Caregiver Raves: Pointers for Making Outings Easier for the Disabled

As most of you who read this blog know, my mother had a stroke ten years ago that left her paralyzed on the left side. She uses a walker or wheelchair to get around. Since I am her caregiver, I have observed the difficulties she, and others who are disabled, endure on a daily basis. Simple outings, like going out to eat at a restaurant or going to the supermarket, are fraught with challenges for the disabled. Here are a few pointers to make outings easier for the caregiver and disabled alike.

Do your shopping early in the day.

I have found that my mother tires easily since her stroke. This is commom for stroke victims according to a National Stroke Association Association post by Nancy A. Flynn Managing Post-Stroke Fatigue During the Holidays. When she is tired, she is more likely to fall or have trouble moving. The disabled do not have the ability to “push through“ the tiredness in the manner of people who are not disabled. It‘s not that they are tired and have to struggle to move, it’s that they are tired and can’t move. When mom gets tired, her whole body just stops responding.

Park as close to the door of the building as possible.

Most of the time the handicapped parking is close to the door and I use it. With some businesses, though, the handicapped parking spaces are wider, but further from the door than a regular parking place. If it comes down to a choice between a wider parking place and closer to the door, I'm going to choose closer to the door. If we park close to the door my mother can use her walker instead of needing a wheelchair. For my mother, using her walker is slow-going, but she has some sense of independence and doesn’t feel quite as disabled when she is “doing it herself” as she puts it. It is also advantageous for me, the caregiver, to let her use the walker. Lifting the walker, which is fairly light and folds compactly, out of the car trunk is less likely to cause a back injury than an unwieldy wheelchair which, in addition to sheer muscle power, requires much twisting and turning to wrench it out of the trunk.

When at a restaurant, sit close to the restroom.

If you are close to the restroom, you aren’t as likely to have to wait on a path to clear so that you can maneuver the wheelchair or a walker to the potty when you need quick access.

Request a table with chairs instead of a booth.

Sitting at a table with chairs gives me the ability to angle mom’s chair to suit her limitations of movement. Also it's much easier for her to just sit down than to try to slide the weight of her paralyzed limbs into a booth. It's better, too, for me, the caregiver, as I have easier access to help her get up from a chair than I would have in a booth. I don't want to ask the person sitting in the booth next to us to move so that I can scoot in the seat to help my mom get up!

Check the weather forecast ahead of time and postpone the trip if there is rain in the forecast.

Mom's safety is always my number one priority when I am taking her out for a jaunt. Since the consequences of falling are greatly increased for the disabled, transferring from the car to the wheelchair when the ground is slick could be risky business. The other thing is, have you ever tried to push a wheelchair and hold an umbrella at the same time? Not an easy task!

Do all of your shopping in one place, preferably where they have wheelchairs available for use.

If at all possible, I try to make only one stop with my mom so that she only has to transfer once from the car to the wheelchair because it is such a struggle for her. It's easier on me, too, when I only wrestle with the wheelchair once. Better yet, patronize stores that have wheelchairs for your convenience, especially ones with a basket attached, so that you don’t have to unload the wheelchair at all! Try shopping at an indoor mall, where you can move from store to store, or at a department store, like Wal-Mart or Target, and pick up everything you need at that one store.

Hopefully, you will find these tips useful. Do you have additional tips? If so, please share them through a comment or email so that we can use them too. After all, we are all on this journey together!

--Sandwiched