JBC News
  • Login
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World

    European Super League: Premier League’s ‘big six’ agree to join new league

    China and US pledge climate change commitment

    Biden backtracks on keeping Trump cap on refugees

    Indianapolis mass shooting: Eight dead at FedEx facility

    Louisiana ship capsize: Search for survivors from 'lift' vessel

    Daunte Wright shooting: Police resignations fail to ease unrest over death

    Taiwan: 'Record number' of China jets enter airspace

    Iran 'to take revenge' for attack on Natanz nuclear site

    Covid-19: India vaccination crosses 100 million doses

  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More
    • Future
    • Culture
    • Music
16 °c
London
8 ° Tue
7 ° Wed
8 ° Thu
7 ° Fri
No Result
View All Result

Welcome to JBC.com

Monday, April 19, 2021
JBC News
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World

    European Super League: Premier League’s ‘big six’ agree to join new league

    China and US pledge climate change commitment

    Biden backtracks on keeping Trump cap on refugees

    Indianapolis mass shooting: Eight dead at FedEx facility

    Louisiana ship capsize: Search for survivors from 'lift' vessel

    Daunte Wright shooting: Police resignations fail to ease unrest over death

    Taiwan: 'Record number' of China jets enter airspace

    Iran 'to take revenge' for attack on Natanz nuclear site

    Covid-19: India vaccination crosses 100 million doses

  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More
    • Future
    • Culture
    • Music
No Result
View All Result
JBC News
No Result
View All Result
Home Have your say

The coronavirus conundrum when your mouth is your ‘hand’

May 30, 2020
in Have your say
5 min read
320 3
0
351
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Image copyright
Geoff Adams-Spink

Many disabled people face difficulties adapting their routines to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Thalidomide Society chairman Geoff Adams-Spink reveals some thalidomide survivors have been left perplexed after realising how often they use their mouths and feet for tasks, instead of their hands.

Related posts

Covid-19: Three Essex survivors recount their experiences

April 4, 2021

100,000 Covid deaths: ‘I cursed the sterile white room where Ann died’

March 31, 2021

It was a friend and fellow thalidomide survivor, Berrisford, who first alerted me and other members of our community to the added dangers posed by coronavirus.

Thalidomide was a morning sickness drug given to pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 60s, but it typically caused shortening of limbs for the babies born. For both Berrisford and me, it affected our arms.

In a Facebook post for friends, Berrisford described the great lengths he had gone to in order to remain safe while out on a shopping trip just after Covid-19 hit Europe and the US.

He explained that he meticulously swabbed his supermarket trolley and maintained social distancing at all times.

He took his goodies home in the knowledge he had kept himself safe having followed the government’s guidelines. A good job well done.

At home, hungry and tempted by the food in front of him, he grabbed something that looked tasty and tore into the packet in a way he has done for most of his life – with his teeth.

Despites all of those elaborate precautions he had momentarily forgotten he often relies on his mouth instead of his hands for such tasks.

Image copyright
Geoff Adams-Spink

His hygiene routine had effectively been thwarted by a rumbling stomach and a workaround that many of us with shorter arms have used several times each day for decades.

So how do you deal with coronavirus when you use your mouth for simple tasks, instead of your hands?

It surely doesn’t need to be pointed out that the hand-washing principles aren’t as effective for my friend or me in this situation as for many others.

But putting something in your mouth that has come from a public place could potentially transfer the virus straight to your body – it would be a very direct transmission.

Many Thalidomide survivors use the same mouth-trick as Berrisford for the sake of simplicity and speed. My dentist constantly reminds me that opening bottles with my teeth (the screw top kind, don’t worry) will result in lasting damage. Correction, has already resulted in some lasting damage.

But at the moment, life with coronavirus means taking care to wash all my shopping once I return home, before I open a packet and devour the contents. Or I can ask someone within my household to help me, providing they have washed their hands first.

It’s not just our mouths that can cause dilemmas. A lot has already been written about the difficulty some disabled people face in trying to maintain the 2m (6ft) distance from care givers – if somebody is washing my hair in the shower, they are in the danger zone, as am I.

Geoff opening a door handle with his foot

Image copyright
Geoff Adams-Spink

Image caption

Many Thalidomide survivors have learned to use their feet in place of hands

Thalidomide survivors are all around the same age – heading into our 60s – but we now face a whole new set of challenges to untangle related to this pandemic. We’ll have to wait for a vaccine before we can go back to using some of our old tricks and workarounds again. In my friend’s characteristically poignant words: “We have to rewrite the ‘how to’ book (again)”.

This got me thinking – could there be an upside, as well as a downside, to living with upper limb impairment?

Although we do use our mouths and our chins a lot, perhaps to guide a pen or maybe to open a packet of crisps, many of us are extremely adept at using our feet to do things at waist level or below.

For example, I will automatically open and close doors or flush the toilet using my feet, which don’t go anywhere near my face or mouth. And at the end of the day, those socks go into the wash.

Shopper looks at supermarket shelves left empty after panic buying of toilet rolls

Image copyright
NEIL HALL

Image caption

No toilet roll, no problem

When I saw videos of people fighting over toilet rolls, forgive me, but I felt a little bit smug.

In common with many other thalidomide survivors who have short arms, I have used a bidet or shower toilet since childhood – I even have a portable one for use while travelling.

We are therefore among the very few people who have not had to stress about toilet paper being in short supply.

Banner image reading 'more about coronavirus'

Banner

It’s all too easy to think yourself into a passive, victim mentality when it comes to coronavirus but disabled people are ingenious problem solvers – life hacks are what we do all the time to get by.

Living through this extraordinary episode will call for vast reserves of lateral thinking, creativity and ingenuity. As disabled people, we already have those things in spades.

For more Disability News, follow BBC Ouch on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our podcasts.





Source link

Previous Post

Rishi Sunak says furlough scheme must 'evolve'

Next Post

Week in pictures: 23-29 May 2020

Next Post

Week in pictures: 23-29 May 2020

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

Highlights: Porto beat Benfica in Portuguese Super Cup

4 months ago

Rose Paterson: Aintree Racecourse chairman dies aged 63

10 months ago

TikTok: Microsoft pauses talks on buying US arm – reports

9 months ago

Ever Given: Stranded Suez container ship freed from shoreline

3 weeks ago

FOLLOW US

  • 85 Followers
  • 26.5k Followers
  • 113k Subscribers

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

  • Business
  • Have your say
  • In Pictures
  • Politics
  • Reel
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top News
  • World

Top Stories

  • Coronavirus: One week in one hospital

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • Coronavirus: Jeers for Hancock testing plan

    353 shares
    Share 141 Tweet 88
  • TikTok founder defends potential Microsoft sale

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88
  • China and US pledge climate change commitment

    351 shares
    Share 140 Tweet 88

Features

Politics

Starmer told to leave Bath pub over Covid lockdown policies

by admin
April 19, 2021
0

The Labour leader is told he has "failed this country" for not opposing government lockdown policies.Sir Keir Starmer was...

Read more

Fishmongers' Hall inquest: Witness thought terrorist Usman Khan was 'play-fighting'

April 19, 2021

European Super League: Premier League’s ‘big six’ agree to join new league

April 19, 2021

European Super League: Premier League’s ‘big six’ agree to join new league

April 19, 2021

Reopening: Prime minister 'must stick' to indoor dining dates

April 18, 2021

Recent News

  • Starmer told to leave Bath pub over Covid lockdown policies
  • Fishmongers' Hall inquest: Witness thought terrorist Usman Khan was 'play-fighting'
  • European Super League: Premier League’s ‘big six’ agree to join new league
JBC News

Breaking news, sport, TV, radio and a whole lot more.
The JBC informs, educates and entertains - wherever you are, whatever your age.

Follow us on social media:

Category

  • Business
  • Have your say
  • In Pictures
  • Politics
  • Reel
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top News
  • World
  •  Staged stars  DavidTennant and  MichaelSheen as two actors forced to take their West End rehearsals online        Continues 10 45pm on  BBCOne  plus all episodes availble now on  bbciplayer    BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Comedy  BBCComedy  Drama
  • Joe Wicks   thebodycoach  has become  the nation s PE teacher  during lockdwn  keeping families fit during strange times with his daily live streams of  PE with Joe          Listen to his Desert Island Discs episode with  laurenlaverne on  bbcsounds         Via  bbcradio2                          JoeWicks  TheBodyCoach  BBCRadio4  DesertIslandDiscs  DID  LaurenLaverne   BBCSounds  BBC  PEWithJoe
  • Just some of the incredible memories from decades of  Glastonbury sets     what   s been your favourite moment from Worthy Farm   Relive them all with The Glastonbury Experience  June 25th-29th  at bbc co uk glastonbury     wellies optional        Glastonbury2020
  • Now that s an angry bird                    Via  bbcscotnews      Stephen Kennedy                              BBCScotland  Scotland  Scottish  BlueTit  Birds  Nature  AngryBird  FunnyAnimals  Photography  PictureOfTheDay  PicOfTheDay  BBCScotlandPics  BBCScotlandNews  BBCNews  BBC  Bird  BirdsOfInstagram  AngryBirds  Angry  Fluffy  Queensferry  SouthQueensferry  Ornithology  Birdwatcher  BirdLover  Birdwatching  BirdPhotography  BirdwatchersOfInstagram  BlueTits  Fledgling
  •     Ambulance   Streaming Now    BBCiPlayer   Via  bbciplayer    BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  Paramedic  Paramedics  NHS
  •  TheSalisburyPoisonings concludes at 9pm on  bbcone   All episodes streaming now on  bbciplayer      bbc in 37wAgUv   BBCOne  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Drama  BBCDrama  Salisbury
  • An intricately woven  suspenseful tale of love  murder  magic and revenge set in New Zealand at the height of the 1860s gold rush   The Luminaries  Starts Sunday  9pm  BBC One  with all episodes streaming on  BBCiPlayer immediately afterwards    TheLuminaries  Luminares  BBC  BBCOne  BBCiPlayer
  • Don   t swipe if you   re squeamish - the  phobia challenge  creations on  GlowUp are  in the nicest possible way  disturbing                    Catch  glowupbbc on  bbciplayer                   Via  bbcthree                                            StaceyDooley  MakeUp  MakeUpArtist  MakeUpArtists  MUA  MUAs  GlowUps  MakeUpTips  MakeUpTricks  AmazingMakeIp  MakeUpTutorial  BBCThree  BBCiPlayer  BBC  Phobia  Creepy  Horror  CreepyMakeUp  HorrorMakeUp
  • Really never thought we d see a beautiful picture of a pigeon                       Despite their reputation  pigeons are remarkably smart birds  They form cooperative family units and have the ability to find their way home from hundreds of miles away                       Via  bbcearth        4elementphotos                                   BBCEarth  Bird  Pigeon  BirdsOfInstagram  Ornithology  BeautifulBirds  BirdWatching  Wildlife  WildlifePhotography  NaturePhotography  AmazingAnimals  Nature  NatureLovers  Earth  EarthLovers  PlanetEarth  Pigeons  PigeonsOfInstagram  BBC

Recent News

Starmer told to leave Bath pub over Covid lockdown policies

April 19, 2021

Fishmongers' Hall inquest: Witness thought terrorist Usman Khan was 'play-fighting'

April 19, 2021
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • World
  • Worklife
  • Travel
  • More

© 2020 JBC - BBC Clone JOOJ.us.

  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Reel
  • Travel
  • WorkLife
  • Future
  • World
  • Technology
  • Login

© 2020 JBC - BBC Clone JOOJ.us.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In