My Equipment and Gadgets: Part 4

Welcome back! When I was living with my mum and dad, I also liked to be as independent as possible because that’s how I was brought up and it has always been my mindset to do as much as can myself. I firmly believe in the saying “If you don’t use it, you lose it”, but for some reason, I didn’t have as much equipment as I do now to aid my independence. It was only when I moved out that I started finding and investigating more bits and pieces that help me.

One Christmas, my mum and dad put a magnetic charging cable in my stocking… Let me tell you, it was definitely a massive game-changer for me! For I don’t know how many years, I have had to rely on other people to take my phone on and off charge for me because I don’t have the dexterity to be able to manipulate an average charging cable into the charging point. Having these magnetic chargers means that I can just put the cable near the magnet in my phone and it connects just like that. They come with three different-sized magnets. These cables can move in different directions; I’m not entirely sure whether this moving feature is helpful to me (you can take the rotating parts off if you want – they’re just attached with a stronger magnet). Even though this part isn’t really helpful to me, the product as a whole is excellent and extremely helpful to me!  I’ve got about three now… You can find these on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/P-TECHUK-Rotating-Magnetic-1M-2M/dp/B09D5S6VPR?pd_rd_w=nkphP&content-id=amzn1.sym.e8d0cfa5-9119-45d4-a75a-cb578b279903&pf_rd_p=e8d0cfa5-9119-45d4-a75a-cb578b279903&pf_rd_r=GKF2XKT5995W1PGFHZ9Y&pd_rd_wg=218iG&pd_rd_r=d3d48282-f362-44ea-9020-c1f4bda9170b&pd_rd_i=B09D5S6VPR&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_pd_gwd_bag_pd_gw_rp_3_t&th=1

Carrying on with the magnetic charging cables, I have extra ones for my Bluetooth keyboards. The only problem with the keyboards is the charging ports are at the top and the keyboard is not flat, so there is an extra lip above the rectangular charging port, so the circular magnet wouldn’t fit into the port because it wouldn’t fit due to the shape of the keyboard itself. To solve this problem, my dad found an extension cable to plug into the keyboard and put the magnet into the end of the cable. Again, you can find these on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BVDKLDLT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I have always had a poor memory; we think that it’s due to my CP or the brain damage that caused the CP, but over the past few years, my memory issues have become worse for some reason. I have asked my consultant about this, and all she said was that it could be down to stress. I have noticed that it does get worse when I am stressed, but can this cause memory to be this bad? Who knows? Anyway, I don’t know how soon it was after I had moved into my flat, but I ended up having nothing to eat for dinner because my carers didn’t ask me what I wanted to eat until the evening, and if I didn’t get anything out of the freezer and unless it can be cooked from frozen, I was stuffed. So, besides all the problems with carers not being able to cook (yes, it is shocking, isn’t it?), my mum said that I needed to plan my meals. I write the date of the Monday beginning the week on the line in the top right corner so that I know which week I’m on. There’s also some extra space above that, so I use it to write how many tubes of toothpaste I have so that I can keep track and order more as and when I’m running low. I used to use the notes section of the meal planner to write my freezer and fridge contents, but people had to squeeze their writing into that box, and sometimes that was impossible to fit all of the food stock I had in there, and it wasn’t very readable, so I decided to get an additional whiteboard for food stock. This whole system works really well for me.

In March 2023, I had my kitchen revamped to make it so that I could get my legs under the worktop whilst in my wheelchairs. I had a height-adjustable table installed so that no matter if I am in my manual or electric wheelchair, I can adjust it to the best height. This means that I can help prepare my meals by using a technique called hand-over-hand. I’ve used hand-over-hand since I was a young child and it basically means that I have something in my hand and someone else is holding the same thing over the top of my hand to help me grip and control it. I really enjoy it, but it depends on the carer whether I want to or not because I don’t do it with someone who don’t I have the right relationship with. I have also found a secondary purpose for the kitchen bench; before I had the kitchen re-done, I used to struggle a lot with the spinning noise of the washing machine because it is loud anyway, but the vibration of the spin cycle meant that the washing machine moved and bounced around the kitchen floor a bit, which made it louder. Since I had the rise and fall bench installed, I’ve found that the sides of the bench stop the washing machine from moving so much, and I think it absorbs some of the noise as well.

I have a lot of adaptions that you wouldn’t think of, haven’t I? Come back tomorrow for more!