Renting a wheelchair from outside the parks for an Aspie?

[disneymom2one]

Hi!

We are frequent Disney visitors with about 30 trips so far. Our 12 year has Asperger's/HFA (she's really both in a lot of ways but is officially diagnosed with A.S). We've had great success for years with a MacLaren special needs stroller but as a 6th grader now, she just doesn't want to use it or be seen in it. We actually live in Florida and many of her school friends will be at WDW at the same time we will (a later spring break). We also have plans with her best friend's family for some of the week. I get the peer issues and support her fully. Being 12 is just not always easy.

That doesn't take away from the fact that she needs some assistance. She has extremely low muscle tone and also likes the "safety" of her stroller.

So we've decided to look into renting a wheelchair, probably from Care Medical. For some reason, she's okay with being seen in a wheelchair. The reason why we're not just renting in the parks is that her toughest times are often waiting for busses or waiting to get into a park. We've always had great success with a GAC inside the park and plan to continue wirh that plan. I undertand all the caveats about it not being a front of the line thing but when we need it (and we use emh and fast passes most of the time), we have it. We tend to use the GAC once or twice a day.

My question is about the portability. Obviously, we'll want to fold the wheelchair up to get on busses (we'll be at Pop this time). Is that relatively easy? Anyone have experience? She would most definitely not want to sit in the chair for the ride.

Thanks for any help.

 

[SueM in MN]

We've always had great success with a GAC inside the park and plan to continue wirh that plan. I undertand all the caveats about it not being a front of the line thing but when we need it (and we use emh and fast passes most of the time), we have it. We tend to use the GAC once or twice a day.

That's a good plan. Using EMH and Fastpasses give you more predictability/ability to plan than using the GAC.
You might also want to think about whether you need the wheelchair in line or not. That may be a line-by-line decision based on how busy it is. You can easily park it in an area of the park and then move it when you leave that area or you could park it with stroller parking for that area.
The reason I mention possibly leaving it in some places is that , although you would be able to bring a wheelchair into any line all the way to boarding, sometimes having a wheelchair means extra wait time.

My question is about the portability. Obviously, we'll want to fold the wheelchair up to get on busses (we'll be at Pop this time). Is that relatively easy? Anyone have experience? She would most definitely not want to sit in the chair for the ride.

Thanks for any help.

You can do that. You still will want to board the bus at the exit (the way that wheelchairs are boarded) so that you don't have to carry it thru the whole bus. Just tell the bus driver that you want to fold it.
There is a bus FAQs section in the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of the board that goes into more detail about using buses with wheelchairs.

 

[LauraVV]

Hi!

We've had great success for years with a MacLaren special needs stroller but as a 6th grader now, she just doesn't want to use it or be seen in it.

That doesn't take away from the fact that she needs some assistance. She has extremely low muscle tone and also likes the "safety" of her stroller.

Our daughter, who will be ten tomorrow (sniff, sniff) uses a Convaid Cruiser. When she was younger we called it a stroller but now that's just too babyish a word. We now call it her chair. It's like an umbrella stroller on steroids but it has foot rests like a regular w/c. It can't be self propelled but is very easy to fold up. It's nice because she can get in and out of it as needed. It has extra support which helps with low tone in her upper body. She's had it for five years and still has plenty of growing room. It's also transport ready.

I really love this chair for someone who does not self propel but who is at least partially ambulatory.