Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Behavior, Disability, Reality, User Friendly | Tags: control, dietary considerations, inexpensive solution, lifestyle, nutrition category, quadriplegia
Lose It is an app that is available free on iTunes and can be used with iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad. It is located in the Health and Nutrition category and is designed to help people lose weight. While it is set up for the general population, it lends itself to easy adaptation for any individual with a disability. Prior to my accident I was 6’4″ tall and weighed 215 pounds. Now, 13 years later, even with major dietary adjustments, I weigh close to 260 pounds. Being a quadriplegic, weighing oneself is difficult, and using a scale designed to weigh individuals in a sling, can be costly. I have found an inexpensive solution to this problem. I use a Big Buck scale that can be purchased at Cabela’s for $45. It is intended for weighing deer but still is surprisingly accurate.
The following description of Lose It is taken from iTunes:
“Succeed at weight loss with Lose It! Set goals and establish a daily calorie budget that enables you to meet them. Stay on track each day by recording your food and exercise and staying within your budget. The average active Lose It user has lost more than 12 pounds and more than 85% of our active users have lost weight. Lose It is completely free — get started losing weight with Lose It today.”
Lose It is simple and easy to use. It has a large database of food and exercise which can be easily added to. After entering a food or exercise once, it becomes part of your personal database and can be selected the next time with a simple click. What lends itself so nicely to adaptation is the fact that you can add both foods and exercises to the program. In the exercise category I was able to add Hand cycling and several other modified activities with the amount of time I do them and the number of calories I burn. Existing categories within the exercise section can be manipulated to reflect your level of participation.
For those of us who have specialized dietary considerations in addition to keeping track of calories, Lose It can be set up to monitor Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbohydrates, Sugar, Fiber and Protein in our daily diets. It also has a bar code scanner for packaged products to make entering specific nutritional information easier. Lose It has an extensive menu of foods from both the supermarket and many well-known food chains. Simple, user-friendly, adaptable and free: what more could you ask for? Give it a try; you have nothing to lose but weight!! Available now for your computer at LoseIt.com
Summer Before the Accident
Thirteen Years Later
Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Disability, Education, Simple Solution | Tags: adapting, control, creative idea, life lesson, physically challenged, using your mind
As we all know a large number of products made for individuals with disabilities are greatly overpriced. Among the many unfortunate results of this is the fact that many people from the disabled community are prevented from returning to the activities that provide them with quality-of-life such as hunting, kayaking, and biking to mention just a few. This is one reason why Andy Dahmen and I designed what we call the Universal Chair Mount. Our idea was to place the prints on the Handihelp website where people could download them and then have a local craftsman make the mount, greatly reducing the cost. We drew up a rough set of blueprints and decided to have our mounts made locally. Mine was made in upstate New York, while Andy’s was made in Utah. Imagine our surprise when we exchanged photos of each other’s finished products.
When I stopped to think about this, I realized there is a good lesson here. As you can see from the pictures, we ended up with two very different looking chair mounts, and that’s the point. The plans, pictures and ideas shown on the pages of the Handihelp website should serve as a guide or starting point, rather than a blueprint which must be followed exactly. When you look at a “tool” or piece of equipment you should ask yourself, what do I want this to do for me? What parts are essential to its function? On the mount, for instance, there are 3 features that all chair mounts must have in common: a hole for the post to go into, a mechanism to lock the post in place, and a means to attach the mount to a wheelchair. How these necessities are produced is up to the builder. Look how different our two mounts are; yet, they both attain the desired outcome, a functional universal chair mount.
Handihelp provides possible solutions for accomplishing certain outcomes, but they should be looked at as starting points instead of “set-in-stone” solutions. What is offered here is the start of developing an attitude toward dealing with the challenges imposed upon us by our disabilities, as well as a source of solutions.
Filed under: Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Behavior, Disability, Education, Reality, Sensitivity | Tags: adapting, creative idea, life lesson, physically challenged, using your mind
D. H. Lawrence, the early 20th century English novelist, storywriter, critic, poet and painter wrote, “I have never seen a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A little bird will fall dead, frozen from a bough, without ever having felt sorry for itself.” How the hell did he know?
In December 2005, a 3 month old female dolphin was found wrapped in the rope line of a crab trap near Cape Canaveral Florida. She was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, which is a marine rescue center. The dolphin, named Winter, struggled to survive. The rope had cut off blood circulation to her tail which resulted in, not only the loss of her tail, but several spinal vertebrae too. Few experts believed the dolphin could survive major trauma like this. Winter not only survived, she developed a new method of propulsion. The new movement she used to move herself through the water while amazing, however, was detrimental to her spinal cord.
Winter
A well-known prosthetic specialist heard about Winter and offered his services. The challenges looked to be overwhelming: artificially reproduce one of the most powerful propulsion systems in the world, finding a way to attach it to a dolphin, and then train a wild animal to use it. Mike Walsh, Winter’s lead veterinarian, said:
“We put together a team who doesn’t know what ‘no’ means.
As long as you’re willing to try, you can make a big difference.”
After a lot of trial and error, a successful apparatus was finally developed. This story is responsible for the movie, “Dolphin’s Tale”, which is a touching movie for the entire family. In the movie, Winter plays herself. If you see it, be sure to watch after the end of the movie for some very special scenes.
There are lessons here for all of us in the disabled community, not only from the behavior of the humans but also in Winter’s behavior: their collective refusal to give up or accept failure as an answer, their ability to find alternative ways of attacking a challenge, their love and enjoyment of life itself, and Winter’ attitude of accepting what happened and to move on. The team’s persistence led not only to the dolphin’s prosthesis, but help for human amputees as well. Winter’s early rejection of the prosthesis was not due to the device itself, as originally thought, but rather to the material that was being used to attach it to her body. After realizing this, the team developed a new gel sleeve which adhered to her body with suction. This gel material is now being used with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Additional new materials are also being developed to stand up better to salt water.
Once again, we see that positive attitude, thinking out of the box and relentless perseverance reap rewards and success.
Winter's Prosthesis and Gel Sleeve
Filed under: Adapting Equipment, Disability, Education, Simple Solution, User Friendly | Tags: control, hunting, using your mind
A major disability takes so much away from the individual. I’ve lost not only the things people normally associate with quadriplegia, but so much more; such as control of body temperature, intimacy, ability to act spontaneously to mention just a few. Why should we be deprived of any more of the other things we love to do? I often reflect on the words of Christopher Reeve:
“I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I will live my life. I don’t mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery.”
With these words in my mind, I faced my new life with quadriplegia. That was over 12 years ago, and a lot of things have changed since then. After my injury, I was shocked and outraged at the exorbitant pricing of articles sold specifically for individuals with disabilities. What really upset and perplexed me is that many of the online “stores”, promoting these products, were run by people with disabilities. Many individuals, especially those newly disabled, are often prevented from participating in activities because of this overpricing. My early “tool” development was an outgrowth of efforts not to let my situation prevent me from partaking in things I used to enjoy and not to pay the ridiculous prices. I created Handihelp.net with the idea of providing simple alternatives that are either inexpensive or costs little to be made.
Much of the interest on Handihelp centers on continuing activities that individuals enjoyed prior to their disability and principle among those activities is hunting. Many of the e-mails I get are similar to the following letter from Dan:
“I am a C-5 6 quadriplegic complete… . I broke my neck over 40 years ago, and have been trying to find a good wheelchair mounted gun holder and trigger mechanism. Before I got injured I was an avid hunter, fisherman, and son of a farmer. I have tried different mounts but they tend to get very pricey. I would love to be able to hunt Whitetail deer with my brothers and one great friend who has been through this with me from the beginning. I’m not well-off but I’m very happy. I have a Ruger .223 semi-automatic rifle that I would love to use as a groundhog gun. I have a bold action 30-06 that I bought the year before I got hurt never getting to use it. I don’t think I can use the bold action, so I would use it one shot at a time. I truly appreciate any help and guidance you can give me in obtaining this dream. This has been a dream of mine for the last 40 years. To be able to use my rifle and shotgun would be the coolest.”
Over the years my own efforts to “create” additional equipment became more ambitious. Letters like Dan’s helped me decide to try and find some relatively inexpensive equipment which could be easily modified for use by a person in a wheelchair. This, by far, would be my most challenging effort to date. My research led to Bog Gear in Fredricksburg Texas, who after hearing my story, donated several pieces of equipment for me to experiment with. After some minor modifications it became the Inexpensive Gun Mount (IGM) which cost about a $110 and can be purchased from Cabela’s.
I developed my Poor Man’s Trigger Adapter (PMTA) for my personal use and later I put it on my website. It can be made and placed on a weapon for less than $2. The final piece of apparatus was a chair mount to attach the gun mount to a wheelchair. With input from Andy Dahmen, a fellow quadriplegic hunter, Doug, of Colonial Welding and Don from Don’s Pro Shop we came up with a device we believe will be relatively inexpensive to make and can be placed on almost any wheelchair. Plans for the Universal Chair Mount (UCM) can now be downloaded from Handihelp and constructed by a craftsman in your area hopefully, further reducing the cost. You should be able to get the mount made for around $80. All of the equipment necessary to hunt should cost around $200.
The (UCM) is not to be limited to just gun use, any piece of equipment such as a camera, table, binoculars, fishing pole adapter, telescope etc. which is supported by a 5/8” post can be held by the UCM. Handihelp plans to work on additional pieces of equipment to be used with the UCM. As projects are created information will be placed on the website.
The fulfillment of this project far exceeds any ideas I had when I first started the website in January 2008. To help other quadriplegics, like Dan, return to the activities they love and to demonstrate to others what is possible when you free yourself of perceived limitations is very satisfying.
Universal Chair Mount
All these plans can be found on my website.
Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Behavior, Community Inclusion, Creative Ideas, Disability, Education, Independent Living, Observation, Reality | Tags: adapting, control, lifestyle, physically challenged, quadriplegia, using your mind
Christopher & Dana Reeve
Several months ago I was contacted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and asked if they could do a profile on me which they did: “Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher”. This January they contacted me again and based on the information on my website I was asked to start and moderate a group on the Christopher Reeve Foundation website. The group is called Learned Empowerment and I would like to extend an invitation to you to join. You must first join the Christopher & Dana Reeve Website which is free. I hope the group develops into a place where both individuals with a disability and those in any way affected by the disabled community can share ideas, shortcuts for various tasks and mutual support.
Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Behavior, Education, Independent Living, Observation, Reality | Tags: adapting, control, life lesson, using your mind
I sat in the chair looking at the piece of paper I had just dropped on the floor. I needed the paper for what I was doing so I had to pick it up. No big deal. Right? WRONG, it was going to be a problem. I couldn’t bend over to get it and I couldn’t get out of my chair and walk over to pick it up. You see the chair I was sitting in was a power wheelchair. Many of the simple reflex actions I used before my quadriplegia still came to me rapidly when I needed to solve a problem. Today was different and I knew it. My wife and my nurse were both gone at the time and so was the option that they could pick it up for me. I knew I had a major challenge before me the resolution of which would affect me the rest of my life.
As a teacher I had been working with students for over 34 years and was involved with some unique adventure based activities which tried to teach students to find alternative ways of problem solving. Mostly as a result of these experiences I truly believed there was a simple way to pick up that piece of paper. The real challenge I faced was to figure out how to do it. The solution finally came to me although it was not that day. Like most of my problem solving creations the answer was the result of hard work, frustration, failure, modifications and persistence. The ultimate success of my solution encouraged me to move on and find other simple methods of adapting ways l could solve other everyday challenges.
I believe the key lies in one’s attitude. It is human nature to rely on methods and solutions which have been successful in the past. This often encourages us to use only limited means to accomplish a given task. When speaking to a group I like to use the example of catching a fish. If I choose ten people in the audience and ask them to catch a fish for me, chances are great the majority would grab a fishing pole and head to nearby body of water. When initially dealing with the challenges placed on those of us living with a disability, I think we often try to solve problems using the same skills we used before our impairment. This approach can create extreme frustration and an acute awareness of the limitations placed on us by our condition. Now suppose I presented this same challenge to an audience of people from the United Nations.
It is a real probability we would see a variety of methods which could include nets (both casting and stationary), wiers, noodling, spears, spear guns, bow and arrow, or use of other animals, such as cormorants and many additional ways. So in reality, if we think about it, there are usually many ways to solve a particular problem. The first attitudinal change must be the understanding that more than likely there is a solution for what you are trying to do. Begin by freeing ourselves of cultural restraints. At times such limitations are really in our own minds. Learn to think outside the box and experiment with different approaches. I have become convinced over the last twelve years that attitude is much more important t than ability to individuals who are physically challenged. Looking at a new situation not as a problem but as a challenge needing to be met, may actually set one’s mind free of the mental restraints which prevent finding a solution. This initial attempt at finding a solution, I believe, is of critical importance because it will establish a lasting mindset. I can or I can’t; which will have greater significance for the future? If we give up or allow failure to deter us from continuing, the implications are obvious. Failure, if approached with the right attitude, provides opportunity for learning and hence for growth which eventually can lead to success. If a small child decided there is no reason to continually struggle to get up after falling down time after time, he or she would never learn to walk. I had a graduate student in a workshop sum up my supposition in an e-mail she sent me: ”I was particularly struck by your juxtaposition of self-created learned helplessness (I can’t do that, so how can I do this) with what I might call learned empowerment (I can do that, so why can’t I do this?)”
Some suggestions I would make in regards to finding alternative solutions:
1. Know there is a way.
2. Keep things simple.
My Poor Man’s Trigger Adapter cost under $2.00 to make
3. Don’t get discouraged and give up.
Professor Randy Pausch in his book The Last Lecture wrote, “The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”.
4. Think of failure as an opportunity for learning and growth.
5. Observe with an active mind.
After noticing hockey and lacrosse players had placed continuous wrapping of tape on their sticks to prevent their hand from sliding past a spot, I decided to do the same. The placement of these “stops” allows tool manipulation without a strong grip.
6. Think outside the box.
7. When possible make tools multi-functional.
Try to create tools that can be used for different purposes.
8. Make tools interactional.
Any one of my tools can be used to pick up a different one if I should I drop it.
9. Be willing to modify.
I am constantly revisiting the tools and ideas I have already come up with to try and improve them or make them more functional.
10. Be open to the suggestions and ideas of others.
11. Remember success builds success.
Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Disability, Independent Living | Tags: hunting, lifestyle, physically challenged
I have waited for this moment for a long time. May 26, 2010 – 9:15 AM. Today I harvested my first turkey in 11 years. I had been an avid hunter prior to my disability. I believed I would never be able to hunt again, especially by myself. Today’s success was the result of the labors of many people: my wife, who walked me out and help me set up, my nurse Rhonda, who came at 6 AM the mornings in May so I would have more time to hunt, my neighbor Mike, who allows me to hunt his land, my friend John, who gave me his time to set up blinds made out of snow fence and camouflage material, and so it goes. My wife likes to say “It takes a village”.
The blind
I am also proud of myself. Over the 11 years, I got discouraged; turkeys often were close enough to harvest but something always went wrong. In the beginning it was my inability to camouflage my wheelchair well enough, then my finger couldn’t pull the trigger, or I had a muscle spasm which alerted the turkeys to my presence and were instantly gone. But I persisted and attempted to correct the challenges as they presented themselves. But at the end of each spring I had the same results — NOTHING. Often it was a process of trial and error, but gradually my efforts began to improve my chances. I created a trigger adapter which allows me to fire the shotgun using my mouth. Not only does this solve the problem of trying to find the trigger, but it also allows me to use both hands to steady the gun. At many points along the way it would’ve been easy to give up and quit. I know from experience it’s a lot easier to give advice to others than it is to take it myself. So get discouraged, get frustrated, but don’t give up.
My trigger adapter
One of the things I like the most about hunting is that it is totally irrelevant to the game that I am an individual with a disability. To the turkeys I hunt, I am just another predator and that’s all I ask for. Today was definitely a day worth waiting for.
The turkey on my lap. On my right knee is a turkey call I adapted to sit on my thigh so I could use one handed
Filed under: Ability, Adapting Equipment, Attitude, Behavior, Disability, Education | Tags: hunting, lifestyle, quadriplegia
Going..
When I woke up this morning at a quarter of six the temperature outside was 27°. Even though it is May 10th you have to expect the possibility of this kind of temperature when you live in northern New York. My nurse arrived around six and the day began. I was ready to roll a little after eight o’clock but was delayed because of a problem my nurse had loading my shotgun. Bundled up in camouflage, my wife and I finally headed out of the house. I’m fortunate to be able to hunt across the street on a large area of abandoned farm land. I motored down the driveway, across a field, down an abandoned road and drove into the field to the place where I was going to hunt. At the edge of the field I back into an area of small trees and brush. One must blend in with the surroundings because turkeys have excellent vision and can spot anything out of place. Marge helped me with some final adjustments, covered my head with camouflage netting and left. Fifteen or twenty minutes after she left intermittently I began calling the turkeys. Turkeys call back and forth to locate each other during the mating season. Although it was cold with a brisk wind, it was a beautiful sun shiny day. Back in the hedgerow there was little wind and it wasn’t long before I could feel the warm rays of sun on my face.
going...
After a while I became aware of a bird jumping around from branch to branch. A minute or two later it landed on my shotgun barrel and stayed for about 30 seconds. It was Black-capped Chickadee. They are cute and entertaining little birds. I glanced at its feet gripping the barrel of the shotgun. How can anything be so delicate? Even though we can have brutal winters, Chickadees are year-round residents. After it flew off I called a couple more times. Slowly my eyes began to close and I nodded off in the warm sunshine. When I awoke again the grass in the field was bending in the wind, as were the trees and bushes directly across from me, every shade of green rocking in the wind. I heard the raucous call of a crow. It kept repeating and each time after it was done I listened intensely for a gobble that never came. Often in the early spring during the mating season male turkeys will gobble when crows are calling. Again I became aware of movement in the bushes around me. This time it was a pair of Wood Thrushes who were also involved with the spring mating ritual. They have one of the most beautiful calls of the early spring morning but these two had other things on their mind.
gone
Sitting in the warm sunshine calling, nodding and watching, the morning passed quickly. I soon heard my wife’s voice as she arrived to walk me home. The hunting time ends at noon each day and Marge insists on walking me back home. Tomorrow is another day. Oh, by the way, I didn’t see or hear any turkeys, but it was only noon and I had already had a quality day. At one point during my recovery I never thought I would enjoy a day like this again.
Filed under: Adapting Equipment, Disability, Independent Living, User Friendly | Tags: adapting, creative idea, User Friendly
Flower Box In Bloom
Would you like to raise some flowers and/or grow some vegetables for your own consumption? Raised bed garden boxes will let you do that and it is great exercise. Each spring the soil must be worked up and planted. During the growing season the vegetables must be weeded and thinned. If the weather is not cooperating the plants must be watered. The wilted flower heads must be picked off the plants (called deadheading) which is great exercise for fingers. A box does not take up much room if space is an issue. Prior to placing a box, the area under it must be prepared. This is not necessary if it will be placed on cement or any other solid surface. If placed on the ground you must assure good drainage.
Plans For A Raised Garden Box
The height of the box opening should be a few inches taller than the armrests of the wheelchair. The width of the growing area should be several inches less than twice the gardener’s arm length which will allow one to cover the entire planting area. Built from pressure treated lumber, the box is open on two sides so one can drive a wheelchair underneath it and work straight on.
The first year my boxes presented some unique problems because of the construction. The 2” by 8” which made up the planting area did not allow for the soil to be deep enough for vegetables so most of the vegetables planted did not grow very well. The following year, as you can see from the picture, we added about 3 inches to the height of the planting area. This allowed adding another 250 pounds of soil to the bed. Also, in an effort to cut down on moisture evaporation we added Hydro-Sorb to the soil. Hydro-Sorb retains water and releases it a little at a time. These two changes made the boxes much more successful. We did not find it necessary to increase the depth of the flower boxes.
I have 6 boxes, four I plant with vegetables and the other two with annual flowers. I enjoy working these boxes very much. I use adaptive garden tools which can be purchased online. The vegetable boxes can grow salt potatoes, broccoli, onions, baby carrots, beets and garlic. Gardening is good for many different reasons.
Working at one of my garden boxes
Filed under: Adapting Equipment, Creative Ideas, Disability, Independent Living, User Friendly | Tags: adapting, control, creative idea, lifestyle
This morning when I open my e-mail I found the most interesting letter. Dominic Valento wrote me about a website he constructed called Button Board buttonboard.com , which allows an individual to surf the web using just a mouse. He built the website for his own personal use but was wondering if it would be helpful to other people who have limited range of motion or other problems. I tried the website and it works great. It amazes me the technological skills that some people have. I encourage you to try the website and forward it on to anybody you believe would find it useful. Please if you have created something like Dominic which would be useful to others contact us.
Picture of Button Board
