This book emerged as the result of a six-month long anthropological research project with a paraplegic woman called Fennieke Dijkstra.
It was completed in collaboration with Livni Holtz, Luise Arnold and Réiltín O’Hagan. Our research began into the ways in which Fennieke organised her home after her accident to better facilitate her new needs, and to maintain autonomy over her daily tasks. Through the course of this project, however, we also discovered that her domestic space is not purely physical, and that the community that she has built around her is a massive factor in her quality of life. While it was inspiring to see how the structure of her home and social circle work so well for her, the enormous shortfalls of the world beyond her garden also became glaringly clear. The book shows photos, video stills, diagrams, quotes from Fennieke and written analyses, as well as a short study into the potential benefits of integrating intergenerational living systems into social housing models. It also includes a small pamphlet inside the front cover, which is the transcript of an interview with Fennieke’s physical therapist.