8 Hacks for People of All Abilities

Hi Patti + Ricky Community, this is Molly from @all.fashion.able and Patti + Ricky's in-house Adaptive Fashion Influencer.

Have you ever taken a short-cut to get to work or put a loaf of bread in the freezer to have it last longer? These are great examples of how all people develop hacks and tricks to make their lives easier. People living with disabilities also develop life hacks to make everyday tasks easier to complete. These hacks and tricks might look different for each person, but they all serve to make one’s life easier. Below are eight life hacks that depending on your disability, can easily be incorporated into your daily routines and make your life a little easier!

This is an image zoomed in of a white, female model using the buttoner tool in button-up their blue and white striped button down shirt. — Hack #1: Buttoner Tool and Zipper Puller

Is there anything more classic than a button-down shirt? You can dress it up or down, wear it all year long, and it never goes out of style! However, if you are living with arthritis, neuropathy, or limited hand function, being able to button a shirt is a difficult task and often a task someone cannot complete on his or her own. But with one little hack, button-down shirts can still be a part of your wardrobe. The buttoner tool was designed to do just that! When using it, all you have to do is- you insert the wire into the buttonhole, hook the wire around the button, and pull it back through the buttonhole. Voila!

This is an image of Molly wearing her white, Smart Adaptive shirt, available at PattiandRicky.com. Molly is a white female with brown hair a little past her shoulders. She is standing in front of a red brick building, looking directly at the camera and smiling. You would never know this shirt is actually Velcro. Molly is using her forearm crutches. — Hack #2: Dress Shirts with Velcro Closures

However, if you don’t want to use the buttoner, Patti + Ricky has the perfect product for you! The Smart Adaptive Clothing shirts were designed to replace the hassle of buttons and make life easier. These shirts have all the classic features of a button-down shirt, but instead of buttons, they have Velcro closures making it easy to fasten and even easier to wear! No one would ever know this dress shirt has Velcro closures.

This is an zoomed in image of a white, male model using a white remote to turn on and off his lamp that is nearby on a side table, next to a couch. You can see that the lamp has been plugged into a remote controlled outlet that is plugged into the outlet, allowing the lamp to turn on when using the remote. — Hack #3: Remote Controlled Outlets

Lamps are a necessity, but for someone who uses a wheelchair or who has limited hand mobility, turning a lamp on and off is a difficult task. A great life hack that makes this hard task a little easier is remote control outlets. Simply plug the receiver into the outlet, plug in your lamp and turn it on and off with the remote control! So easy!

This is another image of Molly touching her touch lamps to turn them on. She is smiling and looking directly at the camera. She is wearing a white t-shirt. — Hack #4: Touch Controlled Lamps

I also love using my Touch Controlled Lamps! All I have to do is touch the base of the lamp to turn the light on and off. I have a couple of them in my bedroom. They come in so many different styles to match any room decor.

This is another image of Molly using er 6 in 1 bottle opener. She is wearing a pink shirt and looking directly at the camera and smiling. She is using her bottle opener to open up a bottle in her kitchen. — Hack #5: Bottle Openers

Whether you are living with a physical disability or not, it is important to stay hydrated, but opening water bottles is a difficult task. Thankfully, there are bottle openers available that make this task much easier. This 6 in 1 bottle opener is made of durable nonslip material that allows you to open jars, twist open plastic bottle caps, pull open soda can tabs, pop off bottle caps, tear open safety seals, and even slice open bags. This is definitely a kitchen necessity.

This is a zoomed in image of a white, female model using a long shoehorn to put on or off her white Nike sneakers. She is wearing black jeans and a white shirt with a gray sweater over it. She is able to stay standing while using the long reach shoehorn. — Hack #6: Long Shoehorns

Putting on your shoes is another difficult task that requires a lot of coordination, as well as a lot of hand strength. A great hack that eliminates bending over and extra strain on your muscles is a long shoehorn. This durable metal shoehorn can be used with any style of shoe, but if you don’t want to deal with this shoehorn, Patti + Ricky sells adaptive shoes by Friendly that make putting on shoes easier and better than ever!

This is an GIF image of our Women's Medimoto Rose Gold Leather Shoe by Friendly Shoes. The GIF image has the shoe turn around and show how they open and close using a smart zipper closure. — Hack #7: Adaptive Shoes

Friendly Shoes feature a zipper opening making the shoe remarkably easy to put on and take off. They call this Easy Shoe Access (ESA) technology, and it works. Simply turn your foot into the shoe and pull the zipper to secure it for a proper fit. You will wish all your shoes had ESA technology!

This is an image of a white, female model using this toliet paper holder with an assist bar. She is holding on to it to get off or onto the toilet. When you are looking at this Polished Chrome toilet paper holder you would never know it is also an assist bar. — Hack #8: Stylish Assist Bars

Self-care is important to everyone but requires a lot of fine motor, coordination, and strength. For someone living with a disability, this is often very difficult. A great life hack to help make getting around in your bathroom a little easier is a toilet paper holder with an assist bar. This traditional looking toilet paper holder functions like any other holder but has a grab bar to help assist you to push off and stand up from the toilet. No one will even know it’s an adaptive toilet paper holder as it looks like a regular one!

Hope you enjoyed these life hacks. Make sure to also check out Patti + Ricky's new Dressing Gadget section for solutions to hack your current clothing and transform it into Adaptive Fashion, including our new Magnetic Button Adaptor Set! Stay tuned for more of my favorite "Hacks of Life" at PattiandRicky.com and please follow me @all.fashion.able on Instagram.

Until Next Time,

Molly

PATTI + RICKY

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8 Hacks for People of All Abilities

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