Disability Aids Extortionately Priced, Here’s One Cheaper Alternative. – Are you fed up with the extortionate prices when looking for disability aids? What if you could find an alternative product that did the same job and was a fraction of the cost? Would you use it? I would, and I have!
In today’s economic climate and benefit snuffing. I find it extremely difficult to wrap my head around the fact that so many companies that are offering disability aids/products are asking for excruciatingly eye-watering prices!
Alternative Disability Aids
If you’re a wheelchair user like me, I’m sure you can appreciate how difficult it can be to carry shopping, handbags, shopping baskets, etc., especially if you use a manual wheelchair. As an electric wheelchair user with dexterity and strength issues in my arms and hands, I find this even more difficult.
I was scrolling on Facebook last week and saw a post advertising luggage holders. These two poles are attached to your foot plate hangers and stick out in front of you so you can sit a bag, shopping basket, or whatever you like while moving around. (They fold up when not being used.) However, the biggest drawback was that they were priced over £70. Yes, you read that right, for two poles, they wanted £70. Not in this lifetime, mate!
So, I set about looking for a cheaper alternative. However, this was not an easy task. (This is probably why Aids is so expensive; they have the monopoly on it.) After discussing this with my husband, he suggested a kickstand meant for a bicycle might do the same thing. I looked into this and thought it could work, so I bought two kickstands from Amazon. I was excited to receive them, as it would be great if they worked.
Kickstands
Once they arrived and I attached them to my footrest hangers, I found I needed to turn one upside down. Otherwise, it folded downwards when anything heavier was placed on it. I can fold them upwards when I’m not using them. The best part is that you can position them as close or far apart as you need, or as high or low (depending on your style of footplate), making them highly versatile. You can see I have mine quite high, as my grip and reach are very poor.
You can also adjust the length of the kickstands with the attachment that comes with them, as illustrated in the Amazon product images. However, for me, they are more than long enough without the attachment.
I have modified a desk armrest to attach to my swing-away joystick (blog coming soon) to house my mobile phone and GoPro. I have a large buggy carabiner attached to this, which I use to clip to my handbag when using it on the kickstand.
Attachments
A little tip:
The carabiner is excellent, so you can attach handbag straps to it to prevent it from falling off or being snatched. I’m looking into getting some mini bungee cords with hooks, as I find a shopping basket tends to slip around on the bars.
**Update**
I tried out the bungee cords with hooks today and found they got caught on everything. It was difficult to keep them from catching on to my clothes when I tried to hook them onto my basket. I have now bought the ones with carabiners to see if they will be any better.
Purchase a kickstand. I am not affiliated with this product in any way. They work brilliantly for me, and I hope they can help you, too.
Bungee cords with hooks
Bungee cords with arabiner clips
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email.
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