tigger&tigerlover
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2003
I would hope that everyone that hates the number of scooters or that doesn't understand that you can look normal and need the mobility assistance, gets enlightened before they have to need one for themselves or their families. Because I expect most people will need some type of mobility assistance as they age.
I also suspect there to be an increasing number of scooters everywhere, not just Disney. For one, the baby boomers are reaching the age where their bodies are starting to break down. Thanks to all of the development in medicine the elderly are living much longer than they did decades ago. I've also held the belief that since there's better and safer cars on the roads now, people can survive car crashes that they never would before. Unfortunately, many of those same car crashes often cause long-term health issues like a bad back, etc. I know a lot of people, myself included, that were in a wreck that would have been fatal, but now just have physical problems.
As to the comparison with the person walking with a bad ankle - you can't judge everyone based on the "if she can, you can" mentality. Everyone is different. She could have just come out briefly. She could have a scooter that she parked and walked when she needed to stretch (no, we don't *have* to stay in the scooter 24/7. A lot of people might walk around, in and out of shops or restaurants, but not several miles in one day). She might have asked for a wheelchair immediately after you saw her.
It's the judgemental, bitter, and/or resentful attitude towards people in scooters of why I fought against the necessity of renting a scooter. I'm not overweight and I look young enough that I'd get the dirty looks. I *look* healthy. I also was in a car wreck that took me from able to walk several miles through a park to not being able to walk more than 1/4 mile without extreme pain.
So, please consider that not everyone is the same. We all have our reasons and I hope you can understand that. Trust me, we don't like looking at people's butts all day, while being in a state of hyper-awareness so that we could (attempt) to stop when someone able-bodied runs in front of us and stops.
I also suspect there to be an increasing number of scooters everywhere, not just Disney. For one, the baby boomers are reaching the age where their bodies are starting to break down. Thanks to all of the development in medicine the elderly are living much longer than they did decades ago. I've also held the belief that since there's better and safer cars on the roads now, people can survive car crashes that they never would before. Unfortunately, many of those same car crashes often cause long-term health issues like a bad back, etc. I know a lot of people, myself included, that were in a wreck that would have been fatal, but now just have physical problems.
As to the comparison with the person walking with a bad ankle - you can't judge everyone based on the "if she can, you can" mentality. Everyone is different. She could have just come out briefly. She could have a scooter that she parked and walked when she needed to stretch (no, we don't *have* to stay in the scooter 24/7. A lot of people might walk around, in and out of shops or restaurants, but not several miles in one day). She might have asked for a wheelchair immediately after you saw her.
It's the judgemental, bitter, and/or resentful attitude towards people in scooters of why I fought against the necessity of renting a scooter. I'm not overweight and I look young enough that I'd get the dirty looks. I *look* healthy. I also was in a car wreck that took me from able to walk several miles through a park to not being able to walk more than 1/4 mile without extreme pain.
So, please consider that not everyone is the same. We all have our reasons and I hope you can understand that. Trust me, we don't like looking at people's butts all day, while being in a state of hyper-awareness so that we could (attempt) to stop when someone able-bodied runs in front of us and stops.