Rent wheel chair or bring companion chair?

[j_rgonz]

I need some advise... Here is our situation: we are leaving in a few weeks for and land/sea trip with my parents, my family, and my sister. My mother has a lung problem and can't walk long and sometimes has a hard time even talking. She normally doesn't use a wheelchair however she does qualify and use handicap parking when needed. Here is my main question: a friend has offered to lend her a companion chair which apparently will need someone to push her at all times. Another friend has told her not to bring the companion chair, but to rent a wheel chair at the parks. My concerns on that are not having a wheel chair to use at the Dolphin, DTD, airport, cruise, etc. Plus why pay when we can use one for free? My father is concerned that if we bring our own chair it will not be allowed on the Disney Cruise. Which I can't get out of his head! Can anyone expereinced offer advise on this situation? Also, being our first trip with a physically challenged person, what other tips can you give us? I asked my parents to rent an EVC, since I feel my huband will do the majority of the pushing over the 4 days at the parks and it may be too much for him.

I have learned so much on these boards and my family will apprecaite and advise and tips you can give us!
Thanks,
Jeanne

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi Jeanne and welcome to disABILTIES!

I would suggest doing both. Bring the companion chair along on the cruise. Yes, someone will have to push it, but it will be there if it is needed. Otherwise it can just stay folded up in a corner of the room. It can also be used at the airport and "gate Checked", where it will be tagged and taken from you at the bottom of the ramp when boarding and returned to you when you get off the plane (first on, last off).

For the time at the park I would suggest renting an ECV from one of the off-site companies. If you click on where it says "disABILTIES" at the top of this page it will take you to the Index. The second item down is the "disABILTIES FAQ" which will gives lots of useful information, including where people rent ECVs from off-site.

Also if you will have a rental car be sure to bring her handicap hang tag along with you.

 

[SueM in MN]

For anyone who doesn't know, a transport chair has 4 small wheels instead of 2 small wheels on the front and 2 large wheels on the back.

An advantage to a transport chair is that they are usually fairly easy to fold and transport in a car trunk. They usually fold smaller than a traditional whelchair.
A disadvantage is that the small wheels on the back prevent the person using it from pushing the wheelchair themselves. I would say in your mother's situation, this disadvantage probably won't make much of a difference since you have written:

My mother has a lung problem and can't walk long and sometimes has a hard time even talking. She normally doesn't use a wheelchair however she does qualify and use handicap parking when needed.

My best educated guess is that she would not have the strength or stamina to wheel herslf around in any case. My DD drives her manual wheelchair around our house, but doesn't have the stamina for a WDW trip (or even a trip to Target). For trips outside the house, we either push her manual wheelchair or she takes her power wheelchair.

So, I think it makes the most sense to take the transport chair. You would have it for the entire trip, inlcuding the airport, which can involve a lot of walking. As, Cheshire Figment noted, if she doesn't want to use it on the cruise, the transport chair would be fairly small to fold up in a corner.

For the parks, if she wants to be more independent, you could rent an ECV for her to use.

 

[j_rgonz]

THanks for the info so far. Can you just verify, so I can show my father in writting... will we be allowed to bring our own chair on the cruise?

How hard are the ECV to use? My mother has never used one and I think she would be afraid.
Jeanne

 

[Cheshire Figment]

THanks for the info so far. Can you just verify, so I can show my father in writting... will we be allowed to bring our own chair on the cruise?

There is nothing directly in writing from Disney. However, they must make accomodation available under the ADA and one of these is to allow a person to use their own legal mobility device. There are lots of people who use DisBoards who have taken their own wheelchairs and/or ECVs on the ships.

How hard are the ECV to use? My mother has never used one and I think she would be afraid.

You might want to take her to a large grocery or general store (such as a WalMart) which has ECVs available for use within the store. Just be aware that the ones in the stores are much larger than the rentals and nowhere as easy to maneuver. If she can use a store ECV, with its basket, without crashing she would have no problem in the parks with a rental.

 

[SueM in MN]

There is nothing directly in writing from Disney. However, they must make accomodation available under the ADA and one of these is to allow a person to use their own legal mobility device. There are lots of people who use DisBoards who have taken their own wheelchairs and/or ECVs on the ships.

On my home computer, I think I have a Disney web site that does have it in writing.
But, as Cheshire Figment pointed out, bringing your own wheelchair is a common accomidation and lots of DIS posters have brought their wheelchairs on cruises.

If she can use a store ECV, with its basket, without crashing she would have no problem in the parks with a rental.

And, if you rent from one of the off-site medical equipment rental places (listed in the disABILITIES FAQs thread), those are smaller and easier to manouver than the ones you can rent in the parks.

 

[videogal1]

THanks for the info so far. Can you just verify, so I can show my father in writting... will we be allowed to bring our own chair on the cruise?


Jeanne

What on earth is he thinking? What's DCL gonna do, stack the wheelchairs/scooters at the port and force the mobility challenged to crawl around the ship?

After he pushes a manual chair around the ship a few times he's gonna wish she had rented a scooter or power chair. The carpet pile and the seams between ship floor sections, plus elevator entrances and doorways to the decks are significant to HUGE problems for manual chair/pushers and even worse with a companion chair...

Time to rethink this for the comfort of ALL the members of the group....Mickey would want it...

 

[Chuck S]

Here is a link to the Disney Cruise line page for guests with disabilities. There is a phone number listed for questions.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/onboard/more/detail?name=GuestWithDisabilitiesDetailPage

Videogal does make a good point about the companion small wheeled type chair on thick carpet, especially if the passenger is of a larger size.

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

I noticed that you said your mother had problems talking sometimes. I have a very soft voice because of lung problems and a trach. I have found my mike/voice amplifier makes a huge improvement in my ability to be heard and understood. http://www.chattervox.com/ is the product I got. The battery easily lasts all day. Just a suggestion to improve talking

Christamae

 

[j_rgonz]

Thanks for all the tips. I will show my parents so they can see all your sugestions, too.