The things you don’t even think about until you become a carer

The things that you don’t realise or have never even thought about until the reality of being a carer kicks in.

The things like the set up of the bathroom, the ease of getting in and out of the shower.  Like having to get rid of the bathtub and have a walk in shower, to the way the setup is around the toilet and including rails for safety, non slip floors and all in between.  Finding out the tiles that you love cannot have non slip products applied to prevent slipping because they were polished.

The way you get in and out of the house, do you have steps in and out of the house, are rails needed.

How is the pathway to the house, I realised the hard way that I cant pull  the wheelchair up or down the front step even though the person I care for insisted that it was possible, until the wheelchair went down however he slid right out the wheelchair and luckily grabbed the handrail and the wheelchair slid away.  Or the other time the person I care for said you can pull me up the step and the wheel got caught in the grove of the tiles on the verandah and I managed to stop the wheelchair moving and helped stop the person slipping only because someone was nearby to help and the person in the wheelchair had the biggest wedgie and it was the first thing I could do was to keep them upright was to grab hold of the clothing and yank them up, if I had of let go I would have knocked them to the ground and run over them with a runaway wheelchair.  Really not a good look.

Things like the size of a car, having 2 doors really isn’t practical when you travel with three people in the car, and then fitting a wheelchair into a boot of a car.  Wheelchairs aren’t really that compact especially the older style ones that have fixed wheels.

Pathways how gravel pathways aren’t always great especially after rain, or when it is wet and you have to take the wheelchair that is wet and muddy either inside or packing it away leaving mud and gravel everywhere.

Gardens and things like grass aren’t that practical for pushing a wheelchair and pathways need to be a certain width.

Location of things in cupboards and the height of storing things.

Even just opening of plastic storage containers can be an issue for a person with disabilities.

You often need to be two steps ahead.

The lack of sleep and being needed at any time of the day and night.

The role of a carer is often a 24 hour a day 7 day a week roll.