Book Recommendation: When Walking Fails, by Lisa I. Iezzoni, M.D., M.Sc.

I read a book recently that I'd like to recommend. It's by Lisa I. Iezzoni, M.D., M.Sc. and is titled, "When Walking Fails."

In the book Iezzoni, who has MS and uses a scooter for mobility, found that mobility difficulties are not exclusively conditions of old age, and that medicare and health insurers often have coverage policies that prevent people with disabilities from obtaining assistive devices. She says that whether to start using a wheelchair or scooter is a critical decision for people who have progressive difficulty in walking, and that primary care physicians are generally poorly trained to recognize physical disabilities and to refer patients to appropriate rehabilitation specialists and assistive technology. She also says that physicians carry misconceptions about the positive role a wheelchair/scooter might play in patients' lives.

I found it a fascinating read, particularly because of all the people she interviewed who have mobility difficulties and how they are addressing their issues. Iezzoni's use of a scooter changed her life for the better, much like we've been discussing here.

This book was published in 2003, and there are many copies for sale on eBay.com right now for less than $2.

TravelScoot for those with disabilities

I received the following email from Patsy, who gave her permission for me to post it here. She has balance issues and wanted to know if I'd encountered problems with my scoot tipping.

Dear Elizabeth,

I read & follow a lot of fat-positive blogs & read all your posts with interests.
You & your friends do look as you are enjoying a lot more freedom & doing
many more things than you otherwise might & that is wonderful.

I do have a question or two. I am a smaller fat woman (around 200) with
some lifelong disability issues. I was born with cerebral palsy & now aging
(as well as the broken patella of 29 years ago, which started the fun) has
brought increasing arthritis & a good deal of chronic pain much of the time.
However, I have always been very mobile & very active & in fact have
survived three or four bouts of compulsive exercise (exercising hard for 3 to 4
hours every day for a period of three to four years at a time) & have walked,
I estimate, more than 50,000 miles in my life. I will be 60 in September &,
as you can see, I will go down fighting & try to stay as mobile as possible for
as long as possible. However, I realize that I am almost certain to become
more disabled & lose more mobility as I age & I have some days when the
pain in my right knee, calf & hamstring area (my hemiplegic CP is on the left
side of my body, so all my life my right side has done 80% of the work & it
is wearing out) can make going for a short walk or doing my errands with my son
at the laudramat & Walmart agony.

I will get to the point, I swear. Part of my cerebral palsy is that I have very
poor balance & fall over quite easily. I have never been able to ride a bike, for
instance.

My son believes that I will likely need to depend on some kind of motorized chair,
electric wheelchair, etc., as he thinks that any three-wheeled conveyance can tip
over. Do you have any problems with your scooter tipping?

Thanks for the interesting blog & the wonderful images of people living life more
fully. Also thanks for any information you can give me.

I wish you years of greater adventures with your scooter.

Sincerely,

Patsy

Patsy,

Good Morning! Your email just made my day because you really GET what I'm trying to do with my blog -- empower fat women to live their lives more fully. Thank you for recognizing that.

Much of what you said reminds me of how my mother lives her life. When faced with something that might have taken a lesser person down, she keeps going. My sister Rae likes to tell the story of when she took my mom for an oncologist visit and he asked her what was sticking up out of her walker basket. It was a hacksaw. She was close to 80 at the time and could barely walk, but if she needed to trim something in her yard, she was prepared. I wouldn't be surprised if you had you own special methods of coping.

Okay, to answer your question, I don't have any problems with my scooter tipping, but I have good balance. I talk about Rhonda on my blog a good bit. Well, the day her husband tried out my scooter (he's average height and weight) he was going really fast and when he turned a corner it started to tip on him. The great thing about the TravelScoot though is because it doesn't have a platform that your feet rest on, it's very easy to just put your foot down on the ground to stop the tipping.

I don't know of anyone else having a problem with the TravelScoot tipping, but we're all larger women with a good center of gravity. I do have one friend who is a large woman and is also tall (6'), and when she tried the TravelScoot she said she felt slightly unstable on it. She prefers a traditional mobility scooter that's a better fit for her, but that requires a large vehicle and a lift to carry it around.

If you prefer a scooter over an electric wheelchair, there are many 4-wheel scooters available that should solve the problem with tipping. What would be great is if you could try a TravelScoot, just to see if it would work for you. Are you anywhere near Baton Rouge, LA? If you are, you're welcome to try mine. Or if you're near Washington, D.C., Hardy Huber (TravelScoot inventor) is going to be at a workshop I'm giving at the NAAFA Convention on July 31st.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have, so please don't be shy about asking if there's something else you'd like to know.

Elizabeth