wheeled a day in y'alls shoes

[eeyorefanatic]

while at WDW this past weeked i injured both of my feet. After struggling through agonizing pain from Friday morning to Sunday morning i hesitantly rented an ecv for my late afternoon trip to Epcot Sunday evening.

i was only going to rent one if there were several available for i would hate to think that i would take one away from someonw who really needed it but as it hurt to even sit and have my feet touching the ground i went ahead and got one (there were 8 available at the international gateway enterance.)

WOW. i have no idea how you manage. first off i would advise anyone who has a bad back not to rent one as there are no brakes so in order to stop the vehicle you have to simlply let go of the throttle causeing you to stop short and jerk HARD. i had a sore neck by the end of the day. It was amazing how rude/unobservant people are. i know it is a frequent topic on this board but i never appreciated how difficult it is to drive one of those things if you are not used to it.

On the other hand i do have to say that i was treated exceptionally nicely by all of the CMs. Everywhere i went they made it a point to come up and talk to me. I had a particularly wonderful experience in Inoventions. On the other hand we tried to watch just a little bit of Blast but they wanted to have me come down to the front park and find seats when all we wanted to do was catch a piece of it in the back and then leave. We were told we could not do that so we wound up leaving.

While i can not imagine being able to complete my trip without having rented the ecv i still feel guilty for having rented one even though i am ablebodied. But having been allowed to see the world through a different set of eyes was so enlightening i dont think i would have changed my decision. The next time you see a tall redhead decked out in Eeyore ware stopping traffic so you can get across one path without having to stopgostopgostopgo say hi

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry to hear about your injury, thanks for sharing.
If you were in pain, you were in need of an ecv, so please don't feel guilty. That's what they are there for.
As for driving one, my DD is learning to drive a powere wheelchair. it looks easy to do while you are watching, but I was surprised just how hard it is to sit in it and drive it. And I am an experienced car driver. I can see now why she is so scared driving it. If she gets excited, her arm extends forward out of her control, pushing the joystick and she's liable to run into a wall.

 

[Nanajo1]

I'm glad you had a good time. Don't for one minute feel guilty about using an ECV. The fact that you needed and used an ECV just proves what many in the disabled community have been saying all along that anyone can be in need of assistance at any time. So accommodations made for the disabled will be used by more people than some abled people think.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I agree with everyone else. DON'T FEEL GUILTY!!!!! If you need an ECV or wheelchair you need it.!

If you ever need an ECV again, rather than going to full throttle and then full off, east the lever in or out. It does take some getting used to. When I go, I rent an ECV from Walker. Unlike the Disney EVCs with only one speed, depending on how far in you push the lever, the others also have a control that can be turned from turtle to rabbit.