Electrical Tape

In college, I coxed for the rowing team. A coxswain steers the boat and conveys the race plan to the rowers as they compete in regattas. Also, you use this thing called a cox box. It tells you the stroke rating and other measures while the boat moves through the water.

The box connects to a headset, which falls short of a trend in the fashion department. It’s necessary as you battle wind, rushing water, and speedboat motors when you try to give directions. One box per competitive boat means that’s a lot of wires and equipment hanging around on the workbench when they are not in use.

On our team, a smart manager used different colors of electrical tape for each set. Every coxswain chose a color. It made it easy to tell who charged what from day-to-day, and grabbing things at the last minute became quicker with the colors..

What does this have to do with low vision? Well, it’s highlighting contrast. When I can’t find things around my house, it’s usually because the objects blend in with the surroundings: my black cell phone on my black table, or my white soap in the shower, or any object on my living room’s oriental carpet. Sick of losing objects I use every day and paranoid that if I leave them anywhere lower than hip level my dog will repurpose them into chewies, I sought a fix.

I found one even though it’s kinda ugly. My phone and my remote control are both black. They blend in with a lot of things around the house. I put white electrical tape on each of those bad boys, cutting down search time dramatically. It works. A no tech fix can succeed for low vision. It’s all about the contrast.

What items blend in at your house? Share your best ideas for electrical tape.

Editor’s Note: Last night, I went upstairs to grab something. My terrier had 30 seconds to dig up and start gnawing the remote from the chair cushion I hid it under. The terrier succeeded. The remote looks real good now.

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