Have you ever found yourself staring at a group of bags gathered together and wondering ‘where on earth did I put mine?’ If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you might have experienced a feeling of panic as you noticed your black-coloured suitcase was one of 20 identical others quietly circling the luggage carousel. If you are someone living with a vision impairment, this confusion and disorientation can be an unwanted and added layer of stress while travelling.
Our Occupational Therapist, Jacinta Nuske, shares some simple tips and tricks to help you stay organised (and keep track of your bags) when travelling, attending camps or sporting activities.
Taking care of your personal belongings
- Make sure that items are named and marked in some way so that you and others can identify them. This could include tape, elastic bands or hair ties around a drink bottle.
- Pack your own bags so that you know what you have taken and where items are located in each bag. Know how many bags you have so that you can keep them together.
- Keep your belongings contained in a small area; it is far easier to keep track of everything!
- If on a camp, either separate clothing items into zipped bags into outfits for each day/activity or separated into clothing type. To tell the difference between each bag choose different fabrics (colour and texture) or put different keyrings on the zip. Have a designated dirty clothes bag that you can routinely put your clothes into as needed.
- Identifying your towel can sometimes be tricky. Sewing a square of smooth Velcro (in a contrasting colour) onto the corner of a towel can help identify by sight and touch and if wet or dry.
Identifying bags
- It is important to be able to describe your bag such as colour, type and size or a bag tag so that if someone else moves the bag, you are able to describe it to other people to help locate it.
- Tie a colour and texture contrasting ribbon onto a part of the bag or use bag tags/ key rings that are all the same so that you can easily identify your bag.
There are plenty of other ways to be organised so stay tuned! If you have any questions or comments about travel, tips and organisation skills then please email childrens.programs@visability.com.au. We’d love to hear from you!