a question for those in PUSH wheelchairs full time...

[maroo]

We are taking a trip in a little over a week and are bringing a teenager that uses a manual chair. She has a spinal cord injury that is pretty low - so she has good control of her arms and trunk.

She pushes herself around school and for all of her day to day activities.

Should I be worried at all about the amount of "walking" we will do at Disney and how she will cope with all that "rolling"??

Is there anything I should bring for her to make it easier? Blister medicine or anything? Do you guys have any suggestions for her?

Also...I am wondering if places around Disney rent those motion wheels? emotion or something like that? Where she would not have to use so much effort to push around the parks all day?

 

[BillSears]

As a full time wheelchair user(T6 para) I'd think she'll be fine with whatever she does currently. If she uses gloves bring them. I don't use gloves and don't bring anything extra except lotion and a nice salt/sugar scrub. Those scrubs are great at the end of the day to get the road dirt off of your hands.

WDW is fairly level compared to the real world. Every now and then there will be a hill and it might be nice if you offered assistance then. The best thing to do is tell her at the begining that you'd be happy to help anytime she wants, all she has to do is ask. Then ask every now and then when it looks like she might be having trouble.

I've been doing WDW on wheels for 34 years now. I started as a teenager and I can tell you with the teenager energy everything was a lot easier. But even now at 52 I can push my own chair around WDW all day long without any troubles.

 

[KPeveler]

Just seconding what Bill said. I do pretty well and I have upper body issues. Someone with no upper body issues should do ok.

Also, there is nowhere anywhere that rents emotion wheels - they have to be calibrated for the individual, and they cost a fortune to buy and replace. You can easily buy one or two scooters for the cost of the wheels alone! (I really want some, but there is a reason I don't have them!)

 

[brat]

I also agree with Bill and K, I went as an older teen in my manual and had less problems with rolling through WDW than the older adults traveling with us.My only thing that I brought with that friends not in chair did not bring with them was baby wipes.(to wash my hands before eating)

 

[maroo]

baby wipes and a good hand scrub! Great ideas that I had not thought of.

I am sure she carries some of that stuff...but I just need to make sure we have some!

Thank you all for your input! I am sure we will be a pretty slow group - she will probably be ready to run us over.

 

[Michigan]

I have 2 full time wheelers one is 21 and the other is 13. She should have no problem but here is something that we do at MK we get the train and take it to the first stop by Thunder Mountain so we avoid that long trip down Main Street. Also we discovered this year that there is a transfer seat on Thunder Mountain and on Test Track you can load at a level spot instead of the regular loading area and they have a booster seat that makes the transfer easier.

Cindy

 

[SueM in MN]

I have 2 full time wheelers one is 21 and the other is 13. She should have no problem but here is something that we do at MK we get the train and take it to the first stop by Thunder Mountain so we avoid that long trip down Main Street. Also we discovered this year that there is a transfer seat on Thunder Mountain and on Test Track you can load at a level spot instead of the regular loading area and they have a booster seat that makes the transfer easier.

Cindy

This is a picture of the Test Track alternate load area.

They recently added a car to Dumbo where the whole side opens

It’s kind of a long way down, as you can see in this picture with my DD’s wheelchair in the picture.

Ask for the ADA cars and the CM will direct you to a ride car with a wider door opening or other special features.