Devices Offering Great Solutions (DOGS)

Dressing Aids

 

These items can help you to put on clothes independently.

 

About Dressing Aids 

 

A dressing aid is a tool that helps people who have trouble getting dressed by themselves. It can make tasks like putting on clothes, socks, or shoes easier for them. Dressing aids can be sticks with hooks or loops, or they can have special handles to help with buttons or zippers. They are especially helpful for people with physical disabilities, allowing them to dress independently and feel more comfortable.

What kinds of dressing aids are there?

Zipper Hook or Pulls

Zipper pulls can be attached to every zipper tab to make zipping easier for people with arthritis, hand weakness, difficulty gripping, etc. A zipper hook is a tool that is inserted into a zipper to allow for pulling.

Button Hook

Button hooks allow for more independent buttoning. A loop is inserted through the clothing eyelet and hooks over the button to allow it to be pulled back through the eyelet. This tool often comes with a zipper hook as well. Some tools are multipurpose, like the “pocket dresser.”

Sock Donner/Sock Aid

This tool is useful for putting socks on for someone with limited use of hands or who is unable to bend forward due to limited range of motion restrictions.

Shoe Horn

Helpful for sliding shoes on without bending.

Pants Dressing Aid

Increases independence with lower body dressing for those who have difficulty bending over and reaching.

Reacher/Grabber Tool

Allows the user to pick clothing up off the floor without bending over.

Adaptive Footwear

Companies like Billy Footwear make shoes that unzip, allowing the wearer to place their foot onto the shoe footbed unobstructed.

Adaptive Clothing

You can adapt your clothing to use magnetic closures or swap out your regular shoelaces for elastic laces. Companies like Zappo’s Adaptive also sell clothing with these modifications already made.

  

How can I find out what’s new?

Technology changes all the time. To find out about the latest options for these, you can type keywords into a search engine such as Google, Safari, Firefox, or Bing on a computer or tablet. These are the keywords for this type of item:

 

  • adaptive clothing
  • adaptive dressing tools
  • dressing aids

 

How do I find out more?

If you live in the US outside of Pennsylvania, you can find your state’s AT program.

If you live in Pennsylvania:

  • you could contact TechOWL to work with a specialist. We can meet with you and sometimes demonstrate this equipment. We can also help with different ways to get one for your own.
  • you might borrow this equipment to try out.

Are these in Pennsylvania’s AT Lending Library?

 YES