July is Disability Pride Month, and as your resident disabled foodie, I’m here to share some amazing tools and hacks to navigate your kitchen accessibly. Even if you’re not disabled, you can use these tips, whether it’s to help your own cooking journey or help support someone in your life.
It’s no secret that cooking can be a challenge for disabled people. Not all kitchens are built with accessibility in mind, and lots of kitchen gadgets don’t consider dexterity issues when being created. And as an autistic girl who also has chronic illnesses and Dyspraxia (both of which affect my mobility and accessibility in the kitchen), I’ve had to get creative when cooking. For instance, some of the tools I’ll be sharing weren’t made with disability in mind, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that accessibility can be found almost anywhere.
If you’re like me and have dexterity issues in your hands, then I highly recommend getting either an electric can opener or a manual one with a wide handle. I personally use a wide handled can opener so I can more easily grip and turn without difficulty, and for my arthritic baddies, an electric can opener does most of the work for you without aggravating joint pain.
Another kitchen gadget I’ve found super accessible is an airfryer. If you can’t stand for long periods of time over the stove or get easily overwhelmed while cooking, investing in an airfryer can allow you to cook tons of meals with ease. My family’s airfryer is one of my favorite things to use, and I constantly see new airfryer recipes on TikTok that I’m dying to try out. Because I get easily overstimulated in the kitchen, having a small appliance that can do it all has made cooking far less stressful and way more accessible.
Kitchen tools aren’t the only way to make cooking more accessible, though. Sometimes, doing something as simple as buying precut veggies or purchasing a meal subscription can let disabled people have an easier time in the kitchen. Precut veggies are a great option if you have mobility issues or joint pain in your hands. And meal subscription services like Hello Fresh can deliver ingredients and easy-to-make recipes right to your door.
Even with all of these tools, being able to physically be in a kitchen to cook can be a challenge. Someone close to me has had this problem, and they came up with a solution that I can’t recommend enough. My loved one used a rollator due to mobility issues, and while finding a way to sit while cooking is definitely helpful, there’s no guarantee that you can reach the counter, so when she parked her rollator in the kitchen, she made sure to have a shorter tray table alongside her so she could prep food easily. Lots of disabled people have used this method, and some have even made sure to equip their kitchens with bar stools so they can sit at the stove without issue. Cooking while disabled isn’t without challenges, but I hope these tips and tricks help fill your kitchen with fun instead of fear.