January 2021
Right from the start, it was important to me to remain as independent as possible and for as long as possible. As a technology enthusiast, I have always kept an eye on the possible assistance in this area. Since I continued to work for almost 4½ years after the diagnosis, the focus was on office work, which could also be projected onto home needs.
Due to Covid-19, I was “forced” to spend significantly more time in my own four walls in 2020 and early 2021 than I would have liked. This led to more interaction with the apartment, such as TV, radio, light etc. and also showed the hurdles and limits of independence. Since the ordered lockdown and therefore related bottlenecks crossed the services with the change to my new electric wheelchair, this could not be processed or completed as desired. Therefore I've been separated from cell phone operation and thus from the previously available environmental control for almost two months now - which feels like an eternity. A change in this situation is not yet in sight and the only possibility of "free movement" is the use of the PC, otherwise it is similar to the joy of movement of a whale on land.
Since keeping my feet still and doing nothing are not my strongest qualities, I began to deal with the topic of a smart home and, as expected, found many possibilities that opened new doors to my illness-related restrictions. For a brief moment, fascination and zest for action took over the wheel and I had almost built “my house of the future” in my mind when I put my feet back on the ground or my buttocks on the chair and with an eye on the budget and conditions planed the feasible options.
February 2021
The new month had barely dawned when we had to investigate a suspected corona in our four walls. Coming home from kindergarten, Melissa started with a cough, which then made its way to Daniela until the weekend with an additional sore throat and caught up with me a few days later. The typical virus carousel in a family with a child.
Since another filming day with Donat (Mediafish / SRF) was just around the corner, Daniela went four floors down to the doctor to undergo a corona test. As expected, the result was negative - that is, positive!
This day of filming was the first that also included filming locations outside of our living room. After interview recordings, after which my voice weakened and my cough began to rise, I went to visit the hairdresser. In order to capture the scenes optimally, it was necessary to repeat individual elements such as getting in and out of the car two or three times.
Now the time had come that my cough and with it the flu virus had caught up with me and I had to have an unpleasant cotton swab inserted into my nose. At least this unpleasant situation could be concluded with a negative test result.
Only a few days later I received my Covid 19 vaccination appointments, the first at the end of the month and the second a month later.
In a first appointment, Active Communication was able to switch part of the environmental control from the old to the new wheelchair. My cell phone could now be controlled again via the electric wheelchair. This was a perfect fit for the end of my first stage of smart home setup. Fortunately, I discovered a bargain offer for the Google Mini (a smart loudspeaker, controllable by voice command) and I grabbed four of them for the living room, office, parents' room and children's room. You can use this to answer all your questions, as you know from Google on the PC. Furthermore, I linked my Spotify and my TuneIn account and thus have access to music or news in all rooms. I also replaced the lightbulbs in the office, hallway and dining room with Philipps Hue, with which I can also bring them into the right mood light via Google using voice commands.
In the beginning, Melissa enjoyed letting Google tell her jokes or translating “indecent” words into languages like Russian or Japanese. In the meantime she is the mistress of the choice of music, since Google obeys her commands better than mine. In principle, this would not be a problem because we always find common music, but unfortunately the proportion of children’s music is still predominant...
March 2021
Another day of shooting could be tackled. This under the theme of "a completely normal day".
This started early in the morning in bed and how I pulled myself up, with my feet hooked in the wheelchair, to sit on the edge of the bed. This was followed by morning care, whereby the circumstance - showering (suitable for young people), camera and new people - was discussed with each other in advance. I was now able to understand the feeling that actors have in their first shower scene or something similar. Rather uncomfortable at the beginning. With the professional, but also humorous nature of everyone present, the camera was soon "forgotten".
During this shooting it became apparent, what a cameraman's creative and trained eye can capture, shown in a “special” scene he filmed. I am curious to see who will recognize the “special”!
- The flags in the background show from left to right the Swiss flag (I am swiss), the flag of the canton (state) Aargau where we live and the Italian flag (Daniela is Italian).