A Taste of Disability

[LovesThumper]

We were in Disney last week for a short stay. The morning of the first full day my husband threw out his knee putting on his sock no less. I don't know what he did but he couldn't put any weight on it and it puffed up right away. So put him back to bed, elevated the leg, put ice on it and since he has chronic problems with that knee he did have a knee brace. Now what- we have no car, on the 3rd floor of POFQ. So being the loving wife that I am I got him some food from the food court, turned on ESPN and headed out to EPCOT. Hey I can only take so much ESPN. But I was on a fact finding mission. I checked into Guest Services, to rent an ECV-$65.00 plus a $20.. deposit.per day. I could rent a wheelchair, but then I have to get him to the bus and then to the place they rent them. But the Cast Member at the ticket gate told me to check into the front desk at the hotel and they often have wheelchairs they will loan you. So back to POFQ. As I got off the bus there was a van from a scooter company- I hailed the driver and 15 minutes later I had an ECV for $30.00 a day. Zipped up to the room and voila he was mobile. Let me tell you those things are not as easy to drive as they look. There are no brakes. You just release the lever. So be aware when you step in front of one you may be clipped. Getting on and off the bus was exciting. But all the drivers were nice. Some nicer than others, but none made us feel weird. Most people were nice but as John as stated before, it is amazing how many people just stop in the middle of the park without going to the side. I was linebacker or fullback or whatever you call those guys that goes in front of the quarterback to pave the way, so got the full treatment of quick stoppers. The following day I ordered a cane that was delivered in just a couple of hours so he could transfer more easily. So the whole time we were there was certainly different than our usual trips but was interesting. I have always tried to be aware of wheelchairs and ECV's and not cut them off, but was not aware of how difficult it can be to maneuver. Everyone I dealt with from the front desk to the company that supplied the ECV to the drugstore were wonderful. The plus side was he finally was able to keep up with me in the park and I got tired before he did. By the time we had to go to the airport he was able to get around with the cane so we made it back with no problem. But as an aside- it was really, really cold in Orlando last week. We missed the big snow storm in Connecticut, but never got out of our sweatshirts and jackets at the World. Looking for much warmer weather for the Podcast Cruise.