I don't know about you but I sometimes feel so frustrated with the choices of shoes, glasses, and adaptive accessories that are available in our medium sized metro city for my 5 year old with disabilities. If I can find what I need for her it is usually obscenely priced or distributed by some snotty salesperson or careless business owner that may ignore Lily or look at me like "why did you bring this kid here?" I finally got fed up. Here are some of the resources I have found, tested and recommend for internet shopping.
Glasses: Lily was first prescribed glasses, for strabismus (lazy eye), when she was one year old. We refereed to the optical shop at the pediatric ophthalmologist and we were told that our only option was a frame called Miraflex. We had medicaid at the time and Lily was under the age of three so the insurance company paid for the $150 frames and lenses. We had the choice between almost white pink, pink, or a little bit darker pink. Lily hated the glasses and proceeded to chew the lenses and scratch them. We had to pay another $150 out of pocket to replace them. After a week and one more replacement we gave up on glasses. However, every six months when we went back to the ophthalmologist he would prescribe a new prescription.
Additionally, the optical shop was poorly arranged so that there were glasses displayed all the way to the ground-begging little fingers to play-and the woman that worked at the optical shop would yell "Ma'am! Ma'am you need to mind your kid!" I would leave from those appointments and cry and scream all the way home. I just hated it. Dreaded it!
When she was three the pattern continued but now we had to pay out of pocket for the glasses. I tried a new optical shop and they sold us glasses that were far too big for Lily for $150 and when I took her to the ophthalmologist he said that they were not appropriate for Lily. I had wrongly assumed that the professional working at the optical shop had provided me with the correct size but I was wrong.They wouldn't replace or refund but instead cut down the lenses and mangled them into something that resembled glasses.
Finally, in a moment of insight and desperation I hit the web found www.zennioptical.com. I searched the web for consumer ratings and the ratings, back in 2010 were not good but I noticed, from then until now the reviews got better and were five stars by 2012. I had the prescription from the opthalmologist and just needed to find out Lily's pupillary distance (PD). I called the optical shop I got the last glasses from and they would not disclose the measurement over the phone and I would have to drive across town to get the information. I was so angry at this point that I was afraid I would tear down their whole office if I stepped in there one more time. Instead I took Lily to a Pearl Vision right by my house and they gladly measured her PD at no charge.
I let Lily pick a pair and I got one more pair because I wanted a good sample of the products. I picked through about 30 kids pairs in different materials and colors. Lily chose yellow and I chose purple. The site was incredibly user friendly (though the picture upload and try on feature didn't really work) and within 5 minutes I had ordered 2 pairs of glasses that I actually wanted my kid to wear-that she actually wanted to wear and the whole order, including shipping cost $40!!!! I felt like such a fool for spending so much time and money on crap. C'est la vie.
Shoes! Lily has ankle foot orthotics (AFO’s) to help her walk. The left side is a two part long brace with an ankle length brace that fits inside of a knee high brace. It was very difficult for us to find shoes. We were sent to the mall to buy cheap skateboarding shoes but they didn’t even come close to fitting, even after I meticulously cut out all of the padding. I almost got her into a pair but upsizing them but that meant she had an extra inch of shoe in front of her and that was a tripping hazard. I was told about Hatchbacks which are a brand that split in half but they were complicated to order and cost $100. Also, the styles were ugly and very formal.
Glasses: Lily was first prescribed glasses, for strabismus (lazy eye), when she was one year old. We refereed to the optical shop at the pediatric ophthalmologist and we were told that our only option was a frame called Miraflex. We had medicaid at the time and Lily was under the age of three so the insurance company paid for the $150 frames and lenses. We had the choice between almost white pink, pink, or a little bit darker pink. Lily hated the glasses and proceeded to chew the lenses and scratch them. We had to pay another $150 out of pocket to replace them. After a week and one more replacement we gave up on glasses. However, every six months when we went back to the ophthalmologist he would prescribe a new prescription.
Additionally, the optical shop was poorly arranged so that there were glasses displayed all the way to the ground-begging little fingers to play-and the woman that worked at the optical shop would yell "Ma'am! Ma'am you need to mind your kid!" I would leave from those appointments and cry and scream all the way home. I just hated it. Dreaded it!
When she was three the pattern continued but now we had to pay out of pocket for the glasses. I tried a new optical shop and they sold us glasses that were far too big for Lily for $150 and when I took her to the ophthalmologist he said that they were not appropriate for Lily. I had wrongly assumed that the professional working at the optical shop had provided me with the correct size but I was wrong.They wouldn't replace or refund but instead cut down the lenses and mangled them into something that resembled glasses.
Finally, in a moment of insight and desperation I hit the web found www.zennioptical.com. I searched the web for consumer ratings and the ratings, back in 2010 were not good but I noticed, from then until now the reviews got better and were five stars by 2012. I had the prescription from the opthalmologist and just needed to find out Lily's pupillary distance (PD). I called the optical shop I got the last glasses from and they would not disclose the measurement over the phone and I would have to drive across town to get the information. I was so angry at this point that I was afraid I would tear down their whole office if I stepped in there one more time. Instead I took Lily to a Pearl Vision right by my house and they gladly measured her PD at no charge.
I let Lily pick a pair and I got one more pair because I wanted a good sample of the products. I picked through about 30 kids pairs in different materials and colors. Lily chose yellow and I chose purple. The site was incredibly user friendly (though the picture upload and try on feature didn't really work) and within 5 minutes I had ordered 2 pairs of glasses that I actually wanted my kid to wear-that she actually wanted to wear and the whole order, including shipping cost $40!!!! I felt like such a fool for spending so much time and money on crap. C'est la vie.Shoes! Lily has ankle foot orthotics (AFO’s) to help her walk. The left side is a two part long brace with an ankle length brace that fits inside of a knee high brace. It was very difficult for us to find shoes. We were sent to the mall to buy cheap skateboarding shoes but they didn’t even come close to fitting, even after I meticulously cut out all of the padding. I almost got her into a pair but upsizing them but that meant she had an extra inch of shoe in front of her and that was a tripping hazard. I was told about Hatchbacks which are a brand that split in half but they were complicated to order and cost $100. Also, the styles were ugly and very formal.
Just because my darling girl has disabilities does it mean
she has to be confined to a life of ugly ugly thoughtless and uncaring fashion?
I rage against that notion! She will have the whole pie! Not just the sensible
shoes and bad haircut pieces of the pie!
Finally, someone told us about New Balance extra wide. I
searched high and low in Albuquerque and was unable to find any New Balance
shoes that were XW and in Lily’s tiny size. Finally, again a stroke of insight,
I hit the web and found www.zappos.com.
There I was able to find 7 colors of one style of New Balance shoes in XW and
Lily’s size for $40 and the shipping was free!!! And so began my love for New
Balance. We started with light pink and every four months we go back to Zappos
for the newest model. As Lily gets older, the shoes get cuter and now she has
hot pink New Balance shoes with rainbow accents.
For Christmas 2012, Lily asked for yellow shoes and we
looked through all of the shoes at Zappos to no avail. Finally, I went to the
New Balance website—you have to pay shipping but it is well worth it—and could
not find a pair of yellow shoes. I emailed the customer service for New Balance
and asked if they had anything other than the pair of blue shoes with yellow
accents and they emailed me right back. They were sorry they didn’t have any
all-yellow shoe but they would like to send us-for free-the blue and yellow
shoes as a thank you for our loyalty to their product (even though we didn’t
have a choice!). We were so grateful and are even more loyal now.
So if you need shoes, hit the web. As a result of buying
Lily’s shoes, we were given access to vip.zappos.com which is a special site
for VIP shoe shoppers. It means we get free next day shipping on any order. We
are hooked!
Accessories: A local foundation bought Lily an Ipad
two years ago. We didn’t get a case because we didn’t know what was out there.
Lily did well with the Ipad and was very careful for four months until the day
she decided to try and carry it from the table to the couch, across a brick
floor. It slipped out of her hand and landed on one of its corners-sending
shatters all through the screen. Unsure of what this would mean to the function
of the Ipad, Lily and I fell to our knees and let out a collective scream to
the heavens with tears streaming down our face. We held each other and sobbed
at the possibility of life without her Ipad. Its introduction into our family
meant that she could be occupied so well that we could fly, go out to dinner,
or just rest on the couch, which we had never been able to do before.
The Ipad worked but it became clear that it would not
survive another fall. I went to my local electronic stores and again could not
find a case that worked. They were either too big, which disturbed Lily’s
sensibilities or they were not sufficient protection. I found a blue, one
handled case by Philips at Target. It was $40 and it worked like a dream and
kept the Ipad safe from scrapes and falls. However, you had to take the ipad
out part way every time you had to charge it. This caused the foam plastic case
to break almost immediately but without ideas we kept using. Finally, about
four months ago our house got robbed. It was ten in the morning and they were
in and out in minutes but they got every piece of electronic equipment
including Lily’s broken Ipad. Fortunately we had great insurance and were given
the money to buy a new Ipad and case for Lily (the robbery was a gift in many
ways). Target wasn’t carrying the same case anymore. Even though I was less
than happy with the case I just didn’t know that I had options and I liked that
the old case had one handle, which was great for Lily who only has the use of
her right arm/hand. Again, in a stroke of insight, I went to www.amazon.com and searched for a blue one
handle ipad case. I found a line of Ipad cases that had the exact same blue
case, the same material, though the handle was on a different side and it came
in five colors for $40 with free shipping! We chose the blue because we didn’t
want to change too much for Lily. She was ecstatic with her new case and the
best part is-we don’t have to take the Ipad out of the case to charge it! As
she gets older she gets a little tougher on her Ipad-taking it to the car and school
and it stands the test.
So, my parting word for all of you is: YOU HAVE OPTIONS!!!
Now, get shopping.
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