The Sticky-Pokey-Grabby-Thing

Once I lived alone in a nice apartment. I had almost no furniture - a bed, a table, and a futon. It suited me perfectly since I had plenty of free floor space, and I always had my own chair so seating was never an issue. My friends were less pleased, but they sat on the floor and, after a sufficient quantity of beer or wine, quit complaining.

Then I got married.

Gradually my idyllic place became more and more cluttered with...stuff. Feminine touches appeared. Real furniture arrived - sofa, armchairs, shelving units...lots of other stuff. I was not too perturbed. The available space for wheeling in became less, but it was still manageable. A reasonable sacrifice for the joys of marriage, I figured.

Then we had kids.

Even kid number one changed my world utterly. Now I live in a constantly churning chaos of clothes, toys, baby stuff, spilled yogurt, spoons, jigsaw pieces and unidentified items that someone dragged in from the garbage outside. The available track for my wheelchair is limited to a narrow path from the front door to the kitchen - frequently obstructed by scooters, books, crayons or other miscellaneous abandoned objects. Considering the size of a toddler, they seem to occupy a phenomenal amount of space! Apart from being a prisoner in my own home, the sea of stuff has the unfortunate side effect that I cannot access many parts of each room in my home. And, with a probability of one, that inaccessible part will contain whatever item is needed urgently - right now. Be it a toy, a bottle, an upside down yogurt gradually emptying it's contents into my wife's contact lens case, there is no doubt that I will need to reach that spot and be able to pick something up.

My only saviour in these situations is a device we fondly refer to as "the sticky-pokey-grabby-thing" (or, as Number 1 calls it: "the icky-oaky-wabby" - she is well able to use it also). This is a long handled claw-like device commonly available in adaptive device stores (try here (US) or here (UK)) and more properly called a "reacher".They come in various forms, but my favorite is a magnetic tipped one with a large jaw. You open and close it via a trigger at the handle end. This device has proved so useful that I have several all over the house, ready for instant use, and two folding ones in the car (how many times have you transferred out of your car only to realise that you left that important envelope or whatever on the passenger seat, way out of your reach from outside the car?)

It is also useful for sweeping under sofas to retrieve balls, cars and fragments of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. I use to for retrieving items from the high shelves and cupboards in the kitchen (where my wife stores all the chocolate in the mistaken belief that I can't get it there!).

They're cheap, incredibly useful, and an absolute must have for any wheelchair person - with or without kids to destroy their living environment.