Bearing Disability: Elasticated Shoelaces Stay Tied Up

Most people—most adults—who don’t have a disability can tie their own shoes. In fact, by the age of 8, most kids seem to have got a rough hang on it. But not me. I am in my 20s and still, shoelaces are just as complex for me as they were when I was 5.

Additionally, most adults have a choice of footwear. They can wear whatever they like: heels, trainers (sneakers), boots, converses. For them, choosing their footwear is as easy as choosing a top or pair of trousers.

I have to wear shoes that:

• support my ankle;
• are able to be done up tightly
• have strong soles

For me it is harder. High heels are out of the question. My balance is not brilliant at the best of times without adding a show with a thin stub at the bottom. Even if I could, I wouldn’t wear heels. Bit too girly for me. But the point is, the option was taken away before I could have decided that.

Converses don’t threaten to trip me up, but they do not support my ankle. The back edge of the shoe is just too low. Then boots are hard to get on and off either because they fit so snug and go up high or because they have a zip.

This limits me to trainers, and therefore shoelaces. I don’t mind this. Velcro wears out too easily and is not tight enough. Zips are too hard, and buckles are fiddly and again not tight enough. So I think it would have always been shoelaces for me.

But I can’t do them up by myself. Or at least, not well.

Tying Shoelaces

One of the issues I have with footwear is the shoelaces. As I said, I cannot do my own shoelaces. Well, I can if I spend 10 minutes on each shoe, but there is a chance that they’ll come undone during the day. And it is just a long time to spend on shoelaces, especially more than once a day.

I often sat in class, fiddling with my shoelaces because for the seventh time that day they have felt odd, came undone or feel like they’re about to. I wanted to find a way to prevent this, so I did some research and I came across elasticated shoelaces.

One of the reasons I got these elasticated shoelaces was because someone mentioned them to me while I was researching this issue. They claimed that they never came undone once they were done up.

I’ll be honest, I was sceptical at first. Shoelaces that didn’t come undone sounded like the flying pig story, but I thought it was worth a shot. After all, shoelaces aren’t that expensive compared to some equipment that I end up buying.

The Permanent Bow

I bought a pair of 90cm elasticated shoelaces from Amazon and thought my karrimor shoes as I switched the laces over. I like to try things, so I attempted to tie the bow myself.

Big mistake!

My first attempt ended with me on my bed, paperclip in my hand, fighting a stubborn knot as I desperately tried to undo the bow. Well that not coming undone looked promising, I’ll say.

In the end, I undid the knot but the paperclip died in the process (it literally snapped in half)…

I decided to wait until dad came home and he tied them for me.

That was two years ago, and I still use them. I can confirm that they do not come undone once tied together (unless you undo them yourself, which is easier if it is in an actual bow and not a knot).

It is a very useful device if you struggle to do your shoelaces up. Much better than this plastic thing I was shown at the young adults clinic.

Well, for me it was, anyway.

How do Elasticated Shoelaces work?

So how do they work? How do I get the shoes off my feet?

My Karrimor shoes have two hooks, one on each side, at the top of the shoe rather than eyelets, which is useful because I can just pull the elastic over the hooks and slip my shoes off. I then pull the elastic over the hooks when I put them on again.

It’s great because now I don’t have to worry that I am going to trip or get frustrated that I have to do them several times in one sitting more than once a day. I can now put my shoes on within 30 seconds rather than spending five or ten minutes of the morning trying to create some form of a bow.

It’s not often something my family and I try works first-time, so I am happy with these, even though to most people they are just shoelaces. It is one of the cheaper things that I spend my care component on and it is one of the best.

What have I learned over the years?

I have now been using these elasticated shoelaces for a few years. There isn’t much that can go well with them except that they may fray a little. It is a good idea to keep some spare in case you need to undo them in emergencies and cannot get the bow undone, but so far, that has only happened once.

Thanks for reading

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’m sorry it’s a short one, but there isn’t really much you can say about these elasticated shoelaces.

If you would like to read more posts, feel free to join my facebook group and read these articles from Little Sea Bear:

1. Cooking a Roast Dinner With One-hand;
2. Dyslexia and Reading Challenges;
3. The issues with Accessible Toilets;
4. ClaroRead Software for Dyslexia;
5. and PIP Assessment —An Interrogation

Articles from other blog sites

1. Visiting Jupiter Artland in a wheelchair – by Simple Emma
2. Rolling Up Your Sleeve Free Flu Jab by Kerry Thompson
3. Reading With ClaroRead by Brains on Wheels