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

Marion Gwizdala blind411 at verizon.net
Wed Dec 8 10:03:34 UTC 2010


Dear All,
    Below is a message I am forwarding from Lorraine Rovig from our national 
office.

Fraternally yours,
Marion
>
> 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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>
>
> -- 
> Follow me on Twitter at:
> www.twitter.com/wcmerritt
> My websites:
> www.wayneism.com
> www.whitecaneday.org
>
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