The Diving Bell and the Butterfly tells the story of a high-powered business man, vibrant and active in the fashion and publication field, who had a stroke and is rendered helpless and unable to communicate. The only part of his body he learns to control is a single eye - he can blink only one eye. Of course, the story is inspiring -- he doesn't give up -- but we have heard that story before. There are other parts of the movie that inspired me beyond the standard tear-jerker. I need to talk about those.
Jean-Dominique Bauby, known affectionately as Jean-Do, was the editor of Elle magazine when he had a stroke and awoke in a rehab hospital unable to move, unable to talk, totally dependent on his medical caregivers for his every need, yet unable to tell them what he needs. However, he is fully conscious and understands what is happening because the medical staff talks to him as if he can. He is able to learn to communicate, using his one blinkable eye.
technorati tags: disability, caring, disabled, language, qualityoflife, goals, movies, stroke, communication
2 comments:
wow...i will have to see this movie. it sounds very profound. how are you doing? sorry for being so neglectful lately.
I loved "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", but the movie I'd rather see is "My Stroke of Insight", which is the amazing bestselling book by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. It is an incredible story and there's a happy ending. She was a 37 year old Harvard brain scientist who had a stroke in the left half of her brain. The story is about how she fully recovered, what she learned and experienced, and it teaches a lot about how to live a better life. Her TEDTalk at TED dot com is fantastic too. It's been spread online millions of times and you'll see why!
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