2005-04-20 - 4:31 p.m.
Back in late fall, my proverbial rich uncle (actually great-uncle) bought me a mobility scooter. It was in storage over the winter, but I have it back now in the nice weather. Someone had suggested that maybe I could use more than just a cane. Well, yeah I guess. My first thought was that if I have to have a scooter, I want a Vespa, damn it. Unfortunately I can no longer balance on a Vespa and they don�t make trikes (I looked into that; it would have to be a custom chop-job and would require a license).
Most scooters I found online and stuff (I�ve learned that the industry term is �durable medical equipment�, but really that evokes a washing machine) look like they�re for senior citizens. Or for sick people. So I asked for this. It�s manufactured (I could not make this up) on a kibbutz in Israel. I dare say, it�s almost cool-looking.
When I go by, people stare. Not that I blame them; I�d stare too. At first I thought the looks were because of something out-of-place in sight � gimp coming through. But then I remembered that my scooter actually is unusual-looking for a mobility scooter. If people are going to stare at the gimp coming through, I�d rather they also stare at the spiffy ride. If I�m going to look like a gimp, I�d rather look like a cool gimp. I�ve found that a little style goes a long, long way. The other day I passed a girl who grinned at my ride appreciatively and said �cool!� as I went by. It made my day.
I even seem to evoke jealousy sometimes (I resist the urge to accost the envious-looking with �get a chronic illness and you can have one too!�). On a particularly nice day recently, I stopped and sat on a bench to use my cell phone (leaving the scooter out in plain sight � it was quite a step for me). Two passing meter-readers saw it and began to ask each other �Hey, why don�t we have that? It would be so helpful!� Two other guys approached just to check it out and ask me about it.
At a practical level, I�ve begun noticing an aspect of the built environment to which I never paid attention before: where the curb-cuts are and aren�t. I could never get off my non-corner-curb-cut-having block if it weren�t for the driveway behind my house. Yesterday I went farther on it than I�ve ever gone. Ten blocks up a well-cut street to an area where I used to live to get a haircut and go to Starbucks.
A small victory I guess, but the scooter allows me to get places I never could now on my own. Before, most places further than a block or so were inaccessible without a car ride. As my range got more limited, I noticed that I was starting to call cabs or ask friends for rides increasingly short distances. It was getting ridiculous, a true reductio ad absurdum. The independence the scooter provides is invaluable. Not having to feel like an annoyance by asking someone to drive me two blocks means a lot.
Riding around has also made me reflect on the positive and negative psychological impact on me. I used to be embarrassed, even afraid, to use it sometimes. I was more likely to use it at night and less likely to use it during class-changing times when everyone�s around. I didn�t like people looking at me. I avoided the main commercial strip. I�ve come to terms somewhat, but I can still feel awkward (actually, I still avoid the commercial strip, but this is more so as to not have to maneuver around sidewalk caf� tables and heavy foot traffic).
But as I said, better a cool-looking scooter than one that looks like it was borrowed from a nursing home. The psychological toll on younger people of humiliation from having to use mobility equipment with an overly-medical aesthetic is surely a true health issue. Style is definitely not frivolous and I�d imagine that pride heads off a host of medical complications. Insurance generally considers all scooters recreational, unnecessary, and unreimbursable, but I think it would be quite cost-effective to pay for a modicum of grace.
I could go on and on about this and maybe I will soon. But for now I�ll just say that marketing cool-looking mobility equipment is what I plan on doing after graduation. There�s a tremendous demand for this that�s not being met. Someone needs to fill it and I think that someone should be me�
� 2005 Geoff Gladstone
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