Gift Ideas for People with an Upper Limb Difference

The holidays are here and it’s the gift-giving season. Do you have someone with a limb difference on your gift list? Are you someone with a limb difference who is looking for gifts for your friends with limb differences? Or are you looking to fill in your own Christmas wish list? We hope that the ideas below are helpful for anyone looking for a little present inspiration.

Books and Shows

There are quite a few books that have been written by people with an upper limb difference. The first one we recommend is by our super-star patient Jason Koger. “Handed a Greater Purpose” was just published earlier this year and recounts Jason’s accident that led to his bilateral amputation and his accomplishments since then. If you’re looking for a book for a school-aged child, check out “Different is Awesome” by Ryan Haack. For more children’s books, check out our blog article, Resources for Parents of Children with Upper Limb Differences or Limb Loss. For recent books about people with a limb difference, check out this list from Amplitude.

For upper limb prosthesis users who love to cook and entertain, one option is a gift subscription to Discovery+, starting at just $4.99 a month. Check out all six episodes of "Big Sky Kitchen," and see our friend and patient Eduardo Garcia as he cooks fresh, fab food for family and friends at his gorgeous Montana farm. His most essential kitchen tool? A body-powered prosthetic hook — no pot-holders required!

Helpful Tools and Adaptive Items

There are lots of items that can be helpful to people with a limb difference. An extra pizza cutter in the kitchen is a great idea - pizza cutters can allow someone to cut items one-handed. There are more and more clothing options for people with a limb difference — a gift certificate to someplace like Target with a mention of their adaptive clothes might be fun. There may be nothing more helpful than a few EazyHold Universal Cuffs or a big assortment of Dycem®. This tacky material can be used all over the house, in the car, even in a wallet to make life easier.

Subscriptions

Both Amplitude and inMotion are magazines focused on people with a limb difference. After Jason Koger was injured, the best gift he received, he says, was a subscription to these magazines. He found the stories from other amputees helpful as he was going through his own healing, and he still loves to read them and finds himself motivated by them. The best part? Both magazine subscriptions are free!

Charity

Donations in the name of your “giftee” are always a great option. Check out the Challenged Athletes Foundation, The Lucky Fin Project and Enhancing Skills for Life, to name a few organizations that provide financial and emotional support to people with a limb difference.

Laughs

There are a lot of t-shirts out there with puns and jokes on them for people with both upper and lower limb differences. Some of them are classier than others, but many of them can be found on sites like Zazzle and searching for the word “amputee.” Just make sure that the recipient of your gift has a sense of humor about their limb difference before taking the chance. You can see a couple options on Jason Koger below.

Do you have any gift ideas that we should add to our list? Please let us know in the comments below. If you or someone you know would like to schedule a consultation with our clinical team to learn more about prosthetic care, please contact us. Happy holidays!

For more Arm Dynamics articles, see related resources here:

• Resources for Parents of Children with Upper Limb Differences or Limb Loss
• Kitchen Tips for Upper Limb Amputees: Cutting and Chopping
• Clothing Options for People with an Upper Limb Difference
• Happy Holidays from our Arm Dynamics Centers: 2022
• Preparing for the Holidays When You Have a Prosthesis