Andrew's life as a prosthetic hand user

I’ve been wearing a prosthetic hand longer than I can remember, and I never felt that there was anything I couldn’t do. I’ve always found a way to make things work, that’s how it is for those of us with congenital limb difference. We are born adapting.

But when I got my i-Limb at the age of 34, everything got better.

The i-Limb’s conforming grip and different grip patterns meant that every aspect of my prosthesis use was improved in some way. It seems like small stuff, but it all adds up to a better quality of life. I’ve always been able to tie my shoes, but it turned out I’d never tied them tightly until I had the i-Limb prosthetic hand.

I’ve been an i-Limb user since 2014 and the pleasure I take in being able to prepare food without squashing it, or use my cutlery more effectively, has never left me. I can do things faster and more precisely than before, and because of how I am able to do things with both my hands, I’ve had a big reduction in residual pain in my shoulder and elbow.

In my day-to-day as an artist, centring limb difference has become very important to my work. Challenging how disabled bodies are allowed to take up space in a world made largely for ‘able bodied’ people. Drawing attention to assumptions about who and what prostheses are for.

But, if the job of a prosthesis is to reduce the extra work its user has to do to achieve daily tasks then there is no doubt that the i-Limb is the best prosthesis I have ever used.

Andrew Gannon (1980) is an artist living in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Andrew has a congenital limb difference; he was born with no lower left arm. He has been wearing a prosthetic hand since he was 18 months old and has used a myoelectric limb since the age of 4.

He received his first i-Limb in 2014, trialling it for NHS Scotland. Shortly after receiving this prosthetic hand, he began working with Research and Development at Touch Bionics, becoming an official Össur ambassador at the beginning of 2019.