Category: Cinema 31
I just set my VCR to record a special episode of Extreme MAkeover Home Edition for the Vardon Family. The parents are totally deaf, they have a 15 year old son who is basically the interpreter, and thier 12 year old son is totally blind and is also autistic.
I saw that. It was very cheesey and they made it sound like the whole family was such a wonderful accomplishment. Which, I say, it really is, but they just made it sound very Hollywoodish. I think teh family's accomplishments are great, and it's great that they had thsi done for them, but parts of it were just kinda cheesey. I read an article on them that was much more interesting, if I still had it, I would post it here, but I think I deleted it. Sorry! Anyway, I think this is a great family and the story has a great message, but parts of it were kinda cheesey ish.
Caitlin
This isnt' the family's fault, it's jsut the people who made the show, you know, getting a bit carried away at times, and making it sound like a miracle and so on. I think it's fantastic that they get along so well, and it's a payoff of a lot of patience and hard work. I'd lvoe to meet the family someday.
Caitlin
Okay this is the last post I'll do in a row on here hehee, but I jsut wanted to add that I think the show forgot that they're normal people, and kind of blew stuff over the top. But it's worth watching, and i'd liek to ehar other opinions, as I didn't watch teh whole thing.
Caitlin
I taped it too and also saw it in one of my sign language classes. it really provided deaf awearness, i think. and also, At the end when everyone was doing the silent clap. which everyone does it the deaf community. i cryed. I sobed so many times in that episode. and my asl teacher does know the family. one thing i did not like about it, was when marlee matlin came cause i really dont like her!!!!! arg! gerrrr!!! omg shes just a bitch! but thats another story. i just think they should have left that out. also i think its bootleg the son got a college schlorship just because he has deaf parents! I know a lot of CODA's! (children of deaf adults) why dont they get schlorships? well i think ive said enough.
-Heather
Yeah, it was great in that it provided awareness, but you see what I'm saying? That scholarship...That's jsut ridiculous!...They're normal people except they are deaf, and like you said Heather, there's loads of deaf parents with children, so why don't they get schollarships. It has nothing to do with achievement just with the parents' disability. I think that's just kind of upsetting. But I think that ith ad a good message and the silent clap sounded cute. Heheh.
Caitlin
I saw that show. I didn't record it but I saw it the first time it was shown. The show in jeneral is a bit Hollywoodish. All the shows involve people with disabilities, diseas, sickness, or some sort of hardship. I think it's great that good things happen for them but I also think it sends the wrong message sometimes. Overall I think the family is great and loving and all that good stuff.
Agree with Bugga. Lol.
Caitlin
That must be quite a house sorry but the stress of living with an autistic child would drive me up the newly decorated wall!.
autistic children are not that bad. they made it seam that way on tv tho. i babysit a boy accross my street who is autistic and also deaf. he does not sign whole sentences however, he does know what he wnats and will sign it to me then i gte it. for example if he signs "ice cream" then i know he wnats ice cream. or if he signs "bed" then i know he wants to go to bed. etc. u get the point. hes a lovely child and not too hard to handle.
also, for your "fact of the day" 90 percent of deaf parents have hearing children. so, the boy in home makeover is one of thousands of CODA's! -Heather
NOT that bad i'm sorry but they are I.E.The screaming and head banging the repetative behaviour and endless routines and screaming fits if they are disrupted. Of course my view of these children has been distorted by a truly awful experience and I just don't have the patience for that kind of behaviour.
Yeah I agree with Heather, autistic children are often extremely intellignt, wonderful children. I know some.
Caitlin
I honestly think that autistic children who have those behavior problems with screaming and head-banging and things like that, that it also depends on if they're allowed to get away with expressing themselves like that. I think that's more a way they know how to get thru to people since they usually can't easily say what they want or how they feel and also because they have problems with how their brain interprets senses. I know some autistic children and teenagers also, and I've only heard one small child scream and tantrum because he wanted something and one teenager that did get angry and try to hit his teacher because he was stopped when he had tried to leave the room when he was litterally yelled at. )He had done something wrong, but well, I would try to leave too if I were screamed at.) I had heard the teacher comment about him, but I'd never had problems when I worked with him, and he was actually pretty cool to work with. So I think dealing with an autistic person takes a lot of patience and trying to understand where they're coming from, and then mainly working with them on ways to communicate.
Leilani
I think this Extreme Makeover show is kind of bizarre. I mean, does a family that lives in a bad neighbourhood e.g. really need a house with pool in the back and disco lights in the bed rooms. I mean, what about cleaning such a huge house, what about break-ins, if the house is in such a bad neighbourhood everyone's going to be jealous, is a new house really what the family wants/needs. I mean, sure it's very heroic and hollywoodish and cute and I kind of like the show sometimes, at least my cheesy side does. But, yeah, it feels so fake, I would've thought a direct money support or just a normal decent 3 otr 4 bed room house would be just so much better for the family, no need to spend millions of dollars on some fancy marble kitchen or grand pianos. I mean, that's just a publicity stunt and I fail to see how that will really make the family that much happier. It just feels so fake to me. May be instead give the family a million dollars and tell them they have to decide how to spend it and then follow them and see what they do with it or something, that might be more interesting and that way they would get what they always wanted instead of a house, of course it is an Extreme makeover show so may be it wouldn't be fit for that.
cheers
-B
umm did it say anywhere that they live in a bad neighborhood? please, check your facts! -Heather
Heather
Well, just look at the house (or hve it described) if it's 50 years old, falling apart with trash in the back yard, it is not exactly in the Bevely Hills area, cities consists of communities, not single houses, the over-all state of the houses in a community tends to be very similar, hence the emphasis on marketting towards certain zip codes, strategic restaurant placement, shopping etc, cevil engineering is big on those things and it's huge marketting wise. Therefore you assume and in most cases correctly, that you don't have an old house with a bunch of new ones or one in very poor condition in a rich neibhroughood,. There are exceptions and I wasn't talking just about this particular episode you guys talked about but more about those episodes in general, so Idid check my facts in general, if my assumptions can be proven incorrect I would be most happy to be corrected. Real estate vlue is more based on neighbourhoods than the actual houses, it's a fact so building an extremely lavish house in a neighbourhood will, in fact, be a very stupid investment because it has to be sold at a huge discount to lure buyers, whereas an old or small house near shops, in a good community with a great school district would cost way way less but sell for a lot more and might make for a much better living experience, if you are a blind person e.g. working downtown but were forced to buy a little house 30 minutes from the city in a rural community with one rstaurant, if you got a million dollars, would you be happier making that house huge and still continue to sit on the bus for 3 hours a day and have no restaurants to eat at, or would you buy a house or an apartment downtown in a lively district, close to your work place or near a lake or at a better location in general.
Cheers
-B
ok. sure...