Zip Ties, Split Rings, and Paracord

When it comes to dexterity few things are as challenging as zippers. Tiny little tabs designed to be pulled with a pinch between the index finger and thumb. Not quadriplegic friendly.

My simple solution for a lot of years was split rings. I think every keychain in my parents' home was scavenged for this purpose. The fact that my dad had a small collection of keychains help my inventory of split rings to grow quickly. It's remarkable how many zippers there are to benefit from a permanent ring on them. Zippers are everywhere.

The one place that I most wanted my adaptation to be less visible was on the fly of my pants. For that location I chose to use a small black zip tie, as barely visible on the pair of jeans in the photo above. Zip ties like that do wear out in time and a few did break on me, leaving me with a bit of a struggle to do up my pants until it could be replaced with a new zip tie. Thankfully that zipper does not need to be started like on a full-length jacket zipper. I have no secret method to assist in starting a zipper on a jacket. That is simply a matter of trial, error and patience.

Though I still use split rings for a lot of purposes, I have transitioned to using paracord for most of my zipper pulls. There are a myriad of colours to choose from and their flexibility can provide minor advantages over split rings in certain circumstances. I have even begun transitioning away from bungee cord and toward paracord for my pant hooks. The snaps that connect two ends of paracord together to make a pullable tab and loop, like those attached to the yellow and black paracord in the photo above, are cheap and abundant on places like eBay. However, I found the ones I chose to not hold nearly as well as they should. I made certain to make my selection based on the size of paracord I was using, prepare the ends by cutting and melting them and made certain the snap was applied properly, but often it would let go at inopportune times.

The alternative is to simply thread your length of paracord through the zipper eyelet then tie the two lengths in a half hitch, as I have done for the zipper laying immediately to the left of the pouch, the second one to the right of the pink lanyard. A more interesting alternative is to tie an interesting knot in the end and use it as a lanyard, essentially a simplified version of the lanyard I tied to be my keychain. As frequently as we are forced to compromise form for the purposes of function, this is one of those simple places that I appreciate the more decorative look of a diamond knot lanyard over a simple half hitch. I decided to get extra fancy and do a double diamond knot for the longer zipper pull on my camera bag.

Hit me in the comments with your zipper adaptations, if you have any unique methods.

Source: paracord and snaps – eBay. Split rings – dollar store or craft supply store.

Arm Garters

It was only recently that I discovered the effectiveness of arm garters. I finally started looking for a solution to the problem of the sleeves of longsleeved shirts sliding down over the wheeling surface of either my hand or the palm of my glove. When they would it would almost completely remove my grip on the push rims and make it very difficult to go anywhere with any sort of efficiency. As with most quadriplegics, it is more difficult for me to feel warm and I was tired of feeling cold or having to turn up the heat so high that it made everyone else uncomfortable. I've always been about function over form but the aesthetics of longsleeved shirts can be desirable, as well.

I do not know exactly when I realized that an effective product may be out there but once the concept struck me I realized I had known about them since the very first Matrix movie. Near the beginning, when Neo first meets Morpheus, Morpheus is wearing arm garters on his retro style longsleeved shirt. It is not often that I place much value on pop culture but in this case remembering that costume served me well.

After checking a few secondhand stores and coming up only with some cheap beaded bracelets that were reasonably inconspicuous, I took to the Internet and found the solution you see in the photo above. The first pair I bought was approximately $35 with shipping, the second two pairs, exactly the same as the first, I found from a different seller for about seven dollars per pair including shipping. They are available in black, silver and gold.

Now just about any time I need a jacket I prefer the additional warmth and comfort that a longsleeved shirt adds. They are just one more item that gets added to my person, along with my pouch containing my phone, wallet and change, hat and keys before going out.

Source: eBay, high-end clothing stores (but their prices are ridiculous and their quality is not necessarily superior).