My Equipment and Gadgets: Part 2

When I was living with my parents, I called them when I needed help, but when I moved, some carers said that they didn’t hear me when I called them. As I have poor balance and I’m prone to falling over as I move around on the floor, I need a way of calling them for help. I first realised that I needed some kind of call system when I fell and a carer didn’t respond when I called for help. If a carer can’t hear me when I call, it is rather worrying. This particular time, I lost my balance, but the carer claimed that she didn’t hear me even though I shouted loudly and banged the puffé lid up and down… At this point, I was thinking of what I could do, and I was just about to try and call or text my parents, laying on the floor, when my carer finally heard me. I already had a bell in my bedroom, but after that experience, I decided to buy myself a doorbell for the living room because I didn’t feel safe with people not hearing me.

Due to my speech problems, I sometimes sound aggressive when I don’t mean to be, so I feel more comfortable ringing the bell rather than calling them. When I first got the bell, I just placed it on the carpet, but I found a problem with that: As I pressed the button, the bell would sink into the carpet and then flip on its front. I pondered on this for a while, and then I suddenly remembered that I had two book ends that I didn’t use, so I took the stand out of the bookend and stuck the bell on it. It works as a platform, as well as making it easier to slide around the floor.

Obviously, bookends come in pairs. Originally, I bought them to line my DVDs up on my TV unit shelf but then realised that it would irritate me because the few DVDs on the ends of the row would be slightly higher than the others, so I didn’t do this, and I put the spare bookend away in a drawer… Then one day, I had this awesome idea to use it to shade my phone screen! Since I moved into my flat, I have struggled to see my phone screen when it is sunny outside because the windows of my flat face east, and of course, the sun rises in the east, therefore the sun shines straight through my windows… As well as making the room incredibly hot in summer, it makes it almost impossible to see what’s on my phone screen. Since I started using the bookend as a sun shield, I have been able to see my phone much better.

I have also found a non-slip mat that has a sticky back. One day, I was talking to one of my carers about how to keep my phone still while I’m using it, and we did some browsing on the internet, and found this non-slip mat that sticks to the dashboard in a car. This looked quite good, so I bought it to try, and it’s brilliant! It was square, but I cut it to fit my phone because the sides got in the way of my foot as I used my phone... It came in a pack of two from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T5RHCFS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

I've always tucked the front of my phone case under my keyboard to keep it out of the way, but I’ve recently found another thing that helps me use my phone: Something as simple as a fridge magnet is extremely helpful for me because I have recently found that I can use them to hold the clasp open on my phone when I am using the phone. When I first got the idea, I borrowed one of my mum’s just to test it to see if it would work, and it did, but my mum’s magnet got in the way of my foot as it was a bit too big and rectangular. Then I bought some small circular ones, and they work really well, it’s even better that they’re like marbles because they are heavier and look lovely. I bought these from Temu: https://www.temu.com/goods.html?_bg_fs=1&goods_id=601099513197393&_x_sessn_id=6mvg7mn2a0&refer_page_name=bgt_order_detail&refer_page_id=10045_1712421365967_3txj5panpe&refer_page_sn=10045

Although I can use my phone to play games, I can't use a phone accurately enough to access apps such as the one the banks want you to use because of my visual and coordination issues.

That’s it for this post, but I’ll be back!