I don't know if Jeff Lewisthinks of his OCD as a disability.

I think, if I were in his place, I might, as it affects everything about his life, from the way he eats lunch, to fueling his single-minded obsession with making his flipped properties perfect.

It's not like Lewis could really pass as a role model, or a crip crusader of any stripe. He indulges in too many petty and petulant outbursts on his hapless staff for that.

I swear, however, that it's not just schadenfreude that makes me watch "Flipping Out".(Ok, sometimes. Sometimes Jeff being awful and rude is more entertaining than I'd like to admit, especially as a formerly-confirmed reality- hater.)

Aside from that, there is a real lesson in that show for people with differing abilities in seeing one man put his dysfunctions to work for him and constructing a tiny empire of which he is in charge. In some way, despite his over-collagened face, and his tragic, Data-like incomprehension of the behavior of the Angelenos he meets in his workday(which provide occasional, refreshing glimpses of true humanity, keeping us from wishing to strangle Mr.Lewis through our cable boxes every Tuesday night at ten
Sometimes Jeff Lewis inspires me. If someone so obviously socially hamstrung can use his skills and create wealth, who knows what any of us might accomplish?

--Erika Jahneke