Dressing up

Management Tips

Some Tips to make up dressing easy for the people with special needs

Shoes with Velcro closures are easier to put on than those using buttons or shoestrings. Velcro buttons and strips are available in the market. Velcro tabs can be sewn to shoes at a brace shop or shoe repair shop.

Large bib overalls can be easily put on by young people in wheelchairs. They slip off easily to while using the toilet. A front opening is available in some styles for use with male urinals. Elastic-waisted clothing (i.e., sweat pants and running suits) is easier to push down and pull up. A 22-inch zipper can be sewn at the front and extended down the leg to allow plenty of room for the use of a urinal.

You can have a simple pushing or pulling aid to help bring clothing closer to you from the bed, dresser drawer or closet, without reaching it. It can be made from a wire coat hanger bent at both ends.

A circular key ring can be attached to a zipper tab that has a hole in it, allowing fingers or thumb to easily hold the tab and close the zipper. Sticky zippers will slide easily if rubbed with wax or the lead from a lead pencil.

Buttoning can be eased by using elastic loops for buttonholes and sewing buttons on with elastic thread.

Tube socks (socks without heels that stretch to fit the foot) are easy to put on.

Sometimes it’s hard to get a shoe on a stiff foot.It can be more easily slipped into a shoe if the back of the shoe is cut vertically and loosely laced. A tennis shoe can be adapted by sewing a zipper down the side. Any shoe repair shop can modify a pair of shoes in this fashion.

Leaving your leg braces in the shoes provides an instant shoe horn which may help when slipping the shoes and braces onto your feet.

Always use shoes that have the same heel height as those worn when your leg braces were fitted. If you don’t your feet and ankles may be tilted up or down, which can throw you off balance. Also check the sole on tennis shoes. Some brands of tennis shoes have soft cushion bubbles on the soles that can make you unsteady.Look for firm, flat soles.

If one side of the body is weaker, it takes less effort to dress this side first. For example, put the weaker arm into the shirt sleeve first, the stronger arm next. Whenever possible, sit while dressing so you can safely rest as needed.

If you have difficulty buttoning a shirt or blouse, get a larger size outfit, keep it buttoned all the time and put it on as if it were a pullover shirt.