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Original poster

Mobility scooter vs electric wheelchair

112 replies

JustBeingJobless · 30/09/2018 10:38

I’m having to face facts - I need some wheels as I’m struggling more and more with walking and I’m finding I’m just plain avoiding going places as I can only manage a short distance, even with sticks or my rollator/trolley. I very briefly had a mobility scooter last year, but it wasn’t really up to much (didn’t like hills etc) so I sold it in disgust after getting marooned on a pine cone on holiday Grin

I’m now looking at either a better scooter, or an electric wheelchair. Wheelchair just seems so flippin” final though, if that makes sense? Scooter says I’m struggling a bit, whereas wheelchairs feels like I’ve accepted I can’t walk and I’m not sure I’m ready for that!

However, a wheelchair would, in many ways, work better as I’d like to be able to walk my dog more and they’re one handed operation as oppose to having a steering column, plus they’re smaller and more likely to be able to go in everywhere (booked to go somewhere in November that doesn’t allow scooters in, so would have to be pushed around in a hired chair by my friend and I really don’t want that!), and it would take up less floor space to store.

I also suspect that people would take me more seriously in a chair; wrong as that is. One of my friends said she sees a mobility scooter and often assumes the person is just lazy, whereas a wheelchair says more serious disability. That attitude annoyed me but she has a point I feel. However, part of me still doesn’t accept myself that I’m pretty disabled, and a wheelchair feels like an acceptance of something permanent as oppose to something that may just go away (realistically it’s not going to).

Any pros and cons of scooters vs chairs that anyone can think of? Any users of either that can help me make a decision? Many thanks :)

OP posts:
PerkingFaintly · 30/09/2018 19:15

I see your pine cone and give you the pedestrian zone's wide, shallow gutters. The bastards.

They'd be fine if I weren't using the Shopmobility powerchair with rear stabiliser wheels, but given the drive wheels are in the middle there have been... incidents...Blush

I have learned to approach gutters squintways.

florenceheadache · 30/09/2018 19:18

I would request an OT referral, and get a professional seat assessment and opinion.

PerkingFaintly · 30/09/2018 19:26

Thanks for the height info, too. I'm taller than you, so may well continue to have problems.

OT referral not going to happen. I have M.E. so get the square-root of bugger all help from anyone. Unless I want to do a nice exercise therapy to teach me it's all psychosomatic, of course, and obviously my GP wouldn't want to do anything that would encourage me in my faulty, attention-seeking belief that I'm ill.Hmm

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health
PerkingFaintly · 30/09/2018 19:39

Sorry, that was ungracious of me. Thank you florenceheadache, I really appreciate the thought.

Original poster
JustBeingJobless · 30/09/2018 19:39

PerkingFaintly I have fibro on top of degenerative disc disease and they still try to tell me it’s all in my head. I have copies of my last MRI scan that show L1-5 have herniated, T5-7 are bulging and impacting on my spinal cord, and C3-4 are bulging, yet my GP cannot seem to understand why I’m struggling to walk! They tried to refer me for CBT as apparently I seem depressed. No shit Sherlock... I’m not depressed as such, just bloody fed up with how I am!!

OP posts:
ProfessorMoody · 30/09/2018 19:59

OT are crap. They gave me an NHS manual chair that I can't use because I can't use my arms. They told me most people now have to self-fund powerchairs unless they are children and that is what PIP is for.

My PIP is used to pay my bills. I wish I could afford to use it for other things, like my actual disability.

Yes Valley, if you own your own chair, it's on you. Or, they'll tell you that's what PIP is for.

ValleyClouds · 30/09/2018 20:05

I was told to hire a gardener from "within" my PIP Moody like you it's completely used as monthly income to cover food and bills if only I was financial able to use it for disability costs alone Hmm

Original poster
JustBeingJobless · 30/09/2018 20:07

Yes I was offered a manual chair and when I asked how I was supposed to use it, I got the answer of “get somebody to push you”!

I live on my own with my 12yo ds - I don’t have anyone to push me about!! Hence looking at other, more practical, options.

OP posts:
ProfessorMoody · 30/09/2018 20:13

Same, Valley. I can't afford to eat some weeks, never mind afford a gardener. Bloody ridiculous they are.

I must say, social housing have been fantastic, moving me into adapted living, installing everything I needed etc, so that was brilliant, but everyone else has been very poor indeed.

I feel like everything I've encountered has been an uphill battle and a lot of people would have given up. It's hard enough to be disabled as it is, let alone have to fight for everything we are entitled to.

Els1e · 30/09/2018 20:30

My dad had debilitating condition. He started with a mobility wheelchair which he operated himself. Later it was converted to one that was pusher operated. No advice to offer but boringly, think of the long term. 🌼

HeAteAFatball · 01/10/2018 01:57

some places don't view scooters as a mobility aid Really? Wow. Why on earth don't they? Sounds crazy to me.

HeAteAFatball · 01/10/2018 02:01

ValleyClouds and Moody I can well understand. My PIP covers my care and not much else. Mind you, am fortunate to have that, I fought long and hard for it. I saw a thread on MN the other day suggesting someone get a taxi out of their PIP if they were having issues accessing the bus in their wheelchair. Well, where I live, my remaining PIP would not cover a single taxi journey.

HelenaDove · 01/10/2018 02:13

My DH uses a scooter A month before Christmas last year we were told to get rid of it or they would take it and either destroy it or sell it to cover the cost of taking it (depending on whether you believed the tort notice or the letter. It caused a HUGE amount of stress in the run up to Christmas when they refused to engage for a few weeks Then i kicked off on social media and DH got a shed with charger installed outside by the HA.

ValleyClouds · 01/10/2018 02:13

I must confess that the news about housing associations and charging of chairs has massively rattled my cage. I don't currently have an issue but as I may move in the next 12 months it does worry me.

HelenaDove · 01/10/2018 02:16

DH is nearly 70 and has ischemic heart disease and COPD which causes breathing problems and limits his mobility.

ValleyClouds · 01/10/2018 02:20

Add to that the fact that I don't like my current housing association anyway they are arseholes, but I think this reg has slipped their notice, as they are the type to make difficulty if they smell an opportunity which means the worst could happen this week for all I know Gin

HeAteAFatball · 01/10/2018 02:30

HelenaDove But how can it be anything BUT a disability aid when only disabled use them?!

It is quite shocking about housing associations. I would like to thgink that in the 21st century they would finally start having a clue about disability. Angry

maggienolia · 01/10/2018 08:16

Would add that if you take out a maintenance contract, check that they provide a loan chair while yours is being serviced. A client of mine has been told that he won't have a chair for three days and that he'll have to "just stay in bed".
Great for not having access to food, drinks and toilet. As well as high risk for DVTs.

ValleyClouds · 01/10/2018 12:32

Do people on this thread think it would be beneficial to have a Disabled MNetters Support Thread?

Frequently I find that Disability threads descend into horrific disablism and prejudice, whatabouttery, I'm Alright Jack and benefit bashing, I'm thinking particularly of the most recent Bus thread and before that the Third Reich thread as well as any number of horrifying threads before that including the Autistic Child at the Sauna and the one where a woman was flayed alive for being upset with another mum at an SN Support Group for referring to her own child as a spaz. (There was nothing wrong with it apparently Hmm)

I wouldn't want to outright say it wasn't for Mums with SN Kids because they often need advice from seasoned service users but the perspective is often dramatically different and more medical model than social

What do people think?

ProfessorMoody · 01/10/2018 12:51

It would be nice, for things like this.

ValleyClouds · 01/10/2018 13:07

There is a Mumsnetters with SN space but it's a bit tumbleweed and tucked away. I wonder whether to start it there or elsewhere

HelenaDove · 01/10/2018 15:41

Valley i think thats a good idea.

Original poster
JustBeingJobless · 01/10/2018 15:50

I did wonder whether this was the right place to start this thread but the SN board is so quiet and all the others seem to be aimed at children with SN.

OP posts:
ProfessorMoody · 01/10/2018 16:31

I dunno, I don't see myself as someone "with SN". I'm a disabled person. I think we do need our own area.