Friday, April 24, 2009

Are you embarrassed to be seen on a scooter?

Tools to help you walk, like a scooter or wheelchair, are built on the most ENABLING of early technologies -- the WHEEL. Without wheels there wouldn't have been an Industrial Revolution, we'd have no trains or automobiles, no jet engines, no way to transport goods and services, and little ability to travel.

I know there are people reading this blog who are embarrassed at the thought of using a scooter. Maybe you can't walk far enough to enjoy the zoo or traverse an airport. Perhaps you don't want people looking at you, thinking you've given up or you're just lazy.

The wheels of my scooter enable me to briskly move where I would have been walking slowly and with pain, or more likely not walking at all. My wheels energize my world while saving my knees. I am more active with my TravelScoot.

It is up to us to empower ourselves without concern for what others think.

If we limit our world over what someone else MIGHT be thinking then we never go sleeveless, never put on a bathing suit, and miss out on grand things the world has to offer us -- museums, big stores, airports, visiting loves ones at the hospital, shopping for ourselves.

If you're having trouble walking but are hesitant about using wheels to enlarge your world, please put yourself out there. It gets easier every time you do it. Start with trying a scooter at Walmart, Sam's Club, or Target. (Although good luck finding one that actually works and has a charged battery at Target!) By the time you graduate to a TravelScoot you'll be so thrilled with how it changes your world that you'll be telling everyone. Just like me.

5 comments:

  1. i used to be. i'd use it in walmart or on a cruise because i didn't know anyone but i'd stay home from the club where i like to go play cards because i didn't have a way to get there because sarge had the car all the time. finally i took the scooter and never looked back. and you'd be surprised how many people ask about it! i have to carry cards to hand out for hardy! sometimes i let them ride it too. and now i am not embarrassed in the least! not any more! life is just too short...

    smiles, bee
    xoxoxoxoxooxoxxo

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  2. Bee, you're wonderful. You'll never know how many people got a scooter because they saw you on one.

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  3. I thought I would be embarrassed to use a scooter. I thought people would stare, laugh and point at the bad fattie on the scooter. But that was not the case, no one pays much attention to me at all. I was making it a bigger issue than anyone else.

    Since actually going into a couple of stores and doing my own shopping instead of depending on someone else, it was actually empowering. I feel confident now that I can be self reliant once more.

    I also no longer have to worry that I will be asked to attend meetings or training that are across campus at work. I will just scoot my butt over there.

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  4. the very first time I used a scooter it was in a big big store in Portland, Oregon, and I live in Oakland, CA. I had to go out of town to do it.

    then I moved to other big stores locally, and next I rented a scooter when I went to Las Vegas for a conference. it was marvelous to be able to get around in one of the worlds most accessible cities and everything is so big and spread out there.

    at last year's NAAFA/ASDAH conference in Los Angeles, I rented a scooter that I only used to get from place to place in the hotel, and it again was helpful, but seemed like such a big clunky thing to have to manage.

    We've come a long way, baby!


    When we get closer to the ASDAH and NAAFA conferences this year, let's make sure to have plans to meet up and show off.

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  5. I know this is an old post - but I just wanted to say how much I agree with the idea that getting out and about on a scooter is a great idea. I'm hoping that my travelscoot will be delivered in the next day or two and can't wait. Thanks for the inspirational blog.

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