(Part 3) Top products from r/disability

I am not a wheelchair user, but my brother is. You might invest in one of these reacher/grabbers to help you get things from high up or off the floor. Are you only using the chair when you're at work?

As a teacher, my main concern would be maintaining a visual on each student in the room, which is much harder to do when you're sitting down. I also would think you'd want to make aisles between desks wide enough for you to navigate so your students can't take advantage of your not being able to get to them. My best suggestion, if you have enough space for this, would be to arrange your classroom so that all desks face inward, either in a circle, semi-circle, or square. This way you could teach from the middle of the room and maintain line-of-sight as well as easy access to each student. You will probably also need to rearrange your storage around the room so that you can reach everything you need.

As for gloves, you may want to find a pair designed specifically for use with a wheelchair, like these. Whereas the padding on bicycling gloves will be at the base of your fingers, the wheelchair gloves have padding in the space between your thumb and forefinger.

My advice for dealing with people who are offended by this (and I know a lot of disability rights advocates who would be) is to be respectful of their position and recognize that they're looking at this from a different perspective. In my opinion, they have a valid point and I see where they're coming from. But you have a legitimate point of view too, and it's obvious you're not doing this to make fun of disabilities or to cheapen the reality of disabled people's struggles, but rather to learn more about it and to spread awareness.

What kind of chair are you going to use? If you use a generic sling-seat version you can get at a drug store, you will find it absolutely necessary to get a better seat cushion for yourself, and probably better back support as well. I would not want to sit in one of those for 7 hours of teaching.

Good luck to you!

What about stamping? If money is limited you can make potatoes into stamps. How to Make a Stamp from a Potato

My son has a device that can strap a pointer for a tablet onto his hand so I imagine they have similar devices for pens. If they are capable of gripping then large triangle shaped crayons would work so would colored pencils with specialized grips (check special needs catalogs under fine motor for the different types of grips). Check out adult coloring pages through a search engine. There are some beautiful geometric designs available to print off for free. My 45 year old sister uses those design pages to force her brain to remap (brain injury) by coloring with her non-dominant hand.

If they have no gripping ability then I would try things like these;

Color bug,
Adapted scissors,
My Art Spinner - There used to be a switch adapted version of the art spinner, I don't know if it is still available.

My son's school does a lot of hand over hand because the students have severe disabilities both physical and mental. In his school art class is incorporated as therapy.

My son hates art because his fine motor control and gripping abilities are poor, thus art is more work then play for him. Art, however, is good therapy to force him to refine his fine motor skills. His grip has improved quite a bit after years of art class overseen by an occupational therapist.

ETA - I completely forgot if you need something switch enabled battery interrupters are a marvelous cheap way of doing it.

ETA Part 2 - Sorry some of the stuff I did in my son's earlier years when his fine motor was next to non-existant and he needed a tilt in space wheelchair are trickling back into my memory. I used plain mirrors and shaving cream as a play surface while he was standing in therapy. I looked it up and the concept can be taken to a new creative level check Shaving Cream Art page for ideas

Well, if you're posting here then you know something about it. A lot of it vaguely mirrors Women's Studies and Critical Race Theory or even Queer Theory. The science of oppression if you will.

Some basic things to look into are issues like People First Language, it's very popular among Social Justice types but it's good to ALSO be familiar with dissenting opinions like that proposed by the National Federation for the Blind.

Also, studying the Disability Rights Movement is pretty key, but you have to watch a lot of early documentation of it really sidelined the contributions of women (Intersectionality ahhhh!!!!). This book was pretty helpful to me.

One of the bigger points of history here has been the creation of the ADA which plays a large role in that legislative definition of disability I mentioned earlier. However, the ADA grew out of the Rehabilitation Act of '73. Nixon tried like hell to gut it but there was a national protest by people with disabilities at government offices across the country which, for its time ended up being one of the longest sit ins in a Federal building that had ever occurred. Of course, the wiki article mentions none of this, but you'll find out all about it in that book I linked above.

Also, understanding the Social Model of Disability is important. Those are some quick things to get you started.

It might not matter that much whether your symptoms are anxiety-related or not; the fact is, you have them, and you want to live your life, and you're having trouble figuring out how. Counseling might help even if all you have is problems adjusting to disability, but I think that practical solutions are the best thing for you at this point.

Regarding sex: There are still ways to have sex; you just have to be creative. Quadriplegics have sex. People with chronic pain have sex. It's not a thing you have to do in the regular way to have fun with it. I'm asexual, myself, which has nothing to do with my disability, so I never faced that problem; but I did have the chance to read a book on the topic:

Sex and Disability

There are other books like that one out there.

Sometimes it also helps to figure out why you liked the things you had to give up, and find other ways to do those things, or else do other things that serve the same purpose.

Five months is not a long time to adjust to a major life change. You are learning a lot of new skills and solving a lot of problems in your life. You can't get mad at yourself because you haven't yet found your new normal.

Just a tip. If you buy one which requires a powerpoint and it has a reservoir it can be a real hassle, especially if you run out of water. I have a shower head style water flosser of this design (I'd expect that the shower head version would be inaccessible...) which runs on mains pressure, is easy to install, and does not need any inputs or fussing around that some of the more expensive models do.

This might be ideal for you if you have issues with muscle strength or dexterity in your arms because you don't need to hold down a button and, frankly, you can take as long as you damn well please without having to worry about topping up a bulky and cumbersome reservoir.

So as for the toothbrush you are using, is it a sonic toothbrush or one of the older styles of toothbrush which has a mechanical, rotating head?

I used to have a rotating head electric toothbrush but I changed over to a sonic one a couple of years back. There is less mechanical noise and less rumbling with a sonic one, although that's traded for a higher pitch vibration something akin to a good quality bullet vibrator (if you'll excuse the comparison; it's honestly the closest thing to a sonic toothbrush.) I'm not sure if that would be better or easier for you...

Edit: P.S. use chewing gum regularly on no-brush days, and have you ever considered using a dampened soft cotton cloth with toothpaste applied to it to gently scrub your teeth as an alternative?

"Intellectually Disabled" is a pretty broad term. If he's kinda young at heart and really excited to have his new puppy you might get him a backpack and fill it with books and magazines about dogs. It seems childish but I had a friend who was ID (albeit pretty severely) and she would've loved that had I switched out dogs with American Girl.


Another idea is to get one of those Letters To Myself books where you write down letters to your future self. He can write about stuff happening at school and then open them at a later date and enjoy a look at his past self. I bought Letters For My Baby for my sister-in-law and she was totally into it.

Edit: Forgot the link to the Letters book: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-My-Future-Self-Treasure/dp/1452125376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501901042&sr=8-1&keywords=letters+to+myself

Thanks, friend. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Have you ever read Aspergirls by Rudy Simone? It's an amazing book by a lady aspie. It really validated my experiences and feelings. I don't usually shill, but I'd recommend it to every female aspie and their families and friends.

Adult diapers are cheaper if you buy them in bulk and without a middle man. Amazon is pretty good for that actually.

Stay away from pull up style diapers unless your wetting is light, they just don't hold very much. The kinds that tape up on the sides are much better, especially the plastic backed kind. They are also better because you can change in a stall without having to take your pants off.

I recommend starting out by trying some of the cheaper, lesser absorbancy kind such as this or this and if they aren't absorbant enough, try out Tranquility ATN Briefs as they are also quite cheap and also much more absorbant.

If Tranquility ATN Briefs aren't absorbant enough for you then you should go to one of the more expensive premium brand adult diapers like Abena or Molicare. They are quite a bit thicker than most diapers, but to be completely honest, as long as you don't wear skinny jeans and throw a pair of boxer briefs over the diaper, no one will ever notice that you are wearing it.

I'm reading the following right now:

Crip Theory: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0814757138/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Access all Areas: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0956134270/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. (Live art and disability specifically)

Dangerous discourses: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1137272805/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Disability rights and wrongs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/041534719X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And yeah, it has taken a fair bit of research to find out these things. But, I am learning my history and where I come from. In terms of activism and performance, but sociology and disability studies come into this as well.

I don't know if documentaries are of much use, but Vital
Signs: Crip Culture talks back, and lives worth living is also a good shout

I recently read Disability Meets Design, and feel like this article would be a great critique of the book. The focus on high art/fashion as the beauty standard seems to really ignore the lived realities of most people with disabilities.

Plus her attitude towards others with disabilities will strongly shape her children's attitude.

There also a lot of kids books on the subject, though it may be difficult to find ones that aren't overdone. Kathy Hoopmann's books are really good, IMO. She's got one on Aperger's/Autism and one on ADHD. She her descriptions of both Aspergers and ADHD are spot on and easy to understand.

As they get older, you might consider having them volunteer to work with children with disabilities (like a camp counselor, tutor, reading buddy, or whatever).

You might also consider enrolling them in a preschool that has "blended" classes (both typical peers and those that are "developmentally delayed"). My younger siblings have all gone this route and it's been a good experience for them, I think.

The legal code for ramps is 1 foot for 1 inch, so a 5" step would need a 5' ramp. It depends on how steady and comfortable he is about driving his chair, but... Since this isn't going to be a legal thing, you might be able to get away with a shorter (and thus cheaper) ramp. Amazon has a 4 footer that may do you.

Makes sense. FYI, sometimes offset hinges can help maximize the usable area of a doorway: https://www.amazon.com/HealthSmart-Expandable-Door-Hinges-Brass/dp/B0009STNNS

Instead of trimming, you could try a single hair epilatorepilator. That would remove the hairs for longer periods, allowing much less maintenance. Or waxing, even. Both better than trimming, as they'll put weeks or even months between maintenance. You could probably have the waxing done at any hair salon.

Miracle Boy Grows Up, how the disability rights movement saved my sanity

I'm sure I'm late but here's a book on the topic https://www.amazon.com/Uniquely-Me-Trace-Wilson/dp/1631773739

https://www.amazon.com/101-Accessible-Vacations-Wheelers-Walkers/dp/1932603433

GoodNites have pull-ups and waterproof underwear with inserts. Prevail in youth/small adult might still be a little large for her. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NNCQ2E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1

Don't Call Me Inspirational: a Disabled Feminist Talks Back by Harilyn Rousso.