Wheelchair vs ECV?

thedarksyde

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My gf's knee just got injured. Our trip is the 13th. Currently we are in disagreement with getting a wheelchair vs ECV.

I am for the ECV, because truthfully I don't want to push the wheelchair all day, I think I will get tired after pushing for 16 hours, and I think her arms will be tired, and will not make it all day. And I think we will have to buy gloves.

She doesn't want an ECV because she says she is afraid she will run over old ladys with her ECV because she will be bad at driving it, and afraid it will get stolen and we will not be able to take it on the train and the monorail.

We are talking about renting a third party ECV, the smaller ones.

Does anyone have tips, info, things to add, info on which is better? Will I get tired pushing? Will she get tired pushing? Are the ECV's hard to drive, and easy to run over old ladys?
 
My gf's knee just got injured. Our trip is the 13th. Currently we are in disagreement with getting a wheelchair vs ECV.

I am for the ECV, because truthfully I don't want to push the wheelchair all day, I think I will get tired after pushing for 16 hours, and I think her arms will be tired, and will not make it all day. And I think we will have to buy gloves.

She doesn't want an ECV because she says she is afraid she will run over old ladys with her ECV because she will be bad at driving it, and afraid it will get stolen and we will not be able to take it on the train and the monorail.

We are talking about renting a third party ECV, the smaller ones.

Does anyone have tips, info, things to add, info on which is better? Will I get tired pushing? Will she get tired pushing? Are the ECV's hard to drive, and easy to run over old ladys?

ECV's are very easy to drive-I'm still trying to run over my forst LOL (Li'l ol' lady). Have her go to the grocery store, Wal-mart, Sam's, etc and practice. They're bigger and slower, but she'll get the hang of it quickly.

You will definitely get tired of pushing her in a wheelchair! And unless your GF has a tremendous amount of upper body strength she won't last long wheeling herself.
 
Two things I can promis you;

- unexperienced wc users will get problems with their arms if they want to get around for a whole day
- unexperienced wc pushers will get problems with fatigue and pain when they push a whole day and long ends

Especially when using a rented wc, these things will get worse. (rented ones tend to be way heavier) My friends are used to pushing me around, and allways had sore muscles in both legs and arms after a day of shopping. All of them were in pain, as they all took their turns. That all changed big times after I had gotten a new wc that was so light to push, they fought over who could push me all day. That first chair wasn't a rented one, but the standard "lighter" Quickie chairs a lot of permanent users have. Makes you not want to try the rented one, brr.

An ecv really is easy in it's usage. She is unsure of herself, but really should give herself a chance. Give it a try a couple of times in a departmentstore for instance. She'll notice that it's like learning a new trick. It can be learned quickly and once she knows the trick, she'll be driving away like she's never done anything else. Sure, some more practice is great and needed for making small turns while backing up etc. but she'll be fine.

It will fit if she rents onsite, however than she wouldn't be allowed to take it out the park. Most of us her recommend renting off-site. From what I've read there are some types that are easier to use when using the buss, monorail etc. than others, but I'm sure the others can comment on that. WDW is a very accessible place. Have a look round at this part of the board, and you'll see a lot of ecv users and they all have to go to and from the resort and do fine with little or no help. Have you read the disABILITIE-FAQ yet? There is great info on there about this.

Also some points for her to think about;

- an ecv will make her more independent. What if she wants to do something without you or vice versa?
- and ecv means you can walk next to eachother, instead of in a line. That talks so much easier!
- on an ecv she'll sit a bit higher. It might seem small in normall day life, but in a crowded park, you'll love every inch you're higher up than butt-level. And again; it's a nicer thing when communicating with you or others to be at eye-level as much as possible.
- the ecv will protect her knee. People somehow can totally miss a wheelchair being right in front of them. At WDW that will be worse with people begin pro-occupied with all the disney things. Big change of someone bumping into her knee, multiple times a day. If she's in a line and the person in front of her steps back; again her knee would get hit in a wc. The ecv will protect her quite well for this with the wheel etc. being in front of her knee.
 
Thank you, I think today we are going to costco, so we will try it out there if they have one.
 

Two things I can promis you;

- unexperienced wc users will get problems with their arms if they want to get around for a whole day
- unexperienced wc pushers will get problems with fatigue and pain when they push a whole day and long ends

Especially when using a rented wc, these things will get worse. (rented ones tend to be way heavier) My friends are used to pushing me around, and allways had sore muscles in both legs and arms after a day of shopping. All of them were in pain, as they all took their turns. That all changed big times after I had gotten a new wc that was so light to push, they fought over who could push me all day. That first chair wasn't a rented one, but the standard "lighter" Quickie chairs a lot of permanent users have. Makes you not want to try the rented one, brr.

An ecv really is easy in it's usage. She is unsure of herself, but really should give herself a chance. Give it a try a couple of times in a departmentstore for instance. She'll notice that it's like learning a new trick. It can be learned quickly and once she knows the trick, she'll be driving away like she's never done anything else. Sure, some more practice is great and needed for making small turns while backing up etc. but she'll be fine.

It will fit if she rents onsite, however than she wouldn't be allowed to take it out the park. Most of us her recommend renting off-site. From what I've read there are some types that are easier to use when using the buss, monorail etc. than others, but I'm sure the others can comment on that. WDW is a very accessible place. Have a look round at this part of the board, and you'll see a lot of ecv users and they all have to go to and from the resort and do fine with little or no help. Have you read the disABILITIE-FAQ yet? There is great info on there about this.

Also some points for her to think about;

- an ecv will make her more independent. What if she wants to do something without you or vice versa?
- and ecv means you can walk next to eachother, instead of in a line. That talks so much easier!
- on an ecv she'll sit a bit higher. It might seem small in normall day life, but in a crowded park, you'll love every inch you're higher up than butt-level. And again; it's a nicer thing when communicating with you or others to be at eye-level as much as possible.
- the ecv will protect her knee. People somehow can totally miss a wheelchair being right in front of them. At WDW that will be worse with people begin pro-occupied with all the disney things. Big change of someone bumping into her knee, multiple times a day. If she's in a line and the person in front of her steps back; again her knee would get hit in a wc. The ecv will protect her quite well for this with the wheel etc. being in front of her knee.



Amazing post, thank you very much, I think you just sold her, especially with your last point about protecting her knee! It was a very helpful post, and my back and arms are thanking you for it.
 
I notice that you are going to be at Disneyland not WDW. Just wanted to mention that most of the information is the disABILITIES FAQs thread is specific to WDW.
We don't have any links to off-site rental places in California, although I do know that some of the places listed are national. The information about the GAC (Guest Assistance Card) is pretty much the same. Disneyland is an older park and is less accessible than WDW.
When she gets the ECV, have her drive it around a bit to get comfortable before venturing out in crowded areas. If she can confidently drive straight ahead, turn right and left, and back straight, she should be fine.
 
On another boards I have seen recommndations for Century Medical www.centmed.com which is a full-service medical supply that also does rentals and also www.scootaround.com which is a nationwide ECV rental company.

Disney does have a rental location that is between the gates of DL and DCA but their quanities of ECVs are very limited. I was there about a year ago and had one day when a planned business meeting fell through and get to the park around noon and not only were they out of ECVs, but I would have been #13 on the waiting list, not a good sign.

About two years I had gone to DL for five days and was renting offsite and had done a lot of research. For some reasons I had done a lot of research and went with Alan's but they had to replace one ECV and then later give me new batteries for the replacement. After I posted this information on a different board several other people chimed in where that had problems also with Alan's.

So for DL I would reccoment either Century or Scootaround.
 
On another boards I have seen recommndations for Century Medical www.centmed.com which is a full-service medical supply that also does rentals and also www.scootaround.com which is a nationwide ECV rental company.

Disney does have a rental location that is between the gates of DL and DCA but their quanities of ECVs are very limited. I was there about a year ago and had one day when a planned business meeting fell through and get to the park around noon and not only were they out of ECVs, but I would have been #13 on the waiting list, not a good sign.

About two years I had gone to DL for five days and was renting offsite and had done a lot of research. For some reasons I had done a lot of research and went with Alan's but they had to replace one ECV and then later give me new batteries for the replacement. After I posted this information on a different board several other people chimed in where that had problems also with Alan's.

So for DL I would reccoment either Century or Scootaround.

I got a quote from scootaround, and its was 1500 dollars, I don't know if it was a typo or not, but I am going to go with century, thanks, I am calling them today.
 
It was probably a typo. I have used scootaround for cruises and it was around 30-40 a day (depending on where the cruise left from.)
 





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