Gifts for Hip Crips

My Roomba might be the best purchase I ever made.  On days when I have a cold/flu (like today) or MS makes me feel and look like a bag of wet cement, it makes me happy.  When I drag my loser self out of bed, my house is clean.  At least it's clean down low where I am.

So if you have a handicapped friend or relative and you don't actually want to do daily maintenance for them, Roomba is the gift that keeps on giving.  Yeah, it's expensive.  But if you order now you also get a slight guilt-free credit as if you did chores for them and another credit for spending a lot of money on them. 

Here are a few less expensive items for the hip and crip:

A gnarly awesome...
cane.  Mine is covered in roses.  It's getting worn out.  I gave my purple flowered one to my Aunt Jeanine.  It was beautiful.  They are usually available at a pharmacy.  If the handle is not soft, buy some handlebar tape and wrap the handle.

Gift cards to online shopping like Amazon.  Disabled people like to shop too. 

An eReader.  When you are stuck in bed, life gets pretty boring and the vision thing comes and goes.  Computerized stuff can be enlarged as needed.

If you are willing to spend the time and energy, something crips never have, make a coupon book.  There are a few things I would really love for someone else to do, so here's a list to choose from or add to:   

• Take the car to get an oil change.  Sometimes leaving the house is more than I can do.  It almost always requires bathing and that is probably all the energy I have for the day when I'm sick.  Who would want to work that hard for an oil change?

• Babysit.  Being handicap requires a lot of doctor's appointments and they won't all be during school hours.  My kids HATE seeing my blood drawn.  When they were four, they took off running for their lives into the bowels of the doctor's offices.  I couldn't chase them with a needle in my arm.  Even today, I hope nobody at the Dr's office notices when I leave them on the other side of the wall with their little video games.

• Drive your crip somewhere.  Without questions about whatever the H... is wrong with them.  The novelty of it wore off a long time ago.  You only think you want to know because you don't know yet.  You'll get old and it will feel like this.  Just wait for your own.  It sucks and will come soon enough.  Don't hurry it.

• Housework.  Once, I hired a babysitter so I could clean the house.  I took a nap instead.  My kids are older now.  Woo Hoo!

If you have questions about something that might or might not be an appropriate gift for your crip, leave your question below.  I will answer them when the floor is clean.