Last night I watched Extreme Home Makeover, a rerun of a program about two women: a mother of four, her youngest son with Cerebral Palsy and a senior citizen, who was sharing her duplex with them.
On the senior citizen's side, large pieces of plastic were hung on the first floor so she could keep it warmer. Her heating system didn't work.
On the family's side, a makeshift steep ramp was put up so family members could push their growing and increasingly heavier youngest member in his wheelchair. Once inside, he could not move independently since there wasn't room. He had to be lifted up a steep flight of steps, lifted for bathing and, as he grew older, so did his mother.
These are the kinds of issues that can result in institutionalization for people with disabilities. Existing housing cannot accommodate the needs of a member with severe disabilities.
The Extreme Home Makeover team came in, redesigned the homes with an eye toward access, put in lifts and an elevator, a ramp and, as usual, set up an ideal arrangement.
So why oh why after watching the program did I turn off my TV feeling sick to my stomach? Because across my desk comes story after story of people in either institutions or inaccessible homes struggling every day simply to get out of their doors, bathe, sleep and have a bit of dignity in their lives.
Is this how we treat the most vulnerable in our country? Do we choose half a dozen families a year in this plight, turn their lives into a TV show and fix their situations? Is that all we can do? No. I do not believe that and here's why.
In every show, community members show up and help. There are crowds of people who help the contractors and support the crew. Contractors donate their time and services. Companies donate products. They get advertising, they get filmed and - yes- some would say people won't do it without that, but that's not true.
People did it for me. There were no TV cameras. No publicity. Just honest, hardworking folks who gave up their time to help me get a ramp, an accessible kitchen and bathroom and a home in a community. They did it because they cared.
And mine is not the only story like that. But we need more. We need to work together toward affordable and available accessible housing as communities and express our commitment to inclusion, as people of good heart and faith, by letting candidates, members of the Senate, and House of Representatives and other officials know that we have the foresight to realize that our country is facing a housing crisis as baby boomers age, a crisis that already leaves thousands of people institutionalized needlessly or suffering behind closed doors without the ability to leave their homes or bathe.
Dignity is a word that we throw around a lot. But I can assure you, having lived in inaccessible housing for a lengthy period of time before I was helped, there is no dignity where there is no access. The independence you have fought so hard to keep by maximizing your physical abilities is stripped away by physical barriers.
This is not easy stuff to talk about, but we must. I know we aren't a country of people only concerned about getting on TV or selling our products. I know that because I live in an accessible home, the only private accessible rental unit in my community.
The only one. And, perhaps, that is part of why when I turn off the tv I feel sick to my stomach.
We can all do better.
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