Wheelchair for a child?

[katy32]

My son is 6 and will be 7 when we go to Disney world, he is too tall to comfortably fit into a stroller but due to a vascular condition in his legs he won't be able to walk around the parks comfortably. On a regular day at home he is typically ok so we don't have a wheel chair for him, though the school he goes to does have one he can use while he is there. I've seen where I could rent a wheelchair for an 80+ pound person but is there anywhere to rent one for a small child? He is 51 pounds, I honestly don't know much about wheel chairs and maybe he will be fine in the chairs I could rent, but I was hoping someone with some more knowledge would be able to help.

This is a very recent diagnosis and I'm still trying to learn about managing his care. We planned this trip over a year ago before we ever knew about this condition, at that time I had simply planned on him walking the parks, but at the moment I don't feel confident that he could manage to do so.

Thank you in advance for your advice and opinions.

 

[SueM in MN]

My son is 6 and will be 7 when we go to Disney world, he is too tall to comfortably fit into a stroller but due to a vascular condition in his legs he won't be able to walk around the parks comfortably. On a regular day at home he is typically ok so we don't have a wheel chair for him, though the school he goes to does have one he can use while he is there. I've seen where I could rent a wheelchair for an 80+ pound person but is there anywhere to rent one for a small child? He is 51 pounds, I honestly don't know much about wheel chairs and maybe he will be fine in the chairs I could rent, but I was hoping someone with some more knowledge would be able to help.

This is a very recent diagnosis and I'm still trying to learn about managing his care. We planned this trip over a year ago before we ever knew about this condition, at that time I had simply planned on him walking the parks, but at the moment I don't feel confident that he could manage to do so.

Thank you in advance for your advice and opinions.

The adult chairs are really too big for a child - especially a 6 or 7 year old. They are 18-20 inch wide seats and the same depth, so leave legs dangling.
The child or small adult chairs are usually 16 inches wide. By comparison, my 5 foot tall 85 pound daughter's wheelchair seat is 14 inches wide.

Even though they are not on the website, I have seen child size wheelchair for small children that were rented from this company:
http://www.km-rentals.com

There are a couple of other companies that are well known for renting adult wheelchairs and ECVs, but they are full service medical companies and may rent equipment for children:
Care Medical

Walker Medical
(Links the their websites are in post 2 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread.)

It is also possible to rent special needs strollers, meant for older children - you can find more information about those in post 2 of the FAQs too. Since he has been using a wheelchair at school, he may feel more comfortable using a wheelchair than a stroller.

You may also want to check into places near your home. You may be able to rent a small size child's chair from a rental company near you or even get one loaned to you. If he is going to any kind of pediatric specialty clinic or seeing OT, PT or an orthopedist, they should be able to help you with some resources.

If you bring one from home, you can fly with it for free. Wheelchairs do not count toward the baggage allowance and you can gate check a wheelchair ( or sometimes bring it into the plane's seating area, depending on the size of the wheelchair, how it folds and what storage is available on that plane.

 

[katy32]

The adult chairs are really too big for a child - especially a 6 or 7 year old. They are 18-20 inch wide seats and the same depth, so leave legs dangling.
The child or small adult chairs are usually 16 inches wide. By comparison, my 5 foot tall 85 pound daughter's wheelchair seat is 14 inches wide.

Even though they are not on the website, I have seen child size wheelchair for small children that were rented from this company:


There are a couple of other companies that are well known for renting adult wheelchairs and ECVs, but they are full service medical companies and may rent equipment for children:
Care Medical

Walker Medical
(Links the their websites are in post 2 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread.)

It is also possible to rent special needs strollers, meant for older children - you can find more information about those in post 2 of the FAQs too. Since he has been using a wheelchair at school, he may feel more comfortable using a wheelchair than a stroller.

You may also want to check into places near your home. You may be able to rent a small size child's chair from a rental company near you or even get one loaned to you. If he is going to any kind of pediatric specialty clinic or seeing OT, PT or an orthopedist, they should be able to help you with some resources.

If you bring one from home, you can fly with it for free. Wheelchairs do not count toward the baggage allowance and you can gate check a wheelchair ( or sometimes bring it into the plane's seating area, depending on the size of the wheelchair, how it folds and what storage is available on that plane.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. While I'm excited to go to disney I'm feeling beyond overwhelmed with this diagnosis and our upcoming trip. You were so helpful.

 

[lmb80129]

You may also want to check with your pediatrician, specialist or OT to see if your medical insurance might pay for a wheelchair. My son does not use a wheelchair at home or school but our medical insurance paid for a convaid push chair for him to use on trips that involve a lot of walking. We went through our local Children's Hospital which has a fitting clinic for wheelchairs/push chairs. It was surprisingly easy after I found the wheelchair fit clinic. Good luck!

 

[ny3boys]

we rented a larger stroller for my 6 year old in November. He doesn't use one at home but needed one at the parks due to a medical condition also. It depends on how tall your son is. My 6yo was 45 inches tall and 40lbs and he fit into the Baby Jogger Citi Mini GT just fine. We saw many older kids in strollers at disney and he didn't find it embarrassing at all- and he hasn't used a stroller at home in years. It was so easy to fold up for the bus too. In fact- my 8 and 9 year olds kept jumping in it if they could. They were a tad too big for it- but they are 52-54" tall and 60lbs. They did have a larger model also, but with my sons size the GT model worked out great.

 

[buffettgirl]

My son is 6 and will be 7 when we go to Disney world, he is too tall to comfortably fit into a stroller but due to a vascular condition in his legs he won't be able to walk around the parks comfortably. On a regular day at home he is typically ok so we don't have a wheel chair for him, though the school he goes to does have one he can use while he is there. I've seen where I could rent a wheelchair for an 80+ pound person but is there anywhere to rent one for a small child? He is 51 pounds, I honestly don't know much about wheel chairs and maybe he will be fine in the chairs I could rent, but I was hoping someone with some more knowledge would be able to help.

This is a very recent diagnosis and I'm still trying to learn about managing his care. We planned this trip over a year ago before we ever knew about this condition, at that time I had simply planned on him walking the parks, but at the moment I don't feel confident that he could manage to do so.

Thank you in advance for your advice and opinions.

Katy, I had some similar questions about my son last year and I got good advice on how to handle the "maybe" issue of wheel chairs. Maybe it will be helpful to you.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2969651

 

[Mrsjvb]

I've seen where I could rent a wheelchair for an 80+ pound person but is there anywhere to rent one for a small child.

off site, get a pediatric chair. he will not be comfortable in the ones at the parks.

 

[joanchris]

If you end up with a more stroller type chair be sure to get a stroller as wheelchair tag at Guest services so it will be allowed places where strollers are not normally.