scooter vs wheelchair

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irismarie

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Joined
Nov 21, 2009
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PALS
Diagnosis
05/2010
Country
FR
State
tarn et garonne
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valeilles
Are scooters too difficult to handle, please. What are the pros and cons vis a vis wheelchairs?
Thank you and love to all
 
No , scooters are easy to handle, but are made for outside and places that have lots of space , like shopping malls.

I have both. I do not use the scooter anymore. I will see what winter brings.

The wheelchair is a lot better indoors, it can spin around in its own space, where the scooter drives like a car requiring space to make turns.

The scooter can not be fitted like a wheelchair can , regarding comfort and function. Reclining seats , leg lifts etc.

Transfers from the scooter is harder.

My scooter is too long for my van lift. If I had a ramp instead , it would work, but I have the lift.

My scooter has baskets to go shopping with , where my chair has nothing.

Glen
 
thanks, Glen. ALl these things one has to learn!
 
Irismarie,

Glen has more experience than I with both types. I've never used a wheelchair. However, there is a big difference in mobility between 3 wheeled and 4-wheeled scooters. I have 2 with three wheels and one large one with four wheels (a Pride Legend XL) that I use almost exclusively outside for running my dog or gardening or exploring on rough trails. My medium three wheeler (Pride Sundancer) I use at work (I work in in a regular seven storey office building) and shopping mostly. It has an electric operated seat that raises and lowers and is quite useful. Tonight I was too tired to cook after work and took it to a restaurant via my rampvan. I have no difficulty navigating inside or accessing bathrooms with it but it is a bit large for home use. There I rely on a Pride Go Go scooter. It is only 39" long, 19" wide and will manoeuvre virtually anywhere. The three wheelers are tippier than the fours though and I've flipped over a few times when speeding too fast while turning sharply.

One advantage of scooters is their relatively low cost and maintenance.

I'm including a few pictures of them to give you an idea of their usefulness. Unfortunately I don't have many of the four wheeler on this computer so I'm including ones of the three wheel Sundancer that I take with me when travelling because I can carry both of the three wheelers in the van but the larger Legend is a squeeze. As a result, the attached pictures of the Sundancer are in places I would normally be using the four wheeler. For example the photo of the Sundancer on the hill - I required a push from my friend in some places to help me going up the hill. The four wheeler with its larger wheels would have scooted up without any problem. Oh yeah, I needed two people to push me through the creek you can see at the bottom of the hill and in some spots crossing the "dry" river bed.
 

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Wow! John, those photos are marvellous and give me hope. I have dogs, too, and walking in the wild with them has always been my passion and I thought that was over for ever so now I can hope.
Fantastic
 
ok, good thread.....what about those of us with limited arm/hand movement. here's my deal: i am thinking of renting a scooter for our disney trip (jan 1).....i can't believe i am even considering it but will i be able to control it with mostly one hand? i don't think i can keep the left arm outstretched the whole time. driving my van is like having no power steering and that pesky finger curl thing, well you know. my right hand works pretty well, choppy but very functional. i should probably discuss all this with my als team but i really don't want too. thanks forum friends:)
 
Palesha: I can control my little scooter with one hand. It would get tiring perhaps for Disney World though on an all day basis. Pace yourself.

For anyone with ALS considering the pros and cons of scooters vs. power wheelchair: Please DON'T let your medical insurance cover the cost of the scooter. Most medical plans will only pay for one motorized device every 5 years. You will probably need a wheelchair at some point down the road. The scooter is much less expensive on the order of $1k vs. $30k. So it's critical that you wait and have your insurance get involved with the $30k wheelchair. I got a loaner scooter from the ALS Association and you probably can too.

-Tom
 
I agree with Tom. Tammy had a scooter and was only able to use it for about 7 months. She is now in an electric wheelchair and we gave the scooter away. Please consider how quick the progression is and how long the scooter will serve the purpose. If money is no issue go for the scooter otherwise the wheelchair is the safest bet.
Mark
 
My thinking on not using my insurance on my scooter was identical to Tom's. I've been very fortunate to have slow progression so in hindsight I could have got my big scooter on insurance and still had insurance for the chair that is coming one day. In the meantime, I really enjoy my scooters and they are cheap. The first time I used one was in 2005 and I rented it for a couple of weeks while on a vacation. It gave me my life back and when I returned it to the rental shop, I put my rental fee toward the purchase of it. Still have it.

Jen by all means rent one. You won't know until you do but I think if you can drive you can probably run a scooter. It doesn't take much strength to turn it when it is moving.
 
Jen...

We just got back from Disney last week, and for obvious reasons I was paying more attention to the scooter and wheelchair observations.

Both are readily available to rent right inside the park entrances... but seems I remember reading them being first come, first serve at the park. My very layman observation was that in fairly thick crowds, the scooter folks were having problems trying to move at a "good" rate and not run into all the other people. The folks that had others push them in a manual wheelchair had an easier time dealing with crowds.
Perhaps you can try both and see which works best for you once you are there.

Some of the employees at Disney told me that from Thanksgiving to about the second week of Jan was pretty busy... with Dec 31st being the busiest day they have all year. So looks like you might be catching the tail end of a busy period.

Hope this helps.

Brian
 
thanks brian, i really am hoping to not need one at all. i walk really well, just a little choppy, but still pretty strong. but i know how many miles one can cover in a day at the parks. guess i have to approach this vacation a little differently.
 
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