Park bags and mobility devices

[fabfemmeboy]

Only problem is that my mom wants to hang EVERYTHING from them so she doesn’t have to carry anything.

Yeah, my partner enjoys making me the pack-mule of the family - especially now that I have a bag meant for wheelchairs that rolls behind the chair as far as luggage goes, so he's not stuck wrangling suitcases. Somehow that means I have ALL the bags -_-

The problem I have with hanging stuff from the back of the chair is that I have a harder time getting to it. That's fine for big stuff, though I would just as soon use the bag under my chair for things like jackets, but for stuff like phone chargers or wallet I prefer to be able to get to it without twisting all day.

 

[mamabunny]

Yeah, my partner enjoys making me the pack-mule of the family - especially now that I have a bag meant for wheelchairs that rolls behind the chair as far as luggage goes, so he's not stuck wrangling suitcases. Somehow that means I have ALL the bags -_-

The problem I have with hanging stuff from the back of the chair is that I have a harder time getting to it. That's fine for big stuff, though I would just as soon use the bag under my chair for things like jackets, but for stuff like phone chargers or wallet I prefer to be able to get to it without twisting all day.

My family developed that bad habit startlingly quickly. As soon as they realized how much extra "stuff" we they could bring along to the Parks when I started using an ECV, and then later, especially with Angus (my personal ECV), things rather quickly got out of control.

What brought it to a head for me was when bag check became a thing at every Park; because I had everyone's bags on my device, I was the one who had to haul them all up on to the table, unzip/open them, and then grab them as the security personnel finished with them. Meanwhile, my family had breezed through the "no bags" line, and was standing there, watching. One time through, and I was was done with *that* particular form of nonsense!

I finally put my foot down and told everyone that neither I, nor my personal mobility device was a pack mule. They can bring whatever they want, but they have to be the one who carries it. All day. When one family member said "But..." I just said "No. And remember that "No" *is* a complete sentence. The discussion is over." They still bust my chops about it, especially when we have one of those days where you need a jacket, then you don't, then you do again... or when someone decides to buy a GIANT Cinderella's Castle Lego set, and then has to carry that box around longer than they wanted to, because it was too close to Park close for it to go to the front - and we were leaving the next day, so no room delivery option either.

I've had people tell me that it "doesnt' hurt" to carry my family's stuff, just make sure that they carry their own things through Security. And while that may sound reasonable in theory to anyone who doesn't rely upon a mobility device full-time, it doesn't work for me. My device is an extension of me. It is *personal*, it is my legs, it is what propels me through the world. Figgy (my new Fold and Go chair) is for all intents and purposes no different than a prosthetic limb; without him, I would be stuck in a chair, or a bed, unable to move. When I allow him to become a rolling storage locker, it diminishes his status (and by extension, mine as well) in the world - and it also engenders the type of comment that so many of us here hate: "You're *so* lucky! You get to sit down!" "You're *so* lucky! Look at everything you can carry with you!" It turns me and my chair into a rolling spectacle, and in turn, it also diminishes every person who must use a chair in the eyes of those people.

When I was using Angus, I had multi-colored, color changing LEDs under the frame, and our family joke was that I had replaced the Main Street Electrical Parade. Little kids loved it on the bus at night - it was a soft glow underneath that didn't flicker, but just slowly changed colors. I love all things bright and colorful, and those lights made me so happy! But when it was standing room only, people would set their bags or coats on my device. They would prop a foot on his frame, or grab onto the handlebars or even sit - themselves, sometimes, or their child other times - on the seat. They couldn't take him seriously, because he was "too cute".

The next time I return to WDW, with Figgy, I won't have the option to sit next to him anymore; I will have to remain seated on Figgy, and be belted in/tied down. I probably won't put those same kind of LED lights up underneath him; not because I can't - I could very easily. But my chair is not a toy, it's not a convenience, and it's certainly not a rolling coat rack.

It's my legs. And I am the only one who gets to say what - if anything - is carried by/with/on it.

/end rant
/end soapbox
/we now return you to your normal programming

 

[Groot]

My family developed that bad habit startlingly quickly. As soon as they realized how much extra "stuff" we they could bring along to the Parks when I started using an ECV, and then later, especially with Angus (my personal ECV), things rather quickly got out of control.

What brought it to a head for me was when bag check became a thing at every Park; because I had everyone's bags on my device, I was the one who had to haul them all up on to the table, unzip/open them, and then grab them as the security personnel finished with them. Meanwhile, my family had breezed through the "no bags" line, and was standing there, watching. One time through, and I was was done with *that* particular form of nonsense!

I finally put my foot down and told everyone that neither I, nor my personal mobility device was a pack mule. They can bring whatever they want, but they have to be the one who carries it. All day. When one family member said "But..." I just said "No. And remember that "No" *is* a complete sentence. The discussion is over." They still bust my chops about it, especially when we have one of those days where you need a jacket, then you don't, then you do again... or when someone decides to buy a GIANT Cinderella's Castle Lego set, and then has to carry that box around longer than they wanted to, because it was too close to Park close for it to go to the front - and we were leaving the next day, so no room delivery option either.

Oh, I’m not even gonna let my mom do that to me. If she even *thinks* about it, ima give her *“The Look”.*

I've had people tell me that it "doesnt' hurt" to carry my family's stuff, just make sure that they carry their own things through Security. And while that may sound reasonable in theory to anyone who doesn't rely upon a mobility device full-time, it doesn't work for me. My device is an extension of me. It is *personal*, it is my legs, it is what propels me through the world. Figgy (my new Fold and Go chair) is for all intents and purposes no different than a prosthetic limb; without him, I would be stuck in a chair, or a bed, unable to move. When I allow him to become a rolling storage locker, it diminishes his status (and by extension, mine as well) in the world - and it also engenders the type of comment that so many of us here hate: "You're *so* lucky! You get to sit down!" "You're *so* lucky! Look at everything you can carry with you!" It turns me and my chair into a rolling spectacle, and in turn, it also diminishes every person who must use a chair in the eyes of those people.

Sometimes I feel like saying “Do you want my bum leg for a day?” It’s not easy sometimes.

The next time I return to WDW, with Figgy, I won't have the option to sit next to him anymore; I will have to remain seated on Figgy, and be belted in/tied down. I probably won't put those same kind of LED lights up underneath him; not because I can't - I could very easily. But my chair is not a toy, it's not a convenience, and it's certainly not a rolling coat rack.

It's my legs. And I am the only one who gets to say what - if anything - is carried by/with/on it.

/end rant
/end soapbox
/we now return you to your normal programming

Preach, girl, preach!

 

[fabfemmeboy]

When I allow him to become a rolling storage locker, it diminishes his status (and by extension, mine as well) in the world - and it also engenders the type of comment that so many of us here hate: "You're *so* lucky! You get to sit down!" "You're *so* lucky! Look at everything you can carry with you!" It turns me and my chair into a rolling spectacle, and in turn, it also diminishes every person who must use a chair in the eyes of those people.

I hadn't thought of it that way before. Admittedly, I'm new to chair use this year and am still getting my mind out of the lousy, ableist, self-admonishing place it tends to reside. That said, I have been slowly getting used to thinking of my chair as a tool - nothing more, nothing less. Something that helps me get done what I need to get done in the least painful, most efficient way possible. And in that mindset, it does seem foolish not to help out where I can, especially because my partner will be self-transporting and suffer sore feet/shoulders at the end of the long day, which I won't have because I'm riding Bug-Crusher. That's not why I'm in my chair, and if anything he's better at seeing that than I am sometimes, but everything in life has advantages and disadvantages. This is a big disadvantage (the myriad of medical issues, the pain of trying to find accessible whatevers, the staring, the @(#*@* people walking in front of me and stopping for NO REASON!) that does give me a small advantage (my feet don't hurt at the end of a Disney day, I can carry things without feeling the effect as badly). I think it's a little easier because it's just the two of us, not an entire extended family, when we go to the parks. But even so, you've given me a lot to think about, particularly about others taking the chair (and the person using it) seriously and not like either a product of laziness or a "fun ride" that we're "lucky" to have. So I very much appreciate your soapbox!