As a person with disabilities can require assistance with various everyday tasks, from getting in and out of bed and seating, as well as walking, getting out to the shops and visiting relatives and friends, to bathing and toileting too it can mean that sometimes a day is filled with tasks, often a lot of preparation and thought needs to go into the persons day.

Preparation and planning can become a part of some peoples routine and this is of course just to deal with everyday life.

Grooming is something that many people prefer to do themselves, and being able to deal with some basic grooming like hair brushing and drying,  the clipping of finger and toenails and other similar tasks is much easier if you have a little assistance from the right tools.

Because a set of standard nail clippers may be difficult to hold and even more difficult to press down on hard enough this could create a frustrating situation, as a result there have been various developments of nail clippers over the years where they dont need to be held by one hand and are  attached to a flat base and sometimes have suction cups on the bottom to stop the clippers and the base attachment from sliding, keeping them firmly in place, the user is able to slide the nail into the clipping area and with less effort they can press down on the clippers as normal.

Because there is no need to grip onto the nail clippers, which requires part of your effort just to hold them steadily enough, it means that you are only left with the need to press down with one or two fingers of your free hand while you deal with the nail clipping of your other hand.

For people that have difficulting trying to hold a hair dryer for any length of time you can purchase a stand that you can place your hair dryer into, it will support it securely and you can adjust the stand and move it to various angles so that it can point towards your hair and allow drying of you hair without the need to hold the dryer.

Brushing and combing hair can equally be as challenging and for this grooming task you can find brushes and combs that have extra long handles on them, they are also often shaped in a way that makes the job easier for you, requiring less stretching and lifting of your arms but still giving you the freedom and pleasure of dealing with your hair yourself.

After all, everyone has a preference for how they want their hair and their overall appearance to look, and sometimes you cant beat giving it your own personal touch, done your way, and with these grooming aids and others available, you can enjoy the grooming process, not feel restricted or dependant on someone doing it for you (your ability allowing of course) and then show off your fancy hairdo and everything to the world. 

While reading online and in newspapers too, it’s suprising the amount of people that have witnessed mobility scooters being operated in a less safe manner than most would expect, and even the fact that every now and then someone actually gets hit by one and in some extreme cases there have been road collisions involving a mobility scooter and other road vehicles, sadly resulting in a loss of life in some cases.

There has been some discussion regarding this in the comments of one of the articles here on mobilityright at be seen on your mobility scooter and it appears that mobility scooter users can become frustrated at times with pedestrians and road users not using common sense but equally there is an agreement and understanding for mobility scooter users themselves to operate safely while on pavements, roads and especially within very public areas like shopping parades, highstreets and indoor shopping centres.

While some mobility scooter users will have insurance, not all will be covered and it depends what a policy may actually cover them for, but prevention of an accident or incident is much better than having to deal with a difficult situation where a pedestrian is hit by a mobility scooter or a car is involved in an accident with a mobility scooter.

A good place to start with regards to safety is with the retailers themselves, and fortunately most will provide some basic guidance and training of safe an correct use of a mobility scooter, but of course the retailer from the moment of actually selling to the customer, can then only rely on the user being a responsble individual once they are out and about and within the general public.

It’s a bit like how a driving instructor can teach you the most correct way to perform each task in order to drive safely and accordingly, not just for yourself but for the safety of other road users and pedestrians, but of course once you have passed your driving test and you’re out there on the road by yourself then some of what your driving instructor told you to do will quickly become less of a habit, you will pick up a few bad habits (this is quite natural) and the driving instructor that you had can not be there with you anymore and is not responsible any longer for how you drive.

While a mobility scooter can only travel at a few miles an hour, they can still cause some damage if they were to hit a pedestrian.

If a mobility scooter is hit by a motorbike, a car or a larger vehicle, theres the unfortunate and very likely possibility that the mobility scooter and its user are going to come off worse from an accident and theres the very real risk of a fatality from an accident like that.

Also it’s worth taking into account that users wont be wearing a protective helmet so if you had an accident in which you are thrown to the ground or slammed against something then the risk of a head injury could turn into a very serious situation.

While you cant be responsible for the actions of road users and pedestrians, you can be responsible for your own safety and how you operate your mobility scooter by doing everything as correctly as you can, altering your speed when necessarry, making yourself visible with high visibility clothing or something attached to your mobility scooter that brings attention to you and helps people to see you easily.

Hopefully the majority of the time, most motorists are keeping their eyes open for you, and hopefully most people using public pavements and areas are doing the same too, but you know that it only takes that one person not looking, a person listening to music, a child running around, maybe a dog not on a lead , even a person who suddenly makes a rush across the pavement to catch a bus, all of these possibilities and more can happen at any time, quite often hard to see coming and not always avoidable.

In an ideal world, none of us would get in each others way and public pavements and roads would be safe places, but unfortunately in our very real and often dangerous world we all have a responsibility to look out for each other as well as ourselves.

You can only do so much, and some things will be unavoidable at times but at least if you do your bit for street safety, not only are you contributing to a safer public environment, but you know that should something go wrong and an accident does happen, then you can feel assured that you did everything  right.

Stay safe.

One of the extra benefits of an adjustable bed is the availability of different types of mattresses that can be used with many of the models of beds available.

There are pocket sprung, memory foam and pressure reducing mattresses as well as types that can help you to stay cool, as each individual has different needs and requires a product that is best suited to them and the disability that they may have, also the amount of use that a person requires of their adjustable bed, it will determine the best type of mattress for them to use.

If comfort and support is going to be the main focus for you and you dont need to spend extra time in bed then a suitable mattresses that provides this and is suitable for an average amount of use will be a good choice.

But if you need to spend prolonged periods of time in bed then a pressure reducing mattress may be better for you to lower the risk of pressure sores or to provide relief from them.

A memory foam mattress may be your choice if you require the best position overall for your body which can really help to reduce the amount of stiffness and aches that some people can wake up with.

Because people spend a fair amount of their lives in bed, regardless of disabilities or none, it’s always important to find a mattress for your bed that is as suitable for you as possible, and provides support where needed, comfort and one that wont add to any physical problems, it’s really worth trying out different types of mattresses to find the best type for you and to make sure that your sleep time is as good as it can be and contributes to a better feeling you rather than causing you more problems.