Melinda
During my 15 minutes of not using my arms, the most challenging thing was eating dinner (I had spaghetti, so it was a bit messy). It was very difficult and I often felt a little frustrated knowing that I couldn't do simple tasks that I could usually do without any problems. I was surprised that I was still able to use my phone.
Grace
I began my fifteen minutes without the use of my arms at dinnertime. I did a bit of research beforehand, and found that a lot of people without use of their arms learn to eat and pick things up with their feet instead. I quickly learned after dropping a container of food all over the place that I am not talented enough to use that method. I also learned (after cheating a bit to clean up the mess) that a lot of household appliances are really difficult to use when you can't use your fingers to push buttons. I ended up pushing a stool into the kitchen with my feet to sit on the counter and push buttons with my toes, which felt fairly ridiculous, and I almost fell trying to get down without arms to catch myself (I also cheated a bit here to avoid injury).
A lot of things were easier to do sitting down, such as opening a bottle of water, since I could use my knees. Still, I ended up spilling some water on the carpet, since I couldn't keep the bottle level. I ate a slice of pizza, which wasn't incredibly difficult, since it didn't necessarily require silverware, but it was messy and I couldn't keep food in the container (which I ate out of, since I couldn't get a plate down from the high cabinets).
By the end, I learned a few major things:
1. When I can't use my arms, I'm a bit off-balance and significantly more aware that a fall could really hurt.
2. It's very difficult to clean up a mess with only my feet, and messes happened much more often than they otherwise would.
3. My household appliances aren't made with disabled people in mind, even though they need to cook just as much as the rest of us.
4. Silverware just doesn't work.
5. Afterwards, I investigated disabled kitchens, and found that there are kitchen appliances made with disabled people in mind, but most require a good deal of use of at least one hand, and really are only suited to SOME disabilities.
Jade
1) I think one of the most challenging things to do was eat because it was burgers. Fortunately for me, we also had fries. Basically, for the 15 minutes without hands, I slowly worked through the fries by picking them up with my mouth and making the necessary movements that would lead to swallowing the fry. As I attempted to move onto the burger, I wasn't really able to get it into my mouth.
2) I felt really irritated and helpless without my hands. As I kept failing to eat the burger with ease, my frustration grew and I almost felt like giving up.
3) I was most surprised by how creative one has to get without the use of hands. When I was eating, I had to resort to just using my mouth and eating similarly to a dog!
Katie
Today was such an amazing experience for me. To try to live as though I had a injury was really challenging and eye opening. I feel like now I can understand and help people better who have disabilities/injuries. I learned so much about what they have to deal with.
The activities we did were really fun, especially the last one when we built our ideas for fixing our partner's problem. Looking forward to tomorrow! :)
Thea
The activity I chose for the challenge of not using your arms for fifteen minutes was to get ready for bed. The most challenging thing to do during this time was trying to brush my teeth because of the arm movement and stability needed to hold the brush, move the brush, and put tooth paste on the brush.
At first I was very frustrated with the fact that when I tried to put toothpaste on the brush I would squirt too much out, or even end up with some toothpaste on the floor. But, as I continued to struggle with the assignment I began to realize that I was doing things in a way that presented more of a challenge instead of trying to create a new and improved way of brushing my teeth.
I was surprised when I applied one of the tools I learned from the occupational therapist, to hold the toothbrush in place with another object, and began to see that it worked better then trying it with the tooth brush moving around on top of my counter.
