[nagdu] Did anyone watch the home makeover show yesterday?

Rovig, Lorraine LRovig at nfb.org
Mon Dec 6 21:10:41 UTC 2010


To answer the questions on your listserv:
No strange floors or walls were built this time to help the couple so
they wouldn't get lost inside their own home. The guide dog named
Valentine got a heart-shaped bed and that is all that was said about the
dog.  The husband fainted once because of his diabetes so had to go to
the hospital and that affected their wedding because of timing and
reducing their funding, but that is all that was said about his
diabetes. Here below is a bit more info on the show aired yesterday
(Sunday).
Lorraine

-----Original Message-----
From: Rovig, Lorraine
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 12:02 PM
To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
Subject: RE: [NFB-talk] Here We Go Again: Home Makeover - blind couple
in OH

Here We Go Again: Home Makeover Extreme Edition - blind couple in OH

Well, I watched it. It was pretty bad and it could have been worse. It
could have been a lot better too.

Their original bathroom -- a sink fell off the wall once when Jasmine
washed her hands so they had no bathroom sink; the old toilet would
swivel left and right about 20 degrees either way if your toe pushed it.
Other parts of the old home and front porch were dangerous.  The part of
the old house facing the street appeared to be two-rooms wide, small
rooms, and I do not remember if it was two-story.  They were given a
two-story, large, modern home with all new appliances in the kitchen,
laundry room, every other room, and etcetera.

This is an African-American family, the Andersons of Maple Heights, Ohio
(near Cleveland). I do not know if either one has a job; both appear to
be in their early 40s.  The mother, Jasmine, states she is visually
impaired. She uses a folding cane with a fat white tip that I think is a
marshmallow tip.  Husband, Andre, pronounced the French way, is totally
blind and uses a guide dog named Valentine. The show gave the dog a
heart-shaped bed.  

Jasmine gave a tiny monologue stating she lost enough sight to be
visually impaired and was depressed for awhile but then she became
"courageous" like she is now. They never charge for their [untrained]
counseling and encouragement of other people with disabilities. They
give lots of speeches to educate the community how to make life easier
for blind people and people with other disabilities. 

The couple told us they are in danger every time they cross a street and
the camera mike was held close to loud trucks and cars as vehicles
zoomed by on a city street. Jasmine said she was hit in the shoulder by
a moving car one time. Ty Pennington, the shows' big-hearted hero,
furniture-designer and designer of his own line of linens and other
goods for the home, excellent carpenter and TV show leader, went on
about how dangerous it is for blind people every day when they are
outside the home. He got installed for the Andersons a fancy talking
device at the single crossing nearest to their home at their bus stop.
Jasmine told us "we're not the only blind people living here, you know"
and, she said, this will help people with other disabilities that live
in their neighborhood too.

The show gave her a CCTV rigged to a lady's dressing table so she can
see to put on her make-up and not have to ask her son if she did it
okay. She got choked up that she can see her nails now and can paint
them as she could not see to do before, and for the first time she
exclaims, as we watch her look at it, she can see the beautiful ring her
husband gave her.  

In the old house, Jasmine shoved up the sleeves on her dress to show Ty
and us the many burns on her arms that she got from using her
conventional electric 4-burner stove and oven.  The show gave her
"induction heating" which does not give out any heat except to a metal
pot placed on the burner, and she got a wall oven so her oven is at a
better height for her to use. The house got a talking temperature gauge.
On the plus side, unlike in a previous episode of "help" for a newly
blind man and his family, this time no odd floors or walls were built so
the blind wouldn't get lost in their own home.  Also on the plus side,
except for the induction oven, normal if fancy Sears's appliances were
placed in the home for the kitchen and the baths.   

Both Andre and Jasmine got computers that I think had JAWS installed on
them. They got a home theatre room with one "Sound Dome" over both their
heads that directs the sound directly only to them, and lets them hear
the SAP channel along with the show. They have two very helpful,
respectful sons (one may be age 12 and the other is a young teenager).
Ty stated the older son got a vacation from verbalizing what is on
screen plus he got the SAP thing with words running below the screen
when folks talked (which he needed but I missed the part that said why
he did). The younger son is sure he wants to grow up to be an eye doctor
so he can cure blindness, beginning with his mother's visual impairment.

Both Jasmine and Andre got brand new, fat-bodied, folding canes that
have built-in sensors to inform them of obstacles by their head and at
their feet, and, said Ty, "these aren't even on the market yet." Andre
expressed their gratitude.

They got a huge main room that runs from a living room grouping through
an empty space of floor to a dining room grouping to a kitchen with no
barriers or changes in floor, so they do not have to worry anymore about
running into posts or walls, as they did run into in their cramped
original home.  I noticed they are both bulky overweight people and the
original house doorways were older and appeared smallish, plus a post
was inconveniently placed, especially for any overweight people trying
to get past it to the bedrooms and bathroom.

The mortgage company paid off and tore up their mortgage; the local
branch of the state college gave them 2 college scholarships for the
boys; Sears gave the four of them enough clothes and shoes to fill some
of their new closets; the local basketball team called The Cavaliers,
gave the teen-aged son a closet-full of their clothes plus 3-shelves of
their basketballs with its metal rack. The building company gave them
$50,000 to a fund to handle their home maintenance. 

Braille got a "shout out" as the modern lingo has it. Ty added palm-size
wooden "dots" to their bed's headboard to spell out in grade one, "Love
is Blind."  Large print got a "shout out" too, with their top bed quilt
decorated with "Love is Blind" sewn on as stuffed, raised-up
hand-writing.

(For me, I keep wondering how they and other Ty Pennington-show
homeowners can afford their new taxes on their giant gifts of money,
goods, and a huge new home.)

The Andersons were so very grateful for all they received from Ty and
Sears Company and ABC. Tears all around.

You can view the entire episode on the Anderson Family via computer,
here:
http://abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-home-edition
Anderson Family
  | Full Episode
A visually impaired couple devoted to helping the community receives a
home makeover, complete with technologies that help people with
disabilities; EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION - "Anderson Family" - Andre
and Jasmine Anderson have never allowed their visual impairment to slow
them down, but rather have faced it head on, and established the
Disability Awareness Center in Maple Heights, Ohio, to help others who
are struggling with sight loss. The couple and their sons learned they
would be recipients of a home makeover while aboard the public bus that
they ride every day. The "EM: HE" team surprised them on the bus and
revealed plans to give them a new "smart" home, equipped with
technologies that support people with disabilities. This episode of
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" airs SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5 (8:00-9:00
p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/MIKE CROUCH) ANDERSON
FAMILY HOME - AFTER - BEDROOM

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Cindy Ray
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 2:39 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Did anyone watch the home makeover show
yesterday.thefamily has a guide dog and are diabetics,but they didn't go
into any of that at all.

Their goal isn't to educate; their goal is to 1) make themselves and the

people who sponsor/donate look good and 2) solicit pity for those who
are so 
unfortunate, like you and me!!!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terra Syslo" <tlsyslo at yahoo.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Did anyone watch the home makeover show yesterday. 
thefamily has a guide dog and are diabetics,but they didn't go into any
of 
that at all.


I was appalled at that show. I couldn't even get much past the first 15
minutes. They made it sound like such a terrible thing that the woman
had
burns on her arms from trying to cook. And when they started off the
show
they said the couple lived with their two kids and their guide dog. Last
time I checked, you aren't really supposed to be sharing a guide dog. If
the
media is going to portray blind people for the rest of the world to see,
then at least get a more positive representation.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
Of Wayne Merritt
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 11:01 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Did anyone watch the home makeover show yesterday.
the
family has a guide dog and are diabetics, but they didn't go into any of
that at all.

Also, did anyone catch the fact that it's dangerous as a blind person
to live in a home and not know where anything was? This was brought up
by the parents and the show designers. I suppose I should feel
somewhat safe since I live in a 700 square foot apartment, but what if
I move up in homes to a condo or heaven forbid,a larger house?

Wayne

On 12/6/10, cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Good morning all:
>
> This was the second time that ABC Extreme Home Make Over did a  home
make
> over for a blind family.
>
> The got some stuff right, but again I have some questions, some about
the
> family, and some about what ABC did?
>
> Question about the Anderson family.  Now these are questions I may
right
to
> the show about, but mostly they are pondering in my head to share with
all.
>
> The Anderson Family
>
> 1.  They are from what I understand and family who gives support to
other
> people with disabilities.  One of my questions is are they members of
either
> the NFB or another organization, trained in all of this from being in
the
> field, or just decided to do it all by themselves.
>
> 2.  They never went into there diabetes, since both of them are
diabetic,
> like do they use anything like the prodigy voice or the solo meter to
test
> the blood, the team never asked that either.
>
> 3. The husband has a guide dog, but at one point when they were
talking to
> the family, my husband said that the dog was in harness and digging a
whole
> in the ground. WHAT is that about?
>
> 4.  If they are having problems with the traffic lights, then why
didn't
> they just contact the town or the legislative body in there area and
get
it
> fixed.  If they are a company or business out there helping other
blind
and
> disabled people shouldn't they be doing this for themselves first
before
> helping others to do it.
>
> ABC:  This the 2nd time in 8 Seasons that they have focused or help
and
> blind family, and still haven't gotten it correctly.
>
> 1.  The technology.  They didn't say where they got the technology,
the
> didn't go to NFB or the other organization for advice, they just went
to
the
> technology stores that have technology for the blind.
>
> 2. And Electric Cane, now come on, do we if we were taught properly to
use
> our canes, do we need a cane that vibrates when we are near something.
They
> are diabetic, they can have neuropathy and not be able to tell if they
are
> vibrating, etc.
>
> 3. The stove they got, yes she got burned many times, again diabetic,
they
> got them the counter tops and wall oven, but they didn't label it or
at
> least put raised dots on the stove/oven.
>
>
> To many other issues there.
>
> I don't know if the NFB members ever wrote the first time to ABC and
got
> responses on these issues.
>
> But I plan on starting a writing campaign.  Let me know if you are
> interested.
> The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://Echevarriatravel.com<http://echevarriatravel.com/>
> 1-866-580-5574
>
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:Reservations at echevarriatravel.c
om>
>
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel
CST-1018299-10
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise and
Travel
Inc.
>
> join my yahoogroup
>
echevarriatravel-subscribe at yahoogroups.com<mailto:echevarriatravel-subsc
ribe
@yahoogroups.com>
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
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My websites:
www.wayneism.com
www.whitecaneday.org

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