In this project, I present a novella, which is constructed as a piece of autoethnographic fiction rooted in my experience working in a waiver home in rural Indiana. A waiver home is a kind of residential setting with twenty-four-hour staffing, in which one to five people live who have intellectual disabilities, and, in some cases, physical disabilities as well. The purpose of this project is twofold. The first purpose is to produce a piece of fiction that portrays honestly the experience of people who work in waiver homes in rural Indiana. The second purpose is to provide a close reading of parts of the fiction using preexisting theory, in order to demonstrate the role power plays in the dynamics of waiver home life.

The structure of this project is as follows. I discuss how I came to write this piece of fiction, first in a “General Background” section, then in more detail in the literature review, where I also introduce the texts I utilize in the analysis. Following the literature review, I discuss my personal positioning in relation to the issues and topics I discuss and explore in this project. Then, I present the piece of fiction. Following the piece of fiction, I analyze the role of bio-power, risk, and emotion in the fiction. Following the analysis, I present a reflection on notable issues not explored by this project