Hi everyone. Still working on my coding. It's going well, but wanted to also give you guys a post this week. This one is about finding the right shoes to wear. I don't think I have ever told you this, but my feet are different sizes.

My left foot is a size 4.5 and my right is a 3. Massive difference, but that is without including my special splint which I have to put on my right foot. The splint makes the width of my foot equal to a size 5. Not much of a problem for my right as the splint doesn't slip inside the shoe. It's nicely wedged in there.

What I normally do is, I go to the shop, usually Sports Direct, and I get a pair of size 5 shoes. I need to make sure they have good enough ankle support so the trainers need to have a high back.

I find Karrimor shoes are brilliant for this. Plus the way they are designed help me walk better.

The only problem is that my left foot moves around a lot. There is only half a size difference and it is too much. After a few months, the back of my shoe has a hole in the lining. I get blisters. I need a new pair of shoes. And repeat.

Shoes Inserts? Solutions anyone? Please!

So far, I haven't found a solution. I tried these shoe inserts. Now, I'm not saying they won't work for somebody, but for me, they didn't work. It was too easy for my foot to squish them into nothing. I tried placing them at the back (despite the wedge looking like it needs to be used at the front) and I tried using them at the front.

This only resulted in pain. It either made the shoe so tight that it hurt or it wasn't tight enough. I even tried cutting one to size and it just became a squished sponge.

So yep, the inserts were a fail for me.

Customised Shoes As A Child

As a child, I was made shoes that were tailored to my feet. Never had a problem with them other than my pitbull thought they were a chew tie. He managed to find and get them no matter where I put them. I think it was the leather.

When I reached young adulthood, they told me my right side had miraculously grown. Total drivel. At the time, I was self-conscious. I hated that my shoes were always made. In the UK, we have a strict uniform code at schools.

Shoes must be a specific colour, including the laces. They would take the laces from you if they were even tinted an unacceptable colour. We also had a uniform dress code... think Harry Potter Uniform. No, seriously.

So when my shoes where being made, I had to ask them to make me black shoes so that I could wear them to school, and white trainers for P.E. This is the reason why, when the young adults team had told me that my right leg had grown by 2 inches, I didn't fight them about it.

Next Steps

I'm not the shoes fill the cupboard / wardrobe kind of girl. One pair is enough for me. However, back then, the idea that I not only was able to wear normal shoes, but be able to choose what they looked like greatly appealed to me. So when they had told me that my leg had miraculously grown, I didn't argue about it.

I wanted to go out and find my own shoes... feel like any other young adult. Now, I see the flaw in that. I'm limited to only one kind of shoe and it's colour anyway and with my splint, I end up with more pain and the cost of new shoes than I would like.

So, really, I think my next step is to ask the Young Adults team to get my shoes made again. Not as easy as it sounds.

The Problem with Young Adult Rehab Centre

Only problem with this is that my young adult centre has a backlog of two years. I am meant to have an annual appointment with them... well, annually. The last time I saw them was in 2018 and I got a letter in the post in august telling me they hadn't forgotten about me.

Good to know.... but... I need that appointment? please?

Even getting them on the phone and understanding what I want is hard. I hate giving them a ring, and the receptionist always sounds like she has had a bad day the second she picks up the phone. Still it needs to be done, and with the pandemic, the backlog is probably only going to grow.

Also, how disabled people are treated by the government, cuts to things (which is probably why the backlog is so long), etc might mean that I will have to fight to get specially made shoes.

In the meantime...

Do any of you have issues with shoes and shoe sizes? Any suggestions that might work? I have sorted out my shoe-lace tying problem, but this one doesn't feel like remotely close to solving.