jmc

Since the given segments are perpendicular, we have two consecutive right angles. Since $AB\ne DC$, we know the quadrilateral is not a rectangle. After drawing the three given sides connected by two right angles, we connect $A$ and $D$ to create a trapezoid. If we extend $\overline{DC}$ to complete the rectangle, we create a right triangle to help find the length of $\overline{AD}$. We had to extend $\overline{DC}$ by 5 units since $\overline{AB}$ is 5 units longer than $\overline{DC}$. The bottom leg of the triangle is the same length as $\overline{BC}$ since they are opposite sides of a rectangle. So we have a right triangle with legs of length 5 and 12. We could use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the length of the hypotenuse, or we recognize that 5 and 12 are part of the Pythagorean triple $(5,12,13)$. So the length of the hypotenuse $\overline{AD}$ is 13 units. That makes the perimeter $9+12+4+13=\boxed{38}$ centimeters.

Alternatively, instead of extending $\overline{DC}$, we could have split the trapezoid into a $4\times 12$ rectangle on top and a $(5,12,13)$ right triangle on the bottom.