Assisted living often includes tools and aids to help individuals with physical disabilities maximize their independence. They are the tools someone can use to overcome obstacles that result from being differently-abled in an able-bodied person's world.
Assisted living is implemented with the aid of standard household objects that can be changed into handicap aids. These aids allow someone with disabilities to complete the same tasks as their able-bodied peers. In her book "Adapt My World" and on her website, J. Rose Plaxen describes a number of ingenious ways to adapt standard items so they can be used independently by differently-abled children.
Assisted living tells us to make minor adaptations to everyday household items that can create handicap aids for home, school and play. By giving an individual with disabilities a way to be self-reliant, we help such individuals fit in with the peer group.
When, through assisted living, they no longer depend on the assistance of others to complete mundane tasks, differently-abled children can become fully functional members of their families, their peer groups and their school communities. No longer relegated the outsider role, such children enjoy increased self-esteem, secure in the knowledge that they have the ability to reach the same goals as their friends.
"Adapt My World" provides strategies and instructions for creating handicap aids for children with disabilities to use in various settings: at home, at school, at play". Plaxen's detailed instructions show parents and caregivers how they can adapt everything their child needs for self-reliance in their bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, playgrounds and schools. With the use of such handicap aids, a differently-abled child can be the same as any other kid.
A new car comes with a detailed owner manual, and new child comes with a wealth of how-to books, but unfortunately, resources for raising a disabled child are few. When J.Rose Plaxen realized her daughter was "differently abled" she decided to change this by writing Adapt My World: Homemade Adaptations for People with Disabilities, a home remedy-style book consisting of recipes for parents, educators and family members. "Our world, public or private, is not accommodating for differently abled individuals," said J.Rose Plaxen. "It's up to the individual who is taking care of each child to make their world truly their own. This book is filled with common-sense modifications that have an immediate and enormous impact on improving the daily lives of these children."
Adapt My World is the first such guide offering simple adaptations for many aspects of a child's life. Veteran parents, therapists, and teachers have handed down plenty of adaptations, but few have been printed for public viewing. Now families have a manual to guide them in accommodating their child's world. Adapt My World offers adaptations for the "differently abled" child at home, school, and play to achieve similar goals, tasks, and desires of an "abled" child.
