Adaptive Equipment Ripoffs

I was legally blind for about eight years. I developed diabetic retinopathy around the same time my kidneys were failing. My eyesight would come and go, and when it went it was quick, often leaving me stranded. After several years of suffering this condition, my renal social worker was able to hook me up with the proper state agency to provide me with support and advice. They, in turn, sent me to the Michigan School for the Blind in Kalamazoo.

At blind school, I was introduced to a number of devices designed to help blind users in their everyday activities. Many of them had audio prompts; the use used bright lights and magnifiers. I came home with a talking wristwatch, a talking calculator, a lighted magnifier that clamped onto a table, a portable hand-held lighted magnifier, a tiny pocket-sized lighted magnifier and a talking glucose monitor.  The State of Michigan covered some of these items, Medicare and my health insurance covered some others, and the rest came out of my own pocket. And this is when I discovered that items designed particularly for the blind are outrageously expensive! Especially when compared to the cheap quality of the design and materials used.

You can imagine my anger and disgust when my vision eventually partially returned and I discovered that many of the items I paid through the nose for buying them from a vision-assistance center or from catalogs from places like Maxi-Aid and Lighthouse could be found through everyday gadget catalogs at much cheaper prices!

I was reminded of this again today when I read an e-mail from FootSmart.com. I use this company often for the comfort of my poor deformed footsies, so I browsed the day's sales while eating my breakfast. I was looking specifically for ideas to make my upcoming trip to USLMRA Nationals, my one-mile Kidney Walk and my fall color/wine tasting trip to Traverse Bay more comfortable. I found several solutions that should do the trick, but they were so small and simple, I was aggravated that they charged anywhere from $6.99 to $19.99 for TWO! For what they were, I should have gotten 100 or a gross for that amount! Then to add insult to injury, those annoying, tiny words at the bottom of the description:  Not for use by diabetics or those with poor circulation. GAH!

Finally I started reading the customer comments on the products, particularly the unsatisfied customers. And wouldn't you know, one had the perfect solution for me. I am so stupid, why didn't I think of this?  One solution for both problems I was trying to avoid! 3M Coban. I'd gotten some for free from 3M for being a fan of Greg Biffle, who's NASCAR team they sponsor. It's that stretchy, breathable fabric that sticks so itself and nothing else. I can cut a skinny little strip to pad the toe that keeps rubbing and blistering the inside of my shoe, and I can cut another skinny little strip to keep two toes on the other foot from rubbing together and ulcerating. Bingo!

I still read gadget catalogs from Lillian Vernon, Harriett Carter, etc every chance I get. You never know when I'll find another new solution for cripply goodness that I can bundle with an order for a microwave egg boiler or cheap resin garden gnomes!