Salty Zebra

 Cruising in a wheelchair, or a scooter, or any wheeled device can be the best way to get out and see the world! Yes, there will be challenges, but is there anywhere that is totally challenge free in a wheelchair? Ok, Disney doesn't count. That's a magical place! Anyways, cruise ships, especially those from the major players (Norwegian, Carnival, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Disney, etc), especially the newer ones are specially designed to accommodate handicapped travelers. A significant portion of their customer base requires some sort of mobility aid, so they are very aware of the needs of travelers and do their best to make your vacation wonderful. As I mentioned, though, there will be challenges and today's post seeks to help you be aware of and find your way around them.    Cruise ships are getting bigger and bigger all the time, with more and more decks. The ship I sailed on last month had 20 decks and I've seen some coming out later this year with as many as...

 If you've been following along with me, you've probably seen that I use a wheelchair when I cruise . The first thing this involves is getting the wheelchair TO the cruise. For most people this will involve flying and, sadly, airlines do not have the greatest track record with wheelchairs . According to this article , every year between 10,000 to 15,000 mobility devices are damaged during air travel. The Department of Transportation estimates that comes out to about 1 in 100 or 1.4%. Tell me the truth, if you heard that 1 in 100 people lost their legs when flying, would you get on an airplane? That's really what we're talking about here though. For most people who use them, mobility devices represent the only way for them to effectively get around. In the picture above, you may be able to notice that the post on the front right of my chair is bent and the right side of the seat is significantly lower than the left. During our last flight, something  happened that lite...

 I sat in the doctor's office aghast as he pulled out his phone and Googled "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome" (I think he even asked me how to spell it). Then, unbelievably, he looked at me and told me that he didn't know who had diagnosed me with this but they were wrong because he couldn't see that I had one of the symptoms mentioned in the Google summary. Yes, this doctor thought that his 30 second Google search "Trumped" my doctor's extensive learning and my 40+ years of living with this condition. This was one of many times I've been dismissed, gaslit, and sent away empty handed from doctors who were paid well to help me. Why? Because I'm a disabled woman.   This is a well-documented issue of women's health concerns being overlooked, women's descriptions of pain being disbelieved, and dangerously, women being underserved. For example, "According to a new study, women may be twice as likely to experience a fatal heart attack compare...

  We just got back from a fabulous five-day trip to New Orleans. It was a bucket-list trip for me as I've always wanted to see the city/area and I wanted to do a special trip with each of my kids. This trip was with my daughter. I started the trip on a high as I'd just spent the previous six days on my first solo trip since my brain surgeries last year, my first solo anything really! I'd rested and relaxed as much as I could so I was able to walk around with my family for the first few days. As I say that, keep in mind that my walking has changed significantly of late. I've learned that, in order to maintain stability in my joints and not have my body go on high alert tensing up all my muscles, I have to walk VERY SLOWLY. Like painfully slowly. Again, it's embarrassing. I guess I must have had a lot of issues with pride because God sure is humbling me! Almost every time I start walking, I forget that I have to walk slowly. So I start off at a normal pace and before ...

      Cruising with a wheelchair seems simple, you're just doing what everyone else does, but on wheels, right? Wrong.  What may seem simple can actually be VERY difficult when you consider that even a small step will block your path, or the door to your cabin may not be wide enough for your wheelchair to get through. This is my experience on the Norwegian Encore, your mileage may vary.     The boarding procedure in Seattle was simple and being in my chair meant that we got to skip almost every line.  We did get the slowest, most confused check-in agent, but that's ok I think we still saved a bunch of time over all.  I didn't have any trouble with the ramps, but I made my husband stay right behind me when they were steeper.  I had a bad experience on a Carnival cruise in January with a ramp being too steep and I'm extra careful now!  There were elevators available pretty quickly any time steps were present and it was pretty easy to maneu...

      Last week my husband and I went on an Alaskan cruise.  The primary motivation was to see if I COULD cruise.  After my brain surgeries I've dealt with quite a bit of nausea, double vision, depth perception issues and overall disorientation. As I write this everything on the screen is overlapping on top of each other and dancing around to some degree.  We weren't certain whether the additional disorientation from the movement of the boat would do me in.  I am happy to report that it did not!     I actually rather enjoyed the movement of the ship.  The gentle rocking was very soothing and made me sleepy, that was my only side effect.  I did not have any increase in nausea and while there were people all around me using sea sickness bags I did not even feel the need to hold one - that says a lot after the last year!     The challenges I DID bump up against had more to do with pride and learning to live within m...

    We've just returned from a four-day cruise on the Carnival Radiance departing from Los Angeles, California and I learned so much about getting around in my new electric wheelchair.  If you're interested in hopping on one of these very affordable cruises and you have mobility issues, you might be wondering if it will work for you.     Carnival has taken many steps to enhance accessibility on the Radiance including: Providing maps with accessibility paths on every floor at the elevator banks (see images below)  They have added in many automatic sliding doors The stateroom hallways are the widest I've seen on any cruise ship They have tables marked for handicap use in restaurants and seats in some lounges In the buffet, staff watch out for people with mobility issues and offer to help When going up and down ramps to enter or exit the ship there were always staff there to help They had a special guest services counter window with a lower, accessible height ...

So what was it like using Disney Resort transportation with a wheelchair? There were a lot of positive experiences, and a few negative ones. Firstly, I was pleased to discover that there is a separate wheelchair queue for the buses. It's right up front, and allows the driver to see that you will need assistance when they pull up. After the bus has unloaded, the driver closes the front door and opens the doors in the middle of the bus. They cause the bus to dip towards the curb and then extend a ramp. I had to line up the wheelchair with the somewhat narrow ramp, then maneuver up the ramp and pivot sharply into the wheelchair securing spot. Thanks to the maneuverability of this chair, I never had any trouble with this process. Then the driver secures the front and back of the chair to the bus with ratcheting straps and helps you put on a seat belt. They will repeat that process with another wheelchair or scooter if there are more waiting, but they can only take two mobil...