Living with hand and upper limb conditions: Embracing Our Differences

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Learn from young people with arm and hand differences about how they do home, school, work, and leisure activities in their own way.

Key points

  • Kids and teens with arm and hand differences do activities their ‘own way’
  • Some kids may feel alone because they do things differently
  • Trying and learning to do these activities can be scary or frustrating
  • Seeing what other young people with arm and hand differences can do is inspiring, encouraging, and informative

What are hand and arm differences?

Hand and arm differences can include any conditions that affect either the shape or function of your hand or arm. You may have been born with your hand or arm difference, or it may have developed due to an injury. Having a hand or arm difference can be physically and emotionally challenging, but many young people are able to adapt and function well without any treatment.

Supporting each other to embrace your differences

Many young people with arm and hand differences use adaptive strategies and aids to help with home, school, work, and leisure activities. If you are someone with an arm or hand difference, learning how to perform these activities or using adaptive aids can sometimes feel frustrating or make you feel alone in your journey. Seeing other young people doing activities in their ‘own way’ may inspire and encourage you and others to engage fully in activities that you need to do or would like to try. The Embracing Our Differences series is a video library of young people just like you with arm and hand differences doing a variety of tasks including opening a jar, shampooing their hair, typing on a computer, and many more.

Living with hand and upper limb conditions

If you are living with a hand or arm difference, it is important to remember three important things about becoming independent:

  • You are the expert in what activities you can do and how you can do them
  • There are agents to helping you succeed, including therapists, your family, and your peers
  • You are not alone! There are many other kids just like you who are embracing their differences in their own way

Help others by creating a tutorial on how you perform daily activities on your own with adaptations because of your arm or hand difference. Watch the video below on how to create and submit a daily activity tutorial.

Living with hand and upper limb conditions: Embracing Our Differences – Video submission tutorial

 

For more information on how to submit a great video, visit Making a "How To" video (teens).

To view the entire Embracing Our Differences library, click here.

Last updated: December 20th 2021