Many persons with disabilities feel overwhelmed by the thought of change or adopting an entirely new lifestyle. In reality, doing it slowly and gradually adjusting one’s behavior is generally more effective.
You can learn many valuable skills quickly and easily with a plan.
For this reason, we’ll discuss some basic life skills for people with disabilities that you may want to try.
6 Top life skills for adults with disabilities
Those with mild to moderate physical disabilities can learn to adapt their routines to work around their condition. In contrast, those with more severe disabilities may need to rely on assistive technology or an assistant.
One thing that people with and without disabilities have in common is the need to develop the same basic life skills. There are a lot of essential life skills that every physically disabled person must know.
In this article, we will discuss some essential life skills that can improve your day-to-day activities, from cooking skills to working in your office.
So, let’s take a look at the 6 top life skills for people with physical disabilities:
Personal hygiene
Due to their disability, some people cannot practice the level of personal cleanliness that is considered normal. If the disability is chronic, the affected person may feel even more helpless because their needs aren’t being addressed.
The effects of a disability like an amputation or paralysis can be devastating, so it’s important to talk to a doctor about how to best adapt your home to accommodate your new disabilities.
Those with limited movement due to back pain, arthritis, or other conditions may have difficulty going to the bathroom.
Why is personal hygiene important?
Maintaining a high level of personal hygiene is essential for the well-being of anybody who plans to engage in social activities. With the correct instruction, most individuals who are disabled can learn to practice good hygiene.
Basic hygiene practices like taking a shower, shaving, washing one’s face, and brushing one’s teeth are critical for maintaining good physical and mental health.
Some adults with physical disabilities may need assistance carrying out these activities and maintaining these routines because of their disabilities. Shower chairs, handrails, and other disability aids and hygiene accessories may help the user do these tasks.
Navigating at home
Another common challenge for people with physical disabilities is getting around the house. It can be difficult if you use a wheelchair or have difficulty walking. You can learn basic skills to help you move around your home.
For example, if your home is wheelchair accessible, you can practice some skills to move around your home. If you have difficulty walking, you can learn how to use a walker or cane. You can also learn how to get in and out of bed safely.
There are many ways to make your home more accessible, like installing ramps, widening doorways, and adding handrails. You can also rearrange furniture to create more open space.
Why is navigating at home important?
It is essential to be able to navigate around your home so that you can live independently. If you need assistance, there are many ways to get around your home safely.
Many products and services can help you live more independently. For example, you can get a wheelchair ramp installed at your home. You can also get home modification services to make your home more accessible.
Shopping skills
As a disabled adult, you can learn basic adaptable shopping skills to help you get the items you need.
If you use a wheelchair, you can learn how to shop online or by phone. You can also ask a friend or family member to help you with shopping. If you have difficulty walking, you can use a wheelchair or motorized scooter to get around the store.
Some stores have special services for people with disabilities. For example, some stores have home delivery services. You can also ask for help from store employees.
Why is shopping important?
Being able to shop is crucial because it allows you to get the items you need. You don’t have to rely on others if you know the basic shopping skills customized to your physical disability.
Using a wheelchair, you can carry a stick or something to drag and drop some items into your bucket. If you have difficulty walking, you can also ask for a wheelchair or motorized scooter in the store.
Whether or not a person’s specific disability directly impacts social skills, persons with disabilities often have a more difficult time interacting with others.
Because of how our society is structured, many people cannot fully engage with the world around them.
People with disabilities share the same human trait of being friendly as all other humans. Individuals with disabilities can do their best to adapt to this reality. Still, you need access to additional resources to excel, and one of those resources is learning some social skills.
Why are social skills important?
Learning social skills is one of the most critical life skills for disabled people. Being physically disabled means limited motion as compared to normal people. It means you may have a small to empty social circle.
If you learn some socializing skills customized to your physical disability, you can interact more with others around you or outside.
The current research findings show that while young adults with and without physical disabilities face challenges in social environments, those with physical disabilities have more severe challenges.
Most (75%) of those with disabilities, and almost 70% of those in the comparison group, had problems interacting with others. But compared to only 3% of the control group, 37% of the disabled group faced extremely difficult situations.
Safety skills
There are some basic safety skills that all adults should know. As a disabled adult, you may need to adapt these skills to your particular disability.
For example, if you use a wheelchair, you should learn how to transfer in and out of the chair safely. You should also learn how to use the brakes on your wheelchair. If you have difficulty walking, you should learn how to use a cane or walker.
Identifying and avoiding potential hazards in your home is also essential. For example, you should remove throw rugs and electrical cords from areas where you walk. You should also keep dangerous chemicals out of reach.
Why are safety skills essential?
Safety skills are vital because they help you avoid injuries. One can put themselves in potentially dangerous positions in many different situations. Generally speaking, being out in public or away from one’s house might put one in danger. Unfortunately, some disabled persons do feel unsafe in their own homes.
Any circumstance where one’s quality of life is compromised should be considered dangerous. Obvious safety concerns arise when someone is forced to reside in an environment where they are subjected to physical or emotional abuse by another individual or group.
You must know how to tackle those safety concerns in such situations by managing your disability simultaneously.
You may have difficulties in your job search if you’re dealing with an injury, illness, or disability. A physical disability can make it difficult for you to manage your job.
But people with injuries, illnesses, or disabilities often have skills and abilities essential to a company. Skills and attributes that are sure to catch the eye of prospective employers.
Applying this self-awareness and expressing these skills in job interviews will help you stand out from the crowd.
Why are job skills critical?
Soft skills are equally as crucial as hard ones when landing a job. If your work involves interacting with customers, these skills are fundamental. However, persons with particular disabilities may have trouble “understanding” other people and adjusting to unexpected circumstances.
Let’s look at some companies’ most sought-after “soft skills” for hiring persons with disabilities for jobs.
- Attention to Detail: Although the overall picture should always be kept in mind, employers value workers who can also pay close attention to the specifics of a project. To make meaningful findings, you need to be able to focus more on specific, detailed information.
- Communication Skills: With practical communication skills, you can interact with your coworkers, supervisors, and clients positively. They enable you to understand and carry out instructions and to articulate your ideas and thoughts clearly. They are crucial to maintaining an enjoyable and productive workplace where all employees feel appreciated.
- Effective Conflict Management: Unfortunately, workplace disputes and conflicts can arise. Employers are on the lookout for people who can effectively handle difficult situations and work to resolve disputes with others.
- Problem-Solving Skills: Soft skills like problem-solving and the capacity to see things from many angles are also highly sought after in the workplace. The ability to think critically, plan effectively, and seize opportunities depend on one’s problem-solving ability.
- Professionalism: Your supervisors and coworkers will have a different impression of you if you approach your job with a cheerful and professional attitude. Examples of professionalism are being on time for work, dressing professionally, and treating the people around you with respect.
Conclusion
To successfully manage one’s life, one must be able to find solutions to problems, set achievable goals, make decisions, assess those decisions, and use personal and interpersonal skills.
The period known as adolescence is when people are supposed to develop the “life skills” that would enable them to deal with the pressures of day-to-day existence properly.
Teenagers who are physically disabled endure delays and difficulties in mastering the developmental tasks associated with this stage. A variety of circumstances cause this.
One strategy that has the potential to provide these young people with the skills and techniques required for adult independence is formal training in many life skills. These young people can benefit from these skills.
We discussed the 6 top life skills for disabled people to live a healthy lifestyle. If you feel like we’ve missed a skill, please let us know.
