The kitchen may not be everybody’s favorite area of the house, but it is a very important space. We all need to eat. The fact is, kitchens can be intimidating to some people whether they have a disability or not. Safety and unfamiliarity often keep people out of the kitchen. For people with disabilities there can be many reasons to be cautious for personal safety using kitchen appliances and utensils, trying to follow a recipe, or work with foods out of the norm. Good news is that there are ways to ease those tensions. There are many different ways to modify cooking to make it easier such as:

• Utensils with bigger or modified handles
• Using a hot plate instead of a stove-top burner
• Cutting boards with edges and prongs to hold food in place while cutting
• Finding a good height of counter or table to prep food
• Simple recipes with photos to help show the step by step process. 

As we all have our own unique needs, it is important to use whatever makes you the most comfortable. In fact, Teen Cuisine, will focus on teaching teens from 9th to 12th grade some kitchen basics. Teen Cuisine is an upcoming program being held at disAbility Connections and beginning on June 17th until July 29th for teens to get some additional information and guided lessons revolving around the kitchen in a partnership between MSU Extension and disAbility Connections.

     

The photo's show knives with alternate handles to be easier for some that lack dexterity in their hands on top of a green dycem place mat to help hold plates/bowls in places, a cutting board with prongs and raised edges on top to assist holding food in place while cutting, while the bottom of the cutting board has suction cups to keep it still, and lastly a couple steps of a taco recipe using photos.

Resources

https://accessiblechef.com/#backtotop

http://visualrecipes.com/

https://www.caregiverproducts.com/adapted-cooking-aids.html

https://www.healthproductsforyou.com/c-meal-preparation-aids.html?pagenumber=2

https://www.independentliving.com/category/kitchen-and-cooking-aids/a

https://www.healthproductsforyou.com/c-adaptive-cutlery.html