Thinking about the Possibilities

We had another incredible week of experiences at Capabilities. They say you can tell a lot about who you are by looking at the 5 people you spend the most time with. We have a bit of a twist on this and say you can tell a lot about us at Capabilities by the great company we keep and the groups we support. Among the many invitations we respond to, this week we spent time at the annual events sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind. The Colorado Chapter and related local chapters hosted their annual conference in Denver this year. I had the pleasure of representing Capabilities and providing information about products for low vision and blindness. I also had the chance to sit in on a couple of the many great speakers who, by their presence and their accomplishments, provide useful information and inspiration to the attendees.

I was struck in particular with one of the speakers who gave a history of the blindness movement in this country. He and several of the speakers quoted early on the depressing employment statistics, for example, for the blind population. There is a 75% unemployment rate among this group. This says a lot about the enormity of the task ahead in working with employers to raise awareness and funds to transform workplaces into friendly places for people with disabilities of all kinds, especially, it seems, for those who are blind.

His talk harkened back to the early days of help movements, sparked, he said, by the concept of “noblesse oblige,” the idea that those who have must help support those who do not have. While also considered pejorative, the notion of “noblesse oblige” helped fuel what is now the business of so-call “helping organizations,” non-profit groups, church groups, missionary groups and the like, around the world. The speaker highlighted the creation of “asylums” for the blind, institutions born out of an initial spirit of concern and compassion, but transformed through the practice of isolation into prisons where the blind became dependent on the kindness of others, and therefore, more and more removed from society.

This discussion caught my attention because just days before I had heard an intense discussion with a leader from an African nation decrying the African aid efforts of celebrities, like Bono of U2, suggesting that many African nations have become infantilized as a result, unable now to create the kinds of economies developing nations must in order to survive for the long term. It’s a case of “giving them the fish,” he exclaimed, “rather than teaching them how to fish.” The argument was compelling as he cited situation after situation where aid groups “rescue” populations only to leave them to fend for themselves with the same levels of intellectual, political and economic tools as they had previously. The cycle continues. In come the rescuers again. The nation never develops.

The speaker at the NFB event on Friday, however, drew a sharp contrast to the way leaders among the blind have evolved. And he points to the accomplishments of the NFB, to the many organizations that exist today for research, education and promotion of those with blindness. The basis now is self-sufficiency, he explained. Just look at the way businesses are putting together research and practicality to create sophisticated tools that enhance independence. This is where the intersection of purpose and creativity comes. It is a place I respect and spend my days in, as we are ever on the search for the kinds of tools that foster independence, that bring a smile back as someone does again what they have loved to do, but for a while believed was impossible with their blindness or low vision.

As I’ve thought about it more in these past few days, I went back and refreshed my memory on the emergence of the term, “noblesse oblige.” I was first a student of French literature and I recalled that Honoré de Balzac is credited with using this expression first in his Le Lys dans la vallée in 1835. William Faulkner used the term a lot in his novels, contrasting the haves and the have nots, as in The Sound and the Fury, for example. The concept, however, is ancient, even if the expression itself is fairly modern. The expectations of royalty to deliver to the people, to bring succor and respond to real needs, were ever-present to dynasties and monarchies across civilization. Sometimes they sparked events that that created positive change. It was great to hear an analysis last week that was not afraid to recall the positive associations of “noblesse oblige” while highlighting the path that leads away from dependency to a culture of independence.

We are lucky to keep such good company that at once enlightens and stimulates important dialogue and thought, and reinforces our purpose and mission at Capabilities. Many thanks to all who sponsored and spoke at the conference and to the many who attended and spent time speaking with us. We are better for having met you and worked with you.

Please enter the dialogue whenever you would like by posting a comment or thought to the topics we write about. We know that people continue to grow and learn through the interactions with others. Your contribution may be just the catalyst someone else needs to make a change for the better.

Featured product: P-Mate

On September 25th, we held our first New Product Showcase. We wrote about this in a blog last week. One of the products presented was the P-Mate, a portable urinating device that allows women to urinate standing up wherever and whenever they need to, without losing their dignity or risking unhygienic and unpleasant public restrooms. The P-Mate can be used during any activity where restroom facilities are less than desirable, or not available at all.

If you are a woman and have traveled to some parts of the world, you know the uncomfortable circumstances you can find yourself in. I recall coming off the Maras salt flats in Peru in desperate need of a restroom. Sorry, our guide told me. I finally had to resort to the old crouching method. I have never been terribly skilled with that approach. Need I say more? How many times have you been camping or hiking and just wished you could stand and be done with it like your pal, Joe. Imagine, too, if you were on crutches. No squatting possible.

A woman does not have to undress to use the P-Mate. Just move one leg of the underwear to the side, put the P-Mate in place and you’re good to go. Urine is funneled through the P-Mate and away from feet and clothing.

Karen Diamond, founder of the North American distributor, Go Your Way, represented the product and gave away samples to our product testers. She told the story of Moon Zijp, the Dutch woman who invented the P-Mate. While on a trip to Indonesia, she found herself, as many women have, in circumstances that were uncomfortable and embarrassing. Upon her return she created the first prototype and demonstrated on live TV on a local talk show in the Netherlands! Her fame was instantaneous and the P-Mate was born.

The feedback from the testers was unanimously approving of this product. “I would purchase this product today,” one said enthusiastically. Another called P-Mate a “definite product for Capabilities…unique AND functional.” Pam and I were also impressed with the simplicity and usefulness of P-Mate. The P-Mate folds to fit discreetly in your pocket. Carry a zip-lock bag for later disposal. This thing is amazing. So, after seeing the enthusiastic response of our testers and reflecting on our own impressions, we have added P-Mate to our roster of products.

Check it out in Our Products section or stop by Capabilities and pick up a five-pack for your next road trip. Then let us know your reactions. If you have already used this product, share your thoughts today by posting a message to this blog.

Living and Thriving with Arthritis

A couple of weeks ago we started a blog series on arthritis. Since then we have chatted with many on this topic, especially those who come through the store. We focus this time on a discussing how people cope with arthritis. We got many ideas from those we have spoken with and from the purchases people make.

For some people the focus is on staying limber, moving, exercising through the pain and discomfort with the hope of reducing the inflammation and keeping it under control. Many pain specialists advocate this approach. If you are able to move, they say, do it. Walk, bicycle, swim, dance, stretch. Lift weights carefully and under some supervision. We have seen a increase in the purchase of the Pro-Flex Foot Flexor, for example. This is an easy-to-use tool that gives you seven different stretching activities for your feet and legs that you can do even while sitting! It travels well, too, and might be a life-saving activity to do on the plane, for that matter, to avoid deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or the conditions that can lead to the development of this condition. (DVT is a condition where a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. DVT can cause pain and may lead to complications such as pulmonary embolism.)

Resistance bands are another easy tool to add to your stretching regimen. We sell them in precut lengths and strengths to make it even easier. Try out a number of strengths to figure out which level you are currently at. Work with that one for a while, alternating with a band of the next strength lower and higher. This practice ensures that you will give your muscles a full range of flexing, resting your muscle and challenging it with the easier and harder strengths.

There are many others we spoke with over these past couple of weeks who are simply in too much pain right now and are working on getting some relief. Pain creams, such as BioFreeze, are popular. We found a Colorado product we simply adore that we think out performs BioFreeze. Pain Wizard is the creation of Bill and Mikel Kleess, a Johnstown, Colorado couple. They have mixed together natural healing herbs to create a powerful effect on the muscles and joints. We usually suggest rubbing some on your sore spot while you walk around the store. Inevitably, by the time you have browsed around a bit you find your ache has subsided. I’ve used it after an especially hard workout, or after hours working in the yard. I have a bit of arthritis in one of my toes. I generally rub Pain Wizard on before I go to sleep. It does the trick. Based on our own experience, we think Pain Wizard should be in your tool bag for combating arthritis pain.

Another significant weapon in the fight against arthritis is the Swede-O Thermoskin gloves.
This glove is anatomically designed to provide warmth and compression to offer relief of pain and discomfort in the fingers and hands for arthritis and repetitive pain sufferers. The outer fabric is made of a non-slip material that provides added grip. The glove is secured with a velcro fastening.

Thermoskin increases elasticity of muscles, tendons and ligaments to reduce the risk of injury when under stress and strain. It is clinically proven to increase surface skin and subcutaneous temperature between 2-3 ° F, the optimal level to make tendons and muscles more pliable and elastic to provide optimal muscle function. Just recently a young woman with lupus came in looking for something to help the aching and chill in her hands. The Thermoskin glove seemed to be the perfect solution.

Other types of relief popular with our customers include soaking in soothing baths with Nuwati Herbal Wash My Pain Away Bath Salts. These bath salts contain sea salt, epsom salt, baking soda, seven herbs and three essential oils. Early Native people bathed daily, year around, in streams, lakes, or at home. Even in winter, people would bathe in the water of a local river. "Going to the water" is a sacred ceremony of the Tsalagi (Cherokee) people. Sipping tea is a balm for many who suffer chronic pain. See our previous blog on teas and check our Events section for upcoming seminars and workshops on tea, pain control and other topics.

Let us know what you do to live and thrive with arthritis. Post your comments, send us an email, or stop by if you are in the Denver area and tell us your story.

Thank You!

Our deepest appreciation to everyone who celebrated with us during September, and especially on Friday and Saturday last week. It was such a delight to spend time with you, share some good food and cake, and listen to your thoughts and ideas about growing Capabilities.

A special thank you goes out to our staff whose talents and smiling faces make Capabilities a warm and welcoming place. We appreciate you very much!

Diabetes: Facts To Know

We recently hosted Seth Braun, a local Certified Holistic Health Counselor who practices at the Mandala Center in Boulder. You may remember him from an earlier Guest Blog. Seth focused on diabetes, ways to prevent and bring it under control if you already have the disease. I have done more research on diabetes since that seminar and am amazed to discover that roughly 21 million Americans have diabetes, although over a third of these folks don’t know they have it. Expenditures on this disease are in excess of $132 billion dollars, or nearly $1 for every $10 health care dollars spent. It is also the sixth leading cause of death.

To see the disease and its effect first hand as I work with many of our customers makes me want to pay even more attention to prevention. Did you know that diabetic retinopathy creates up to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year in our country? And it’s the leading cause of kidney disease. I have worked with a number of customers who have neuropathy, the effects of disease to the nervous system whereby sensation in the limbs is severely diminished. I recall working with one woman who was so delighted with a particular foot massager we carried because after only 15 minutes, she was able to feel one of her toes again. She came back three or four times to try it out, finally deciding to purchase it and make it part of her daily routine in combating diabetes.

I was also surprised to learn that over 90% of all diabetes is Type 2, or the type referred to as adult onset. A large percentage of Type 2 folks can tame diabetes with diet and exercise. And identifying if you are at risk for diabetes requires a fasting glucose test. The test score identifies a condition as “pre-diabetes” if you have a score over 100 and under 125. Men are at slightly higher risk than women for developing diabetes. If diabetes is in your family, your odds increase as well. And, if you are sedentary and don’t have a good diet, you simply add to the potential risk of contracting Type 2.

So, whether you are feeding your brain, your muscles, or your heart, making sensible eating choices seems to be the path to follow, with exercising as a critical component. If you have been exceptionally thirsty or hungry for a period of time, if your vision seems to be getting blurrier or if you have any of the risk factors, you should see your physician and get the fasting glucose test. Identifying pre-diabetes or diabetes early on gives you an excellent chance for treating and, in some cases, eliminating this disease.

Tell us your story about diabetes. What led you to be tested? What were some of the first changes you made? How are you maintaining your blood sugar levels now?

A Night to Remember: Our First New Product Showcase

Pam and I get introduced to many new products all the time. Whether it’s just new to us or a new invention or idea, we look at dozens of products every quarter. Many of them catch our attention, cause us to linger and come back again and again, and finally persuade us to be added to our already robust array of products. Others might not be right at the moment, but impressed us enough to stay in our minds until the perfect opportunity arrives.

As this year unfolded, we talked about how we might engage customers and prospective customers to give us feedback on product lines before we purchased them. We love being part of the community and enjoy finding new ways to interact. And so the New Product Showcase was born. We held our first one last week at Capabilities. Engaging customers with us to examine a handful of new products, we reasoned, helps us stay focused even more on people’s needs and wants when choosing product, and not just on what we love.

What fun we had pulling the night together. It was nothing, however, compared to the actual event itself. It was our own little reality show! We showcased six very interesting products. Over the coming weeks we will detail each one here in a web log. We’ll share some of the comments of our “testers,” some of our own observations and thoughts, and will let you know if and when we actually purchase the product. You’ll get to meet the people behind these products and those who passionately market them.

We showcased one product that we already have in our store, Healthy Shelf. Sometimes we find a gem that others have not yet discovered. We love to shine a light on such treasures, helping others get there sooner. Creator and inventor, Renee Mazer, told the group about the moment she realized she needed something other than the family hand towel in the bathroom. She walked in on her small son cleaning up after a misfire! It had never occurred to her before to ponder just how many germs float around on surfaces and towels. Her research further convinced her that the time was right for a simple solution. You can read more about Renee and Healthy Shelf in a previous blog. It was wonderful to share our thoughts about the product and why we purchased it for Capabilities. Highlighting the benefits in real time to a roomful of attentive participants is a wonderful thing. We definitely will do this again!

Stay tuned for more of these new product showcases. We plan on hosting another in the new year. If you are already intrigued by the idea of participating, please email us to get on the growing list of those who would like to play with us next time. If you are one of the pioneers who stepped forward to join us last week, please post a comment here about your experiences that night. If you have a product you would like us to consider, please email us some details please and point us to a web site.

Come Party With Us!

If you’re in the Denver Metro area, be sure to make your way to Capabilities on Friday, September 28th and Saturday, the 29th, to join in our celebration and appreciation for these two years in the community. We have so many to thank we have spent all month offering the most wonderful seminars, terrific sale prices, great conversations and treats. The big party kicks off on Friday when we open at 9 a.m. And that’s just the beginning. See just what we have planned in Events. We’ll have plenty of good food, beverages, and prizes galore. Here is a sampling of just what will be going on.

On Friday
11 – 3 Vein Testing with Troy Briddle from Juzo
11 – 3 Brain Fitness Software Demos
11:30 – 4: 30 Foot Reflexology Demonstrations with Inga Tomasino
Noon – 3 Demonstrations of the Colorado Cycle with Ed Kalin from Rand-Scot,
Inc., a Fort Collins based company
And Early Afternoon Tea Sippings

On Saturday
11 – 3 Vein Testing with Troy Briddle from Juzo
11:30 – 4:30 Foot Reflexology Demonstrations with Inga Tomasino
Noon – 3 Janska Comfort Fashions with Jan Erickson, creator of Janska Clothing
Afternoon Brain Fitness Demos

And Early Afternoon Tea Sippings

Our wonderful prize line up includes a wide array of gifts from our suppliers and vendors:

Blood Pressure Cuff and Stethoscope from Graham-Field
Travel Transport Chair from Drive Medical
Two Air Back Supports from Michael Ignatz Sales
$50 Dillard’s Gift Card from Drive Medical
$50 Gift Card from FLA Orthopedics
Gift Card from Golden

And generous gifts from our Brookhill Shopping Center colleagues
Bottle of Wine from Brookhill Liquors
Gift Basket of Care Products from Super Cuts
Gift Certificate for a Free Manicure from Reality Nails
An Introductory Lesson Package from Fred Astaire

And our Grand Prize: A Pride Reclining Lift Chair courtesy of Capabilities!

We hope you will stop by so we can say thank you in person!