Mobility Scooter - newbie questions

glenonwheels
glenonwheels Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
edited July 2024 in Housing and independent living
Hello everyone! 

I am new to using a mobility scooter, and I have a couple of newbie questions that someone might have some tips on?

1. What do you do with the scooter if you want to pop in a newsagents for example? Is there some kind of lock or device to add protection whilst it's left for a few minutes? Or do people just make a judgement call on who's around and just leave it (without the keys obviously)?

2. Any tips for handling dogs who take an interest in someone gliding past on wheels?! I had a dog, a fairly friendly, non-aggressive one, see me off from a property recently. The owner was quite useless and it was quite intimidating having a dog pursuing me closely, at elbow height, and not being able to get away so easily. 

Thanks in advance for any tips anyone can offer 😁

Glen

Comments

  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,611 Championing
    edited May 2022

    Hello @glenonwheels  

     

    Wishing you a warm welcome to the community, how are you today?


    I am not a mobility scooter user myself, nor do I have experience  or knowledge of them through others, so I am not sure about those questions you asked. They are interesting ones though.


    I'm glad the dog was at least friendly :) 


    I have moved your discussion over to our aids, adaptations and equipment category which you might find it useful to browse for related discussions.


    This is a very supportive and welcoming site to be a part of so I’m sure you’ll find it to be a positive outlet, feel free to have a look around and get involved wherever you’d like 😊 A few notable pages I’d recommend visiting would be:

    • The virtual coffee lounge which is one of our categories, in which we play games and talk about general subjects such as hobbies and interests
    • The recent discussions page, which shows an overview of everything happening across the community
    • The categories page, which shows a full list of discussion groups on the community

    If you have any questions at all then don’t hesitate to ask.


  • glenonwheels
    glenonwheels Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
    Thanks you Ross for the welcome! I'm good thank you, hope you're having a good start to the weekend 🙂 

    Look forward to any tips anyone has!
  • Ross_Alumni
    Ross_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,611 Championing
    Glad to hear you're well @glenonwheels, the start to my weekend has been pleasant so far thanks :) 
  • Alex_Alumni
    Alex_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,538 Championing
    Hi @glenonwheels and welcome to the community :) 

    I can have a go at answering your query from my perspective as an electric wheelchair user.

    As far as I know, there isn't anywhere to secure your chair outside most shops or newsagents, so in my experience, it tends to be a judgement call. If I'm with a friend or family member, I can ask them to keep an eye on it, if solo, I would usually switch my chair to half manual/half electric, then make sure I could check it regularly from the shop window. But this only works for smaller shops really!

    I can certainly relate to your feelings about dogs pursuing you at elbow height, I have experience of that, as someone who isn't all that comfortable with dogs unless they are well trained or I know them.

    It can be a very intimidating feeling, even though I know the dogs are probably just reacting to the whirring noise of the chair, or want to make friends. I suppose my best advice would be to take a wide berth, or ask the owner to step in. I'm sorry to hear in your case they weren't helpful!

    I hope this helps, and that you are settling into using your mobility scooter, and are enjoying the independence it offers! 

    Please do ask if we can help with anything else in the meantime :)

    Alex

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