As discussed earlier, we can solve problems differently – not necessarily restricting choices to a particular type of solution. And with a disability such as this (…remember the title of this website at all…?), there are problems to solve.
Since a while, I am interested in best ways to solve ADL (activities of daily living) problems from perspective of this peculiar disability that I have. For that, I conducted all kinds of investigations, met with people, and was given insight to at times spectacular visions. So I do go about this with a systematic approach, let there be no doubt that there is method in what appears to be confused madness. By the way – if you feel this is a rather confused and mixed up blog website, try using the sitemap. I may add that once I feel competent to at least somewhat fill in more of the still white areas on the map with some more puzzle pieces, I may well put that puzzle together – but for time being, let’s not do overviews and systematic approaches. Let’s keep the nose close on the map. Let’s keep looking at details, single ideas. Let’s collect more puzzle pieces.
Here, look, this one is about vacuum cleaning : )
So instead of exercising my prosthetic arm or, worse, getting my left arm to overuse, I got myself a Roomba.
The Roomba is a little automatic vacuum cleaner that runs on rechargeable batteries and can be programmed to clean according to a schedule. I use it on the ground floor and once it is done there after a week of vacuuming, I may take it upstairs to have it sweep there. Here is how that looks like:
We all have been considering overuse of the other arm, damage to the prosthetic arm and costs of prosthetic arm repairs. This is a really elegant way out of such issues.
They are not for free, but you have to keep prices in a perspective. One Hosmer hook costs about as much as a Roomba (300 to 600 $). One Becker hand costs about as much as one of these devices (up to 600 $). That’s where these are at.
My Roomba model runs flawlessly since about three weeks now. It tends to get tangled up in cables so best to get these off the floor. It does a pretty good job at telling you when to clean it and when to empty the container but I will say it is a good idea to not wait for that. You will want to have Roomba clean while you are away – and that is done best when the device is clean and empty to begin with.
You can get Roomba cleaners here:
AMAZON USA:
There may be other models but as far as I can see these should do the job for now.
AMAZON GERMANY / DEUTSCHLAND:
Also, there are other companies but so far, evaluation has lead me to these products.
