This is about the help that you (would) need, most days, to
- select clothes that are socially appropriate, and right for the weather/temperature
- put clothes on
- take clothes off
And to do all of this:
- in a reasonable time (no more than twice as long as a person without a disability would take),
- to an acceptable standard,
- whenever you need to through the day and the night,
- without too much pain, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, need for recovery.
The Questions:
Aids: To select your clothes, or to dress or undress, what physical things do you use, that you would not need if you did not have your condition?
Prompting: Would you usually need someone to prompt, you, remind you, encourage you, or explain things to you? If so, which and why?
Physical Help: Would you usually need another person to physically help you select your clothes, or put clothes on, or take clothes off?
Can’t do it: Is it true that even with all the help that you have described above, you:
- still can’t dress or undress in a reasonable time?
- still can’t do it without too much pain?
- still can’t do it to an acceptable standard?
- can’t do it at all?
Download these questions in a word file
Example – Anthony
Prompting:
I always need prompting to put on clean clothes
Since I became ill I have lost all interested in life and everything seems pointless.
I can’t bring myself to manage even simple self-care tasks.
I wear the same things every day, and I often sleep in my clothes.
The only time that I put on clean clothes is when my brother comes round and encourages me.
Example – Kamaljit
Physical Help:
My pain is at it’s worst for the first few hours of the day, so my dad does the school run while I stay in my pj’s and dressing gown.
Around 11:00 I get dressed, ready to begin working from home.
I pick up my kids around 4:00 and as soon as I am home I get back into my pj’s and dressing gown.
I know that if I leave it any later, I will be too tired to do this.
If for some reason I needed to get dressed before 11:00 or in the evening I would need physical help with both my lower body and my upper body.
Example – Sharrif
Aids:
I need to have a chair to sit on while I am dressing. And I use two helping-hand grabber sticks to get my pants and trousers over my feet.
I usually wear fleece-lined boots that I can slip off and on without socks. If it wasn’t for my condition, I would never wear these by choice.
Prompting:
Getting dressed is tiring and painful so I only do it if Sharon encourages me.
Physical Help:
When I do get dressed I always do it on my own because I don’t want to feel dependent. However it now takes me at least half-an-hour to do what used to be a five minute task.
If I needed to dress in a more reasonable length of time I would need physical help.
Because I can’t bend easily without losing my balance, my wife Sharon would need to help me with getting my pants and trousers over my feet and with getting my shoes and socks on.
Because I can’t raise my hands above my head without getting dizzy and disoriented, she would have to help me with getting t-shirts, jumpers and sweatshirts over my head.
Because of my weak left side and poor shoulder mobility she would have to help me get my arms into button-up-shirts and jackets.
As I have said, in reality I manage these things by sitting and going very slowly.
Can’t do it:
Even if Sharon helped me, getting dressed would still be very painful.
And even if she helped me, getting dressed would still be very long-winded, taking maybe twenty minutes to do what used to be a five minute task.
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