Practical Tips and Insights to Help Deal with the Burden of Using a Scooter in Public and Feeling More at Ease

Question: I’ve been wrestling with some heavy emotional baggage lately. I’ve been experiencing a lot of anxiety. I wouldn’t say I’m isolated, but my post-polio issues have made it harder and harder to get out and about. Because of that, I have started using a scooter to get around. I’m not embarrassed, per se, to be seen using it, but it does make going anywhere seem that much harder. Many times I find myself saying, “I’d rather just stay in.” It feels as much a mental hurdle as it does a physical one. Do you have any practical tips or insights to help deal with this burden and start feeling more at ease with myself?

Response from Rhoda Olkin, PhD: I very much understand this issue, feeling anxious and sometimes not wanting to bother with how much harder it is to go out than before. And it gets easier to make an excuse not to leave the house. I have a few tips about the logistics, then some important considerations for mental health.

First, logistics: You are more likely to go places with the scooter if it is very, very, very easy to transport. If you have to put it on a lift at the back of the car, stand while you push the button that lifts up the scooter, then walk to the driver’s seat, that can feel like more effort than it’s worth. If you have two or more places to go, that’s a lot of energy spent on just transporting the scooter. If you are able to drive the scooter up a ramp into a van, that is easier, but you still have to transfer to another seat. When I had a scooter on the back of my car, it was so tiring to put it up and down and walk to the driver’s seat.

Now I have a rear entry van into which I drive my wheelchair. The driver’s seat slides all the way back towards the wheelchair. I take a single step to get into the seat, then push a button that takes me up to the steering wheel. Even with this much easier transportation, I still think twice about doing more than two things at one outing.

And it was a costly solution: a Toyota Sienna that came off the line with a lowered floor, then the installation of the ramp and the driver’s seat that goes forward and backward. The whole endeavor was about $85,000. The good news is that Medicare now will pay for transportation modifications to a car or van. But even with insurance help, I don’t know that everyone can afford to get a wheelchair and then a van that can accommodate the wheelchair.

Consider whether there is anything that would make going out easier. Depending on your mobility, sometimes being dropped off right in front of someplace (like a restaurant) and using a walker can be less taxing. If possible, don’t waste energy on things that don’t emotionally feed you.

Now for the mental health nudge. Getting out of the house each week (even 2–3 days a week) is very important for mental health. I say this as a homebody and introvert who vastly prefers to stay home.

Yet I know how much better I feel when I get out of the house. Even a scooter ride around the block can help. It can be hard to tell if it’s logistics and fatigue, or anxiety, that makes you want to stay home. Consider doing telehealth with a mental health professional. Some resources: the Association for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ABCT) (https://www.abct.org) which lists psychologists, or your local county Information and Referral Service. Anxiety is a treatable problem in most cases.

Post-Polio Health (Vol. 40, No. 2, Spring 2024)