Five Tips for Days Out with the Whole Family

June 30, 2022July 27, 2022 Jayne1 Comment

One of the things that we’re looking forward to now that things are opening up fully is going back to taking more days out as a family. Both of our Mums also love to spend time with the kids and come along on days out as much as they can, work permitting. Something that I’ve been thinking about lately is taking my elderly Nan with us as well. She’s 86 and struggles with mobility, but she’s lucky enough to have my sister caring for her, despite the fact that she’s also disabled herself.

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Home

Futureproofing Your Forever Home

January 19, 2022March 4, 2022 JayneLeave a comment

Photo by Mischa Frank on Unsplash

If you are one of those people who is lucky enough to have found the home that you want to live in forever, you might find that, while it is absolutely perfect for your needs right now, it might need some futureproofing to allow you to live in it right into your old age. These kinds of adjustments don’t need to be hugely expensive or obvious although there are some structural changes that you could make which will both future proof your home and add to the overall value. Here are five suggestions of things that you can do to your forever home to make it truly future proof.

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Disabilities

5 Accessibility Fixtures Which Still Look Great

December 1, 2021 JayneLeave a comment

If you have mobility issues and need to adjust your home to make your life easier, it’s a common worry that these accessibility fixtures and fittings will detract from the overall look of your property. There are however some accessibility improvements that you can make to your home which will aid your day-to-day movement and still make your property look high-end and well designed. Here are five examples of things that you can add to your property while still making it all look great.

Platform Lifts

There is a tendency for aftermarket lifts in houses to look clunky and incongruous, and most people don’t like to have a constant reminder of the fact that they need help with their mobility.

There are however lots of platform lifts which can be installed in houses which look as though they were designed to be there in the first place, and look sleek and high end.

Handrails

When we think of handrails which are placed in properties to aid movement, we often think of the clunky white handrails that you would see around a hospital or care home. This doesn’t need to be the case as there are many handrail options out there which are made from materials which blend much better with the design aesthetic of your home. Take a look around the internet to help you find something which looks less mobility related and more like a design feature.

Ramps

If you use a wheelchair to get around, having ramps installed in your home will make your life a hell of a lot easier. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to have obvious and unattractive structures attached to the outside or the inside of your home to improve your accessibility. If you find the right carpenter or craftsman they can often add ramps to your property which don’t even look like ramps and will act more like undulations in your flooring.

Bathrooms

As with the other items in this list, accessible bathrooms no longer need to look like something you find in a care home. There are many different options out there for wet rooms, walk-in baths and showers and low-level sinks which will look just as good as a bathroom for the able-bodied. A skilled bathroom fitter will be able to add these features to your bathroom without making them look out of place.

Kitchens

Making a kitchen accessible for a person with mobility issues doesn’t need to be expensive or difficult. Often it’s just a case of taking eye level units and worktops and making them lower so that you can get into them without needing to be standing up. A good kitchen designer will have the skill to create a kitchen which looks beautiful but is completely functional.

Health

Making Life Easier with Mobility Issues

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 Jayne2 Comments

According to figures from disability charity Scope, there are 13.9 million disabled people in the UK who are living with some form of disability. This obviously covers a range of people, from those with mobility issues, right the way up to those who are profoundly disabled; the most commonly reported impairments by disabled people are:

Mobility (52%)
Stamina, breathing, fatigue (38%)
Dexterity (27%).

I have several friends who suffer with a range of mobility-effecting illnesses, so I thought I’d turn to them to give you some tips on how to make your day-to-day life easier if you struggle with mobility issues. My friend Jeni, who suffers with hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, offered a HUGE amount of tips:

Pace Yourself

Break tasks into smaller chunks, small enough that you stop before you get tired.

Perching stool in the kitchen

Essential for cooking meals and washing up.

Tassimo/hot water machine

Standing waiting for a kettle to boil is sooooo tiring by when you’re suffering with fatigued muscles from overdoing it. This makes life easier!

Cooking potatoes/pasta in a chip basket inside a saucepan

saves you lifting and moving with a hot pan of water as it drains as you lift the basket and you can leave the water to cool.

Having “green” activities spread through the day

Red activities are heavy duty, amber is tolerable, and green are restful-ish. e.g. Red would be hoovering, Amber would be cooking and green would be watching a film with the kids or knitting. By having green activities every so often in the day, you give yourself a break!

Also, take your time when deciding on a car; consider height, weight of steering, accessibility, as well as fuel consumption. Can you get a wheelchair in the boot?

Borrow a wheelchair

You can hire them from the red cross so you can get out and about if you need to. Mary from Keynko had one for 10 weeks for a donation of £30.

Listen to your body

It’s about learning what you can do accepting that. Rachel from Rachel in Real Life said “So it was my sister’s wedding day on Sunday. I usually work Mondays but obviously it was a bank holiday and I also suspected I wouldn’t be able to work today so I’m making up the hours on Thursday. I slept most of yesterday and today. I’m still in pain and tired now. Remember to take pain relief at the right times, don’t wait to feel the pain. I’d recommend pain management program. It was really quite helpful and enabled me to meet others who struggle with chronic pain and mobility issues.”

My friend Kerry says: “I have a walking stick for general daily use (I try not to use it sometimes so I don’t become completely dependant), I have a four wheeled walker for bad days so I can sit in-between walking to the school, and for very bad days I now have a mobility scooter that I bought myself as there are days my legs are agony and I cannot get round to the school. Hot baths with epsom salts for muscle relaxation. Magnesium spray for muscle cramps. I also take a multivitamin and several additional vitamins on top to try ensure I stay as healthy as possible.”