power chair or manual chair

[DisneyMama63]

I am having a hard time deciding on whether to bring my DD 5's maunal chair(Invacare Orbit Tilt-inspace chair) or her powerchair(Invacare Tiger Tilt in space chair). She is a pretty good driver,but does have stamina issues.
Caitlyn

 

[TCPluto]

Definatley the manual chair for the parks. Not because of the stamina, but because of the crowds. It's much easier and less stressful to push than to have your daughter try and navigate the crowds.

Your daughter will spend so much time waiting for people to give her a path.... and they won't. Many of the people are just unaware, and then there is a great proportion who are just inconsiderate. They'll dive, jump, run, and cut in front of your daughter so much that simply navigating the park will drain her.

While waiting for a parade, we've even had kids and adults stand in front of our daughter, when we're in the front and have waited for the parade for a length of time. It's like they see someone disabled and they'll just take advantage. But that's when I intervene.... Cast members as well have been great with those with disabilities, seeing that they get the most out of their park experience.

Definately manual chair at the parks, from our experience anyway.

 

[loadsapixiedust]

We had the same dilemma with DS. He also has stamina issues when he's driving and we were travelling from the UK so the journey with a powerchair was a consideration.

We opted for the manual and so glad we did. It freed up his attention to be on what was around him and not just on the immediate problems of navigating in a crowd. I believe he saw so much more of WDW than he would have from his powerchair and wasn't nearly so tired out as he would have been as a driver. I think that would have been more like a vacation to him and our progress around the parks was probably much quicker with me pushing than him driving.

It also meant he didn't have any problems with rides where you need to transfer from an ECV or powerchair or with travelling on some of the boats where there was a small step to the deck. We also didn't have to consider charging the battery.

Go with the manual would be my advice.

 

[SueM in MN]

We still have not been brave enough to bring DD's power wheelchair to WDW. She is a good driver, but after an hour of shopping in a busy store, she is tired. It takes a lot of concentration to manouver a power wheelchair in an unfamiliar environment with crowds of people who are also excited and not looking where they are going. I don't kow about your DD, but mine expects me to drive her chair when she is tired. Her power wheelchair is too heavy for me to put in free-wheeling and push, and standing next to her and driving is really a pain in a crowd (literally a pain; my back gets sore from the position and I have been known to run over my own foot from time to time).

For a 5 year old with with stamina issues driving, I would suggest sticking to the manual wheelchair. We are considering the option of bringing both DD's manual and power wheelchair on our next trip because we can use the same seating system for both (we may chicken out). That would give us some options, but I'm still not sure we would take the power wheelchair to the parks. Since you have 2 very different wheelchairs, that doesn't sound like an option for you.

 

[Lillypug]

My ds 6 has a power and a manual chair and we are bringing only his manual chair for all of the same reasons as the above posters. This will be his first trip and our first in 10 years.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

If you are flying to WDW, bringing a manual means one less thing to break down on vacation.

OT: Sue - why don't you have a second controller on the back of your daughter's power chair?

Andrew

 

[SueM in MN]

If you are flying to WDW, bringing a manual means one less thing to break down on vacation.

OT: Sue - why don't you have a second controller on the back of your daughter's power chair?

Andrew

We actually looked into getting one of those when she first got that wheelchair, but insurance wouldn't pay for it and it was kind of price-y.
Her power wheelchair is 5 years old now (and parts are falling apart), so we will be looking into a new one soon and will be more inclined to push for a second controller.

 

[GroovyWheeler]

I've always brought my manual wheelchair to Disney World, and while it gave me a break from having to worry about driving in crowds, I'm hoping that next chance I'll get to go, I'll talk to my DME dealer about loaning me a folding power chair, with my seating system from my own power chair, in it. We've never traveled with my own power chair outside of the state/across country, (except to Vancouver and Woodland, Washington), because it's so rigid and HUGE!! My mom was advised by our seating/mobility specialist from the first day he delivered it to my house, of the potential damages it could sustain from an airplane, no matter how "careful" the baggage handlers are.

One reason for this, is because my fiance', Dan, is partially blind in one eye, due to his TBI, and last year when we went to Disney World, he kept running into people/running me into heavy objects, as it is hard for him to judge the distance of how close something is, to him, when he's pushing me in my manual wheelchair. We had a couple of people yell at us, especially when they realized that Dan had a developmental disability.

I'd bring your daughter's manual wheelchair, just so that she'd be able to enjoy things more, and not worry about people running into/over her.

Samantha

 

[DisneyMama63]

Thanks everyone. I am pretty sure that we will just bring DD's manual chair.
Caitlyn