[nabentre] Extreme Makeover: Blind edition

[Glenn Moore]

I did see part of the episode Cheryl;

I didn't catch a lot of it, but i suppose that when it comes to explaining the things they did, it is after all an entertainment show that also is meant to make the audience feel good about the scenario. I think it would have been nice to have a reference or web address to a blog that goes into further detail for those who care to look into it.
I agree that they may not have been as thorough as i would like in finding solutions. But again, reality tv or not, it's still entertainment; they only choose projects on large properties (with more entertainment potential) and tend to find more flashy and high tech solutions because it may appeal more to the audience, even if it's not most practical.
They also do a new show every maybe month or so, so they're juggling a number of projects and will find the simplest quickest affordable options that they already use in their "toolbox". They are tv and home making experts, but not blindness, diabetes or whatever is that week's topic experts. Maybe they didn't do their homework and relied on the advice of people they know and relied on a products supplier/retailer rather than non-commercial experts in the particular arena they were dealing with. I don't know. They likely relied on the family itself for familiarizing themselves on blindness and diabetes since they are the one group who the crew worked with that would seem to know something specific about blindness (but there are many blind people who are not that aware of the mainstream blind society or who just do not seek out blind organizations) Plus, the family and audience are the main judges of success for the project too. 
They could have done better by being more relevantly knowledgable about the beneficiary family's needs. And it would have been better for us at the NFB to have had a presence on the show (though, it seems, as far as i've noticed, that the NFB markets itself more to the blind and specifically what i'd call 'mainstream blind community', aka Organized Blind, relatively more than other groups (like retailers who market to random blind consumers) (or, for example, blindness curing organizations, who market relatively more to the sighted for a larger funding pool)
I think the bottom line is if we want to be present on this show, we should be proactive in planning, or say organising resources for, the next episode.
Sorry, so long winded.