Scooters

[loveofamouse]

Maybe, just MAYBE you can open your mind to this question ... which came first, the obesity or the physical ailment?

I'm a therapist, I work with people who've been in catastrophic accidents. As fragile as our bodies are, it's amazing how resilient they are also, but more importantl;y, how resilient the human spirit is in many individuals.

Imagine someone who had multiple orthopedic injuries, spent months and months as an inpatient at a rehab hospital, and then months or years doing outpatient therapies.

As hard as some of them work ... well, as the nursery rhyme goes, All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. Some injuries persist.

Thing is, with your keen eye, you won't know it by looking at them. You can't see a lower back injury that acts up only after hours on the feet or after intense exercise. You can't see a knee that gives out after 500 yards of walking. You can't see a hip or an ankle problem, either. You also can't see a brain injury, which causes physical loss of function and/or pain not because of an injury to a limb or joint but rather due to an injury to the part of the brain that controls those body parts. These are injuries that don't cause a problem when one walks what we call "normal household distances" but will cause intense pain and/or loss of function after varying amounts of exercise/exertion.

Injuries like this can make normal maintenance aerobic exercise difficult or impossible. Sad, but true. Inability to exercise + possibly depression from not being able to work and/or undergoing huge life changes = high likelihood of weight gain.

Every week, I see good people, people of character, people with a fighting spirit that you and I probably don't have within us ... but they've gained a lot of weight due to this combination of circumstances that was started by a drunk driver or a fall at work (I treat LOTS of construction workers).

Surely this isn't everyone using an ECV, but to see you disgustingly disrespect them and call them "fatties" ... be very proud of yourself, and hope that you never sustain a catastrophic injury and spend years rehabbing from it, only to have some yahoo call you names.

:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

 

[Phonedave]

I agree on being over PC, but, on the flip side, some have no sense of tact or decency. I wrote a blog about this. I have no problems answering questions about my son. If you want to know how does his chair work? I'll tell you. If you are curious why a walking child uses a chair, I'll answer happily. Many parents of SN kids feel this way as we want the world to accept our kids and the only way that's going to happen is with education. But, some just don't have tact or common sense. That's where being PC comes from. There have been times that GS have asked why did my son need alt. entrance. I told them he's autistic and can't handle the closeness and crowds and has slightly delayed comprehension so may not understand why we are in a ride for a line but not getting on a ride. He's almost 6 but truly grasp that concept(and others) as a 2yr old would. They say ok and we're done.

Alot of these problems could be solved with better personnel training, honestly. Teach your people how to talk to guests and how to question the right people. Show CMs how to catch liars lol.

There you said it too - common sense.

I took my (now ex) in-laws to WDW once. My ex-mother-in-law has about half a kneecap (she fell on it and shattered it, then after surgery she developed a bone infection - not pretty). She can walk around the house, do some grocery shopping, things like that. But walking in WDW was going to be too much, so we rented a wheelchair.

Now she had no medical papers, no need for a wheelchair outside of WDW, and from all outward appearences looked "normal". At times, like in some shops, she would get up and walk around to look at stuff.

I see nothing wrong with a CM at the gate asking what her handicap was (nobody did, but I would have seen nothing wrong with it) and us giving a short explination (like I just did above). But demanding she stand up, or perform some other physical test is a bit much.


-dave

 

[joannecasey]

Maybe, just MAYBE you can open your mind to this question ... which came first, the obesity or the physical ailment?

I'm a therapist, I work with people who've been in catastrophic accidents. As fragile as our bodies are, it's amazing how resilient they are also, but more importantl;y, how resilient the human spirit is in many individuals.

Imagine someone who had multiple orthopedic injuries, spent months and months as an inpatient at a rehab hospital, and then months or years doing outpatient therapies.

As hard as some of them work ... well, as the nursery rhyme goes, All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. Some injuries persist.

Thing is, with your keen eye, you won't know it by looking at them. You can't see a lower back injury that acts up only after hours on the feet or after intense exercise. You can't see a knee that gives out after 500 yards of walking. You can't see a hip or an ankle problem, either. You also can't see a brain injury, which causes physical loss of function and/or pain not because of an injury to a limb or joint but rather due to an injury to the part of the brain that controls those body parts. These are injuries that don't cause a problem when one walks what we call "normal household distances" but will cause intense pain and/or loss of function after varying amounts of exercise/exertion.

Injuries like this can make normal maintenance aerobic exercise difficult or impossible. Sad, but true. Inability to exercise + possibly depression from not being able to work and/or undergoing huge life changes = high likelihood of weight gain.

Every week, I see good people, people of character, people with a fighting spirit that you and I probably don't have within us ... but they've gained a lot of weight due to this combination of circumstances that was started by a drunk driver or a fall at work (I treat LOTS of construction workers).

Surely this isn't everyone using an ECV, but to see you disgustingly disrespect them and call them "fatties" ... be very proud of yourself, and hope that you never sustain a catastrophic injury and spend years rehabbing from it, only to have some yahoo call you names.

Very well said !! :sohappy:

 

[The Mom]

It is impossible to ascertain exactly why someone is using a scooter just by a casual observation, as tempting as that may be.

So just tell yourself that you are grateful that you are not using one, regardless of why the other person may be doing so - even if it is through laziness or in an attempt to cheat the system. Know that if it is the former, you are better than that, and have compassion and tolerance (and some patience) for those who have a real need to use one.