*DISCUSSION* Prepping with a disability

Get well soon, mate. The bugs going around this year have been right bastards.

Insofar as the hearing issue, quite a few everyday items exist to give visual cues for sounds that would otherwise go unheard (for example, lights on telephones which flash when it rings). I think that as with any disability (within reason) it's worth looking at what adaptations have already been made to help various disabilities pre-crunch, and see if the concepts can further be adapted post-crunch.

ty Pete, indeed they have, i swear I have been crook this year more than the last decade combined.

I was wondering about medication reliant illnesses, it would be interesting to see if there are natural alterantives for some of the more common illnesses, diabetes as mentioned, arthritis etc, things that while not debillitating on their own are fatal without the medication.....

NH_jr has Type 1 Diabetes, so that's one concern of ours. We try to keep a good supply of insulin on hand at all times, as well as the materials needed for his insulin pump.

The supposed super food for insulin dependent diabetics are Jerusalem Artichokes. Realistically though, synthetic insulin is the best way until they find a cure, although research is moving forward at a great rate with very promising clinical trials in the US.

As an ex soldier who was seriously injured, thus am permanently disabled, with limited physical abilities such as endurance, walking distance ex I have worked out mechanical aides to help me compensate.
I keep all my essentials in the Shed (dirty great big faraday cage).
Instead of a normal wheel barrow, I have a four wheeled wheelbarrow. we also have a four wheeled cart.
Instead of the normal equipment, I have extension handles on everything.
Instead of having push mower, I have a ride on and a self propelled mower, both large decks.
Instead of hand digging my veggie patch, I have a self propelled tilling machine.
I also have a really tight group of friends who are prepared to give me a hand with any of my more difficult tasks.

But to give you better advice that the above generic, it would require specific situations.

Let me take a completely opposite tack... it's been said that people lacking one sense (ie hearing) often find that their other senses sharpen (ie smell). Is it worth intentionally developing other senses? I remember exercises many years ago when I practiced ninjutsu; sometimes we were denied hearing to sharpen our sight, other times we were denied sight to sharpen our hearing. After a few hours we noticed improvements. Who knows what extended training could do?

The other thing to remember is that we don't just have 5 senses. It is commonly believed that we have anywhere from 9 to 21. That said, some are utterly useless (for example, I possess a sense called "synaesthesia", which is the ability to interpret sound as colour, which is useless unless I need to describe a Beethoven symphony as "brown" or "purple". I cannot see how this would be of use in a survival situation, unless it somehow lets me associate a particular sound with a particular situation (ie warning sounds that may not otherwise trigger a memory)).

More information at www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/humans-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses/ which provides the added bonus of a link to another page explaining why superheroes wear their underwear on the outside. This information will be just as useful post-crunch as seeing a Dire Straights song as orange (specifically, that would be Money for Nothing).

I just randomly found this thread, thought it would be worth resurrecting.

I am half-deaf and have been for years.

It's worth making the effort to adjust now while it's easier.

* I have a smartwatch that buzzes when it's time to get up (morning alarm), when I get a phone call or text, or when my phone detects the baby crying. Might not be helpful if it's TEOTWAWKI but if there's some sort of lockin or need to evacuate, being able to hear phone calls / SMS in the initial chaos could make a big difference [e.g. if HWMBO is at work and I haven't heard whats happening]

* If you're going deaf and you know it, you + family may want to learn basic sign, or get a sign language dictionary. Sign can be a useful way to communicate silently anyway sometimes. Alternatively a more robust solution... keep lots of pen/cils and paper, or a [reusable] wax tablet or something

* If you can't hear people approaching, you tend to do yard work in suburbia with one eye on the gate/doors to where you are. Might be worth creating subtle funnels so you have smaller entry points to watch if you're in a large open property even if you can hear fine

* Open plan living can be deaf person friendly, depending on who lives in the house, because you have visual cues to what is going on elsewhere in the house. If you're part deaf, sound travels better without walls in the way - good in a quiet house, bad if you have six noisy kids

* By the way, hearing aids are far from perfect, but the longer you go with bad hearing, the worse you cope when you finally get hearing aids of whatever sort thanks to something called "recruitment" (it's an audiology term, not going to try and explain it here) - also your brain gets used to the world being quiet and when you find a way to make the world louder, it feels like you have megaphones feeding into your ears sometimes. Takes time to get used to. A year or two of hearing aid batteries takes up a tiny amount of space, though. There is no good reason to avoiding getting some ear amps if you would benefit and you're under 26 or an age pensioner (then they're free/subsidised in Aust). Hearing aids don't always work how you think, and sometimes block out or don't amplify quieter environmental noises so you can concentrate on speech better.

There is always the argument about lone wolf or a group.  Groups always work better, people thrive in groups.

Or one could always get a dog to hear for you and give you an edge.