Posted on Nov 1, 2022
There Are Only Four Kinds of People in the World, and You Are One of Them - Part 1
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Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, said—
“There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers.
Those who are currently caregivers.
Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.” Which one are you?
I am an award-winning industrial designer, and you’ve probably sat on something I designed, like my toilet seat for TOTO, which is unofficially known as the world’s most comfortable of its kind. Or perhaps you worked in one of my office systems for Herman Miller. Tom Cruise did, in the movie Minority Report.
As an innovation studio, we became interested in older people as our parents started aging. We were three women collaborators—Leah Caplan, Seda Evis, and me—sandwiched between our older parents and our younger kids. By observing them, we realized that while the market was overflowing with designs for kids, there was little good design for our parents. We decided to do our own research and see if anyone else was interested in the aging space.
Ana Pinto da Silva at Amazon became our first client. Together, we collaborated on the first Design the Life You Love 65+ codesign project. Then Bruce Chernof, president of The SCAN Foundation (TSF), asked us to be their innovation partners. Our learnings from these two codesign projects with older adults inform the insights of my new book, Design the LONG Life You Love (http://www.designthelonglifeyoulove.com/), A Step-By-Step Guide to Love, Purpose, Well- being, and Friendship.
This is what brought me to the Rosalynn Carter Institute (RCI) (https://www.rosalynncarter.org/) for Caregiving and helped open a new world for me.
I am used to transforming other people's lives (I have even worked with caregivers to co-create the caregiving life they love as part of our research on aging.) Still, I wasn't expecting mine to be changed.
For many of us, being a caregiver is not something we readily identify with. The RCI conference changed my perception of this.
It started when I sat at dinner with Dave Gowel, the CEO of RallyPoint, the Military Network that connects about two million service members, veterans, and their families. After we talked about our kids and Dave’s Alma Matter, West Point, where I had given a leadership course to the faculty, Dave told me about caregiving in the military.
He said a military spouse could go from everyday life to being a full-time caregiver in a split second. And at that moment, everything you know in your life changes.
“There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers.
Those who are currently caregivers.
Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.” Which one are you?
I am an award-winning industrial designer, and you’ve probably sat on something I designed, like my toilet seat for TOTO, which is unofficially known as the world’s most comfortable of its kind. Or perhaps you worked in one of my office systems for Herman Miller. Tom Cruise did, in the movie Minority Report.
As an innovation studio, we became interested in older people as our parents started aging. We were three women collaborators—Leah Caplan, Seda Evis, and me—sandwiched between our older parents and our younger kids. By observing them, we realized that while the market was overflowing with designs for kids, there was little good design for our parents. We decided to do our own research and see if anyone else was interested in the aging space.
Ana Pinto da Silva at Amazon became our first client. Together, we collaborated on the first Design the Life You Love 65+ codesign project. Then Bruce Chernof, president of The SCAN Foundation (TSF), asked us to be their innovation partners. Our learnings from these two codesign projects with older adults inform the insights of my new book, Design the LONG Life You Love (http://www.designthelonglifeyoulove.com/), A Step-By-Step Guide to Love, Purpose, Well- being, and Friendship.
This is what brought me to the Rosalynn Carter Institute (RCI) (https://www.rosalynncarter.org/) for Caregiving and helped open a new world for me.
I am used to transforming other people's lives (I have even worked with caregivers to co-create the caregiving life they love as part of our research on aging.) Still, I wasn't expecting mine to be changed.
For many of us, being a caregiver is not something we readily identify with. The RCI conference changed my perception of this.
It started when I sat at dinner with Dave Gowel, the CEO of RallyPoint, the Military Network that connects about two million service members, veterans, and their families. After we talked about our kids and Dave’s Alma Matter, West Point, where I had given a leadership course to the faculty, Dave told me about caregiving in the military.
He said a military spouse could go from everyday life to being a full-time caregiver in a split second. And at that moment, everything you know in your life changes.
Family
Caregiver
Happiness
Courage
Resources
Posted 2 y ago
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Thanks for the post. Red Cross has special workshops for Caregivers, contact me if you have a group that wants a workshop. They are free and can be delivered virtually. I also have information about the Military and Veteran Care Network (MVNC) sponsored by the American Red Cross; free to join and access to mentors, workshops, etc all without charge.
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Ayse Birsel thanks for sharing this post. Caregiving - and the struggles associated with it for all involved - is something I never appreciated until I served in the military. There are many people in uniform who care for aging parents, sick children, wounded friends, and many others dealing with physical and mental health burdens. I'd say the first step in "designing your new life" when you realize you're either a caregiver or one in need of a caregiver is to look for available resources already available to you, as Melissa Comeau did in her post here: https://www.rallypoint.com/command-post/military-caregivers-can-get-help-from-military-one-source
Military Caregivers Can Get Help from Military One Source | RallyPoint
When my husband was at the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Pendleton everything was a bit overwhelming. I was helping my husband navigate his care and his medical retirement on top of being a mom to our young son. I was also trying to finish my bachelor's degree. It seemed like every day there were new treatments, medications, and medical appointments to keep my husband going. I had completely dedicated my time to his and our son’s care...
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I was a caregiver for my mom who had Alzheimer's and the last 2 plus years of her life she didn't know who I was. It hurt to see her that way. She went peacefully on Sept 4, 2019
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