Doing the laundry carefully

When I do my laundry, it's really not that much different from what most sighted persons would do. I use my color detector to help sort my colored clothes from my white clothes. Next I wash the white ones separately from the colored ones. All hand clothing is washed by hand and the rest go into the washer.

The trick for me is to be able to tell if a piece of clothing has run as they say; creating a disaster for other pieces of clothing. So, I have to make sure that certain pieces of clothing can be washed together and those that can't I have to wash also by hand. Not much different from what sighted persons would do.

I am fairly comfortable doing my laundry. Towels and sheets go together, jeans, sweat shirts, socks, and track clothes go together, miscellaneous go together, and all of my blouses and skirts and other delicate garments are washed separately and apart from each other. The challenges for me are: Making sure that stains have been removed, and realizing when something is a bit too worn to keep on using. So, I use the tried and proven method of discarding anything that has become thin and thread bare.

Not much different from the sighted world but I have to depend on touch as well as sighted assistance to help me deal with stains and o yes! When those darn socks drop from me when I remove them from the dryer. When they drop without a sound and I have to go looking for them.

Dealing with buttons on washers and dryers is another story which I will cover in another blog. For now, you can learn more about color detectors by visiting www.independentlivingaids.com.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and help educate the sighted world about how blind persons do their laundry.