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I'm Dr. Gillian Friedman, managing health
editor of Ability Magazine, a leading

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publication addressing health, disability
and human potential.

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And I'm Max Gail, a subscriber and
sometimes contributor to Ability Magazine.

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I also volunteer as a director for Ability
Awareness, a non-profit organisation that

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is partnered with Habit for Humanity to
build accessible homes and to build

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awareness of the value of volunteering for
people with disabilities.

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And I've been a volunteer on the Ability
House project a number of times, going

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back to the first one in Birmingham,
Alabama back in 1999.

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Today there are 56 million people with
mental or physical disabilities in America

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The Department of Housing and Urban
Development has identified people with

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disabilities, one of the principle
populations experiencing worst-case

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housing needs. Ability Awareness and
Habitat for Humanity address this need

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through the Ability House project.

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Now there are two features that make the
Ability House project really unique, the

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first is that the program endorses
universal design - that's the strategy for

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building environments that can be visited
by people of all ages and all abilities.

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And the second, it specifically involves
volunteers with disabilities in all phases

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of construction. You know, to see or work
with people with disabilities actually

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building a house, well that'll wipe out
all the stereotypes and myths you might

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have about people with disabilities.
And it helps those volunteers to explore

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and to demonstrate their abilities.

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The adage "it's better to give than to
receive" is born out in health studies,

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showing that emotional wellbeing, physical
health and mental sharpness improve when

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people join activities where they can give
and receive encouragement and learn new

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skills.

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I'll test to that. Anyway, the following
presentation was shot at an Ability house

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built in Baltimore, Mariyln. This was
documented by the Good Life television

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network for an episode of their series
'Volunteers for the Sake of Others'.

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I think you'll enjoy it.

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So many people wonder how a blind person
can build a house or how a person who uses

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a wheelchair can come and build a house.

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Volunteers, many with disabilities and
little knowledge of construction have set

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out to try and build a house in just
8 days.

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Most of them have never done any kind of
construction.

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NARRATOR: Will wet weather dampen their
spirits?

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We would rather have better weather but
we've got a schedule to keep.

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NARRATOR: It will take all of the
volunteers working together to complete

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this house in time.

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Everyone can come out and pick up a hammer
and we're all on equal ground.

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Welcome to Good Life TV Network's
'Volunteers for the Sake of Others'.

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I'm Doris McMillan.
People with disabilities are often

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marginalised by society. An impairment is
often seen as a major obstacle to living a

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normal life. Ability Awareness, a
non-profit organisation combats this

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misconception by recruiting people who
have disabilities to help construct homes,

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often for people who themselves have a
disability.

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This time-honoured tradition of
volunteering allows those with

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disabilities to help someone in need.

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The Ability house project is a hallmark
program of Ability Awareness and was

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basically started to increase awareness
around the issues surrounding people with

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disabilities, to really bring people with 
disabilities out and show the community

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their true skills and their talents, and

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their potential as volunteers, as mentors
and as employees.

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Volunteering benefits the provider of
service, perhaps as much as it does the

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recipient of service, and so when you have
someone who is commonly thought of as in

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need, there is a therapeutic benefit to
be derived when those individuals can in

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fact be the providers of service.

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Here, Ability teams with the local chapter
of Habitat for Humanity to build a house

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with a few special features.

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The Ability House is accessibly designed
home, built for someone with a disability

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by volunteers, many of whom also have
disabilities.

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VOLUNTEER: Ready? One, two, three!

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The concept of universal design which
means people who have physical impairments

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are able to get in and out of it with no
barriers and so I think this is a

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worthwhile project.

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It's a big stigma that blind people have
to sit and they can't do things and we see

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a lot of people that come through our
program that have had people take care of

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them their whole lives and there's no
reason for that really.

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So often people with disabilities, they
aren't looked to as volunteers and every

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single person has his or her individual
level of ability, and so it's just really

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a matter of finding out what that is and
utilising them to their fullest potential.

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MAN: Here now, feel that, see what we're
gonna do?

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Red hats, experienced volunteers, work on
securing the roof while a group of blind

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volunteers help with the house's exterior.

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I was given four individuals, and I took
them aside, gave them a quick lesson on

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how to operate a screw gun, all I had to
do was point to where the screw needed to

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go in, I'd say "follow my finger", they'd
find my fingertip, put the screw there and

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screw it in.

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Something really clicked with Fred. He was
there working with the volunteers

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patiently working with each one. He was
giving of himself and he really sensed

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what this is all about.

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I was totally amazed and impressed.
To call them disabled is no longer

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adequate. They are definitely able-bodied
with a minor inconvenience.

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Tom Owens has been blind since the age of
11, but involved in carpentry all his life.

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Technically I've been doing this stuff
since I was about 3. I started working

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with my father when I was 3 years old,
everybody in my family has some kind of

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trade type skill. And Romney's a great
partner. (Laughs) She likes high places.

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I think these guys are doing a great job,