I have had trouble with my hands for over 35 years. It started with carpal tunnel syndrome and peripheral neuropathy was added on after about a decade of diabetes.

I don't feel anything except pins and needles in about six fingers, and that's something that has caused me shame in the past, but I have finally gotten over that. I refuse to feel ashamed when I take extra time to make change while other people make nasty remarks. I have finally gotten to the stage where I can realize that they are the ones who should be ashamed at themselves for grumbling at me. I wait patiently for others, let them learn some manners too.

When I go shopping, I make certain that I don't have to handle money as much as I can. Because I can't feel anything in most of my fingers I don't use coins and paper money because I just can't feel them to pick them up. They tend to fall out of my hands and it takes me forever to pick out the correct change. To combat that, I use a debit card to pay for what I can. This way I won't be tempted to charge things and I don't need to pick up paper money or coins.

When I have to use cash, I have my wallet set up before I leave the house. Each denomination bill has it's own place and each one is folded so that I can get a better grasp of one at a time. I don't bother with change smaller than a quarter. I let the merchant give me change for the quarter. I use a large purse and tell them to throw the change in that.

I take my time to pick up anything in a store, I use my mind and my eyes to make certain I have a good grasp on anything I have to lift. I might take more time and sometimes other people have to wait for me to finish. If a person waiting is rude and says anything, I just think how rude they are and give them a look. If the other person is nice and says nothing, I might tell them I have a problem with my hands and can't pick things up well. Eight out of ten times the other person will offer to help!

Before the computer, my typed letters were atrocious! I had typos and spelling mistakes galore, and I would try my best to type them well and would work on and fix each letter as well as I could, but if I fixed each letter to complete perfection it would have taken hours to do each letter and I'd get little done. I'd always apologize on every letter for my mistakes.

But now with computers, typing letters and emails are so much better! In fact, if anyone places a really poorly written email and wants me to read it, I get angry because I work hard on my emails and do my best to make them clear and readable. I use a letter writing program and use spell check to make my typed messages as proper and well done as anybody's emails. I refuse to be ashamed of my typed messages anymore and won't use my bad fingers as an excuse to post a poorly typed email. My emails might not be perfect, but they are the absolute best I can do.

You have every right to take the extra moment you need to do anything you use your hands to do, like make change or write an email, and if other people don't like it -- well, you know you are doing your best, so there's no shame in it for you at all!