Life is hard when you have a physical disability because we live in an inaccessible world that is designed for non-disabled people. I have a physical disability, and everything I do is hard because even the simplest task that doesn’t look like it would be that hard can be very difficult for people with physical disabilities. My life will always have challenges, and that is never going to change because I can’t change my disability and can only do my best to accommodate. Life is harder than it has to be for disabled people because non-disabled people often think that accessibility is only for disabled people and don’t accommodate us. I can do some things in the same way that non-disabled people can, but most things I have to do in a slightly different way, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do that task. Life will always be hard, and there is nothing that I can do that will make every task in my life easy, because sometimes you have to accept that there are some tasks you aren’t going to be able to do. There are some things that I do every day to accommodate my disability that help make my physical challenges a little bit easier than they would be if I didn’t do that. What do I do every day to make living with a physical disability a little easier? In this post, I am sharing a few things that I do every single day to make my life a little easier as a physically disabled person.
I put things in the same spot- Blind people often will put things in the same location, so it’s easy to find because they can’t visually scan the room to find things like a sighted person can. People with physical disabilities can also benefit from doing that, because although I may be able to visually see where things are, it can be difficult for me to walk around my room for thirty minutes trying to find my deodorant. I would not say that I am the most organized person, and sometimes people may not understand my methods, but I do keep certain products in the same location so I can always find them. It can be very exhausting for me to find things that I have lost, and keeping things in the same location can help make it easier. You should never move a disabled person’s things to a completely different location because a lot of the time, it’s in that area for a reason, and moving it will make our lives harder.
I put things more often toward the front- It can be difficult to access things that are sitting on my dresser because I don’t have as much stability when I stand as a non-disabled person would, and can’t use my dresser to pull up because it’s not safe and could fall over on top of me. I have a lot of products that I use often sitting on the top of my dresser, but it can be difficult to have every product where I want it because I have too many medications and products in general to keep them all in accessible locations all the time. Some products get pushed toward the back, and I am not able to access them as easily. One of the ways that I make my life easier as a physically disabled person is I put products that I use every day toward the front and products such as my laxatives that I may only use twice a week toward the back. It can be hard to make every product easily accessible because there is not enough room on my dresser, so I have them organized by the order I use them to make it accessible. I will still struggle to access products that I don’t use as often, but I’d rather struggle occasionally than every day.
I put things I don’t use in my top dresser drawer- Non-disabled people sometimes keep their underwear and socks in their top dresser drawer. As a physically disabled person, I don’t do that because it can be difficult for me to open my top dresser drawer without falling, so I keep those things in the bottom drawer. My top dresser drawer is used for things that I don’t wear often and is basically a junk drawer because it is too hard for me to access. I organize my dresser drawers a little bit differently than a non-disabled person would, and put things that I use every day in lower drawers and things I use less often in the upper drawers to make my life easier.
I look at the floor for water spills when I walk- If you have ever watched me walk, you may have noticed that a lot of the time, I am looking at the floor and not directly at people. Why do I do that? I look at the floor when I am walking to look for water spills and anything that could potentially cause a fall because I have found that when I don’t do that, I fall more often. If someone is talking to me, sometimes I will have to directly look at them so people don’t think I am being rude, but most of the time I am looking at the floor. As a physically disabled person, I am more likely to fall than a non-disabled person because I don’t have as much stability, and looking at the floor when I walk helps me prevent falls and makes my life easier.
I hang dresses I don’t wear as often– It can be difficult for me to access things that are hung on a hanger in my closet because I have to let go of my crutches to get things off a hanger, which can cause a fall. I wear dresses almost all the time, and the only time I am not wearing one is when I am exercising or sleeping. I hate getting dresses out of my closets, and dresses I wear every day are in my dresser drawer, and dresses that I only wear once a week to church are hung in my closet. It is frustrating to access things in my closet, and I am not going to struggle to get things out of my closet more than I have to.
I sit down to brush my teeth– Non-disabled people often will stand in front of their sink to brush their teeth, but that can be difficult for me to stand for two minutes to brush my teeth, so I don’t. When I brush my teeth, I put the lid down on my toilet seat so I can sit while brushing my teeth because standing for that long puts a lot of stress on my legs. I have a container that I spit into, so I only have to stand once after I am done to clean it out. If I had to, I could stand to brush my teeth, but I wouldn’t be cleaning my teeth as well because standing for two minutes is too difficult with a physical disability.
Life is hard with a physical disability, and you always have to accommodate your life to make every day tasks easier because if you didn’t, life would be ten times harder than it has to be. I am constantly changing the way I do tasks because I am always thinking of new ways to do tasks and be more independent. There are a lot of ways that you can make your life easier as a physically disabled person, such as exercising to keep your muscles strong, and not everyone will do the same types of things. Everyone with physical disabilities has different limitations, and even though something works for me, that doesn’t mean it will work for you, and it depends on what disability you have. You know your body better than anyone else, and it is so important that you do what it takes to make your life as easy as possible. It is okay if you can’t do things in the same way non-disabled people can, because being different is not bad. You are only hurting yourself when you don’t accommodate your disability and try to ignore it. How do you make your life easier while living with a physical disability? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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