The other night I was watching Extreme Home Makeover. There was a couple where the mother sustained a back injury after protecting her two young boys during a storm, leaving her paralyzed. The team designed a "dream home", including a jacuzzi, pool with a lift, accessible kitchen, accessible bathroom and bedroom and all kinds of other amenities, including a safe room the family could go into if another storm hit.
As I watched the woman go through her home, I noticed how she began to push herself around more eagerly. She found out that she could cook again from her wheelchair - reach the stove and the cabinets. Then she discovered that the rooms and hallways were wide enough. She explored the entire home with more energy as time went on - and, at the end, went out to the pool and pushed herself around the backyard.
A friend of mine who is an Occupational Therapist and a wheelchair user commented to me that, because the woman was a paraplegic, she was surprised that she wasn't pushing herself more during the show. We discussed this for a few minutes and I pointed out that perhaps when she saw that she could again be independent, she saw herself differently and started doing more!
Seeing this show reminded me of how much lost potential there is because people cannot be independent due to restrictions in their physical environment. I'm very happy for this couple and I'm not saying they don't deserve to have a beautiful home, but the money spent could have made several houses accessible - sans the luxuries. I suppose as a person with a disability I have a different view on things, but I would rather have seen more families helped to get accessible homes than to see such overkill - the crew built a pool, jacuzzi, whirlpool bath - all of which are nice but there are so many people who don't even have a ramp to get in the front door.
I just pray that , as much fun as Extreme Home Makeover is to watch on TV, more people with disabilities can get what they need in every day life.
3 comments:
A lot of ramps. As well meaning as the show's producers are, you make a good point. It's so "hollywood" to approach the problem that way, by doing overkill instead of saying here's a chance to give a good home to them and help some others as well. I think we just know how many people lack basic stuff so it bothers us more.
DH and I make a similar comment every time we watch the show. The overkill is almost sickening at times. Just think of the good they could be doing for large numbers of people, if they didn't go for the glamour. But then, of course, it wouldn't make "good TV," or would it!
Sometimes they do it right, though. Like the show where they fixed up the little girl's house and then redid her hospital's children's recreation area, too. They need to find more of those kinds of connections to keep the show from being so materialistic.
Maybe somebody needs to start something like Habitat for Humanity, but just for making existing homes more livable for the disabled. Or maybe that organization already exists, and they just need more publicity?????
Habitat for Humanity does a lot of good works that people never hear about. I know they have helped folks with disabilities out - from personal knowledge! I also know that organizations like them can always use donations, so I think we need to remember that as much as we enjoy Extreme Home Makeover, the people who are NOT on TV giving up their weekends, holidays and evenings deserve our support.
I did see the Extreme Makeover show where they redid the hospital rec area - I also saw one where they redid an entire camp for kids with disabilities-very cool!
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