Finding Shoes

Finding a pair of shoes in a closet full of shoes can be very challenging for many low vision patients. All too often, a lot of time gets wasted trying to find the mate for a shoe that someone wants to wear.  

Getting things organized is one of the most important lessons we can teach our patients. Here is an organizing method that works to help find a pair of shoes. We suggest that the closet floor be divided floor into four sections using bright colored duct tape. Shoes are then divided into categories: sneakers in blue section, casual shoes in the yellow section, dress shoes in the red section and slippers in the green section. This layout is then reproduced onto a piece of paper and taped to the closet door as a reference guide. Most of our patients don’t even use the chart after a little while.

Since organization is the key, when patients remove their shoes, they must immediately put them back into the colored section they came from. This makes things much easier for patients.

Thank you to Nancy Rozen, one our occupational therapists, for this article.