These Are a Few of My Favorite Things Because They Make My Disabled Life Easier

‘Tis the season to be thankful.

I’m thankful, as always, for my life, family and friends. But there are lots of other things -- innovations, products and services --  that I am grateful for on a regular basis. Each of these has made my new life (can I call it new if it’s been more than 10 years?) as a disabled person much easier.

1)  Downey Anti-Wrinkle Spray

One of my favorite inventions of recent history, this has been a godsend. I remember using it as far back as 2002, before cancer left me disabled, unable to walk up the stairs of my home or balance well enough to iron something.

I first picked it up as an easy way to spray away the wrinkles in clothes without having to haul out the ironing board and set it up. It was genius: you just spray the clothes, smooth it out a bit, then let it dry. Voila!

When I tucked a bottle in my suitcase for a trip to London, it turned out to be invaluable. Traveling in a group of five women with limited knowledge of hotel room amenities or outlet compatibility, my miracle spray came in super-handy. I left it with a friend who was studying in England. Downey spray hadn’t yet hit the stores there. It took a while for it to be widely available here, but now you can find the product (or an imitator) easily at grocery or drug stores. It even comes in travel sizes. 

After lymphoma left me permanently disabled and requiring a walker, the spray has become a favorite product in my home. I can’t climb the stairs to do laundry or fluff up items in my dryer, but I can easily spray clothing items while they hang on my bathroom towel rack and leave them to de-wrinkle overnight.

2) Dream Dinners 

This company has franchises in 24 states and is a “make-it-yourself” meal mecca. Again, I first discovered Dream Dinners before I got sick. It was an easy, fun way to assemble delicious meals -- with my friend or daughter in tow -- in advance to have several pre-prepared selections to choose from. When I was diagnosed with lymphoma and was essentially unable to help in the cooking at my house, my friends and relatives sent me gift cards to my Dream Dinners. For a small fee, you could order them assembled and then anyone could pick them up, bring them home and follow directions to make an easy, nutritious meal. It was more affordable and healthier than having to rely on fast food. 

More than 11 years after my cancer diagnosis and eight years after my bone marrow transplant, I still am a Dream Dinners loyal customer. If I order regularly, the assembly fee costs nothing and I just pick up many meals for the month directly from the store and put them in my freezer. It still takes some work in the kitchen to cook a meal, but thankfully I can do more of that now. I still avoid the planning, shopping, chopping, and measuring. For someone who can’t stand long or balance well, it’s a lifesaver. 

3) Mimi’s Cafe’s take-out holiday feasts

Once I discovered Mimi’s Cafe’s Thanksgiving dinner, it’s been hard to imagine the annual holiday without it. For (this year) about $90, the Mimi’s to-go meal feeds 8-10, is well-packaged, easy to heat up and delicious. You still need helpers at home to get it to the table.

Here’s the rundown of what’s in the Thanksgiving feast: 1 whole herb butter basted turkey, 2.5 lbs of buttered cornbread stuffing, 2 lbs of candied pecan sweet potatoes, 3 lbs of whipped mashed potatoes, 2.5 lbs of green bean casserole, 12 oz. of apple cranberry orange relish, 32 oz. of turkey gravy, 2 carrot nut loaves and 1 whole brown sugar pumpkin pie. 

The restaurant also offers similar dinners for other holidays.

If you just want an easy-to-make meal with plenty of leftovers, it’s worth checking out. But if -- like me -- you are disabled or not able to operate like you once did in the kitchen, it’s a gift. 

4) Banking on my smartphone

I love being able to deposit checks on my iPhone.

In the olden days, you used to have to bring a check with you to the bank, take it to a teller, fill out a deposit slip and stand there while it was deposited to your account. Sometimes you would have to show ID, if the teller didn’t recognize you. 

Then progress and technology allowed people to deposit checks by using a pneumatic tube at the drive-though window. You could chat with the teller at the window via a microphone. In time, the tubes and employees were replaced by ATMs: both walk-up and drive-through versions.

This is all well and good, but not really ideal for disabled customers like me. It’s a pain to get out of the car and use a walk-up ATM. Making a deposit requires balance to insert the check or cash.  I feel vulnerable, practically advertising while making a monetary transaction that I am not able to walk without assistance. Or run after any robber. 

Even at the drive-though ATMs, I have difficulties. At some terminals, my arm isn’t long enough and I can’t get close enough. The height of the buttons aren’t quite right. I have to open my door, put one leg out (if it will fit between my car and the curb) and turn and really stretch to insert my card, plug in my numbers, deposit checks and/or retrieve cash and get the receipt. Then I strain to free my leg, place it back in the car, put on my seat-belt, etc.  This is all time-consuming, which folks in cars behind me do not appreciate. (Yeah, that’s me also holding up the line at drive-through car washes, postal mailboxes and pharmacies, drop-off library book containers and ticket-issuing parking garages.) 

Once I got my smartphone and downloaded my bank’s app, my banking life became easier. Following step-by-step instructions even I can understand, I can deposit a check without leaving my house. I can also transfer money and pay bills. I still have concerns about getting cash out of an ATM (someone could grab my money and sprint away in a flash), but thankfully there’s an alternative to that. 

5) The cash-back feature when using a debit card at the grocery store

Woo hoo.

My Favorite Daily Living Aids: Not Just For the Disabled

A sock thing

My favorite daily living aid -- something to assist disabled or handicapped people -- is not much to look at. White terry cloth on one side, black fabric on the other, two white straps stitched on.

But I consider it a miraculous invention, one that helps me not to feel so handicapped.

It’s what I call a sock-putter-onner and you’d never guess its function to look at it.

I would have never known about it if I hadn’t spent time in rehabilitation trying to make my way back from paralysis and brain cancer.

It’s one of three handicapped products that I learned about during my hospital and rehab stays that everyone should know about. You don’t have to be physically as low- functioning as I was to benefit from them. You can look for them at your local medical supply store or search for them using Google or Amazon.

No. 1. The Sock Thing

It was an occupational therapist who introduced this device to me. They (I had many over the months I was in rehab) taught me to do daily living activities -- brushing my teeth, washing my face, putting on clothes, socks and shoes.

I couldn’t bend down to get my socks on and still cannot. But the sock thing was a helpful device. You just slip the sock onto the end, pull it up and voila!

The sock is on your foot and the thing is in your hand.

In the midst of my pain and struggles to work my way back to moving, walking and taking care of myself, the sock thing gave me moments of joy. It seemed like a magic trick. It’s easy and it works.

When I got home, I searched the internet to find one like it.  There are many such devices at a variety of prices, but I found mine  for less than $10.

My husband thinks I am susceptible to gimmicky products and infomercials. I guess I am a bit. But this thing is no gimmick. It delights me (seriously) ever time I use it. It just gives me a feeling of accomplishment. I don’t have to ask anyone else to put my socks on for me.

Anyone having trouble putting on socks (like those who suffer from back pain or arthritis) would benefit from this device.

No. 2. The No-Rinse Hair Wash Shower Cap

I first came across this during my first stint in rehab. When you are busy fighting to recover from a horrendous injury or disease, washing your hair is not a top priority. But, you do think about it.

One of my roommates, asked by the nurse if she needed anything (like her water pitcher refilled, for example), said this.  “I really need my hair shampooed. And I could use some color, too.”

It had been days since she had been in an accident that left her severely injured. She hadn’t even been given a sponge bath, much less a shampoo.

The nurse ignored the hair coloring request but told her about a  shampoo-in-a-cap that she could get. They had to special order it for the patients. I got in on the ordering (don’t know how long it had been since my hair was washed).

It’s another miraculous product. It looks like a bulky shower cap, but if you warm it up a bit in the microwave, stick it on your head and massage it in, you have hair that feels  like it’s been shampooed and rinsed. It smells great and it lifts your spirits.

Back when I had hair and was confined to a hospital bed, my shampoo routine consisted of a nurse -- as part of my sponge bath -- grabbing a washcloth, dunking it in the soapy solution and handing it to me. I rubbed it on my hair.

Sort of the opposite of those shampoo commercials where washing your hair looks fun and luxurious.

When I was released from the hospital, I sent my husband to our local medical supply store to find the magical shampoo caps. The shop had to special order them and they were not cheap, but I would supplement the washcloth treatment with what was almost a real shampoo every once in a while.

It was as close to luxurious as I was going to get.

As I heard about friends or relatives undergoing surgery or breaking bones, I realized you don’t have to be bedridden to appreciate these. Anyone who can’t take a shower for whatever reason could use them.

No. 3. The No-Rinse Body Cleanser

Ditto with this daily living aid.


One of the products the hospital nurses used was a gentle no-rinse soap that I brought home when I was discharged. 

I couldn’t physically get in the shower for some time after I came home from the hospital. My caregiver continued the sponge baths I received in the hospital. She used the solution that didn’t require rinsing.

Eventually I got strong enough to get in the shower by myself and sit on a shower bench, which I still do today. But the no-rinse product is always handy for a quick standing-up-at-the-sink freshening-up. And I bring it when I stay at hotels or homes that are not handicapped friendly -- meaning I cannot physically use the shower or bath.


A version of this product also comes in wipes, which would also be useful.