LAWRENCE, Kan. - s4story -- Plainspoken Books, an imprint of the University Press of Kansas, announces the publication of Confessions of a Care Worker: Stories of Disability and Dignity by Mary T. Howard. A moving memoir that chronicles the lives of sixteen intellectually and developmentally disabled adults and the struggle to create a more humane system of care. When Howard arrived at Pine Forest, a group home in suburban Michigan, in 1979, she discovered a system in which restrictive regulations and entrenched practices had created a cycle of resident suffering and staff burnout. Rather than accept the status quo, Howard challenged the policies and assumptions that governed daily life at the facility.

With warmth, empathy, and unflinching honesty, Howard brings readers into the complicated, deeply human lives of people too often overlooked or underestimated. The stories of the residents at Pine Forest, challenge prevailing stereotypes about intellectual and developmental disabilities, revealing individuals with distinct personalities, aspirations, relationships, and an enduring determination to shape their own futures.

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More than a personal account of caregiving, this book is a candid examination of the institutional practices and systemic failures that denied disabled people dignity and autonomy. Howard's memoir is a testament to the transformative power of compassion, self-advocacy, and human connection. She invites readers to reconsider what quality care should look like and how communities can better support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Confessions of a Care Worker is both an indictment of a broken system and a hopeful vision of a more humane future—one in which dignity, independence, and belonging are fundamental to every person's life.

Key Features & News Angles:

• A Fight for Dignity and Autonomy: Chronicles how sixteen residents of a Michigan group home challenged restrictive practices and fought for greater independence and control over their lives.
• One Woman's Courage to Challenge the System: Follows Mary Howard's transformation from a live-in counselor seeking financial stability into an advocate determined to change an institutional culture of control.
• A Candid Look at Institutional Care: Exposes the policies, regulations, and entrenched assumptions that contributed to resident suffering and staff burnout, raising critical questions about the treatment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• Beyond Stereotypes: Celebrates the complex lives, personal relationships, conflicts, and aspirations of disabled adults, affirming their capacity for self-advocacy, love, and independence.
• From Institution to Home: Reveals how trust, meaningful choice, and mutual respect helped transform Pine Forest into a community grounded in belonging and shared responsibility.

Learn more about the book here: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700644285/

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