. I've learned the expression, “I'm sorry, you've fallen into the cracks”. I keep falling in those cracks every day. It is too cracky, and I don't know how to make it.