Household aids for reaching and holding –
home, car and garden aids
There are many simple tasks and activities that can be challenging for anyone who has trouble stretching, reaching, gripping or manipulating objects.
However, there are an equal number of aids that can assist with these activities by helping to make an object easier to hold or control, or by enabling something that is out of reach to be picked up or collected. Please use the menu items below (or in the index to the left) to find the types of aids that you are looking for.
- Reaching and holding aids - this page
- Reachers, pickers and grabbers
- Carrier bag handle
- Yale knob turning aid
- Back scratcher
- Electric socket (plug) aids for easy use
- Bed handles
- Fall-out matt
- Blanker raiser
- Talking clocks and watches
- Tap turners
- Car handy bar
- Key fob and turning help
- Tube squeezers
- Fat pens and pen and pencil holders
- Portable illuminated magnifier
- Different garden tool options
- Dressing aids
- Large handle tweezers
- Long handled hair brush and scissors
- Toilet wiping aids
- Long handled bathroom brushes and applicators
If you want some general information about home, car or garden aids then please read on. This page will give a general overview of the types of devices that are currently available.
Daily use household aids
The dual problems of reaching and then securely holding an object that has been reached for, are two of the biggest obstacles for many mobility challenged people.
Any one or combination of factors including age, disability, body size, injury or illness (short term or permanent) can make the turning of a key in a lock, or the holding of a pen or pencil a major trial. The result is that everyday activities like writing, getting into and out of a car, or inserting or removing an electrical appliance plug from a mains socket can be difficult and possibly impossible.
Fortunately there are many solutions to these problems. Some use an easy grip handle to make holding small objects easier, whilst others use extended handles to make reaching much less of a challenge. A number of devices combine the two.
The result is that there are purpose designed aids for everything from toilet hygiene and getting dressed, to bed handles and car door entry aids that make it easier to lower oneself into a vehicle.
A number of these objects are small, portable and easy to carry, e.g. key holders and turners, whilst others have a more specific and localised use like home gardening equipment. These bigger tools will often be lightweight, offer large diameter (easy grip) handles and have lengthened handles to reduce bending. They may also have grips that are at an angle to the main handle along with adjustable features.
The types of aids available for use in the home, garden and car are continually increasing, This means that there will nearly always be some kind of device, or variation on an aid, that will suit most requirements and the majority of circumstances.
Popular household aids
The most popular household aids are those designed around reaching for and picking-up objects and these normally take the form of an arm with a claw or hook at one end. These "pickers" and "grabbers" can be used for many different purposes, but essentially they make it possible to reach out and grab a small object that would otherwise be out of reach.
The claw or "gabbing" end is usually controlled by a small lever or trigger which is easy to operate and that requires a minimum of strength. Some of these pickers have telescopic or length adjustable arms and many have either a larger diameter grip or an ergonomically designed handle to make holding stress free.
To find out more about specific aids please use the menu list at the top of this page. You will find that there is no shortage of useful devices for the home, car and garden.
