Writings about Ataxia, being DeafBlind, family life. The best life can offer!


Confessions of a Deaf-Blind serial vacuumer.

Was that eye-catching title or what?

Oh, Pun alert, eye-catching and vacuuming!  Same thing! D’oh!

I love my super strong, powerful vacuum!  Cost me, heck, I’m still paying for it, an arm and a leg!  But it can surely suck up some good gook!

When we were in Toronto, I used it sporadically, occasionally, because we had hardwood floors.  Now, I used it once a week, we have Carpets!

Being Deaf-Blind, I can’t see what I am vacuuming, the bits of dust are very small you see, so I go slowly and focus in one area at a time.  I can feel things going up the hose.

But, what if something gets stuck?  Being Deaf-Blind I have vacuumed whole rooms only to find that a lot of crap is plugging the hose and I was unaware of it!  I cannot see that R2 is missing things, and I cannot hear that the machine is stopped sucking.  The machine light, and the rug power bar light is on.  It is not until I take the rug power bar off that I notice nothing is getting sucked up!  Ugh!  I gotta un-stuck it!  Luckily, R2 has a powerful reverse feature, it can blow as well as suck!  After un-stuck-ing R2, I (grumble) re-vacuum the whole room again!  Sighs!

I also have ataxia, so I am bound to trip or fall over the vacuum, which I can R2, you can guess why.

I do like to vacuum while sitting on the ground, that way I can actually see what I am vacuuming.  I don’t want to miss a thing!

R2 is a wet-dry vacuum, and I have vacuumed some weird things:

  • spiders, ants, bugs
  • food, eaten or not
  • dishwasher garbage bin
  • spilled milk and salad dressing
  • animal fur by the truckload
  • bathtub drainage hair clogs (by far the grossest)
  • and your general lego or small toys!

Vacuuming can be a lot of work, but a lot of rewards!  Clean floors, kids and sinks!

What is the weirdest thing YOU vacuumed last week?

 

Response

  1. […] about a month ago, I was happily vacuuming my house (Remember I am a Serial Vacuum user https://capos.blog/2017/11/07/confessions-of-a-deaf-blind-serial-vacuumer/) for over an hour.  I did a very thorough job, I even moved things around!   When I was almost […]

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About the author

Craig MacLean is DeafBlind with ataxia, a rare condition called CAPOS. He & his wife of 22 years have two sons, the oldest of which has CAPOS as well.

Craig uses American Sign Language to communicate. He is an avid writer, friend, Hot Wheel collector and intervenor advocate.

Craig sits on many committees, boards and associations as a DeafBlind rep. He graduated university with a BA in psychology in 2000.