Friday, April 16, 2010

The Bumper Sticker Anthology - Part III - my other car is a Segway



My youngest son was born with a physical disability known as arthrogryposis.  At birth we didn't know if he'd ever be able to walk.  After a some surgeries on his feet and legs, and about a year of serial casting, and several years of physical therapy, he is able to walk, albeit with difficulty.  When he started at middle school and had to begin walking distances around the school to change classes, he began falling quite a bit.  The school asked him to start using a wheelchair because they were concerned that he would bang his head on a desk or something when he fell and really hurt himself.  So with some hesitancy, we ordered a wheelchair for him.  He had started playing wheelchair sports with a great group called Youth in Motion, so the idea of a wheelchair wasn't as disheartening as it might have been.  In fact, we made sure to order him one that had cambered wheels for better maneuverability on the basketball court and a wheelie bar to help prevent tipping over backwards when he did wheelies.  He always felt weird about using a wheelchair in public because when he'd get up and walk the few steps to a car or whatever, he felt like a fraud; like he didn't really need a wheelchair.  

We had been following the development of the Segway for quite some time.  If you don't know what a Segway is, check out this link:  
http://www.segway.com/individual/models/index.php

I had told Chris that when it was available I would make every attempt to get him one.  It appeared to be a perfect tool for someone with his disability who can walk, but just can't walk distances.  So sure enough, come Christmas 2002, I discovered the Segway was now for sale to the general public.  The only place you could buy it at the time was on Amazon.com.   

I ordered it and they sent me a poster of it in a long cylindrical tube but it wouldn't actually be available for pick up until March of 2003.  So for Christmas that year, I wrapped the tube and both his brothers and I kept remarking about how much he would totally love his Christmas gift.  Of course, the poster tube sat there wrapped and Chris had no idea what could possibly be in such a package that he'd be so excited about. Needless to say however, he was totally blown away when he opened the gift and realized what it meant. 

We were required to go to the company headquarters in NH to be trained on the Segway prior to it being shipped.  And they would not train Chris on it as he wasn't their minimum age of 16.  So Justin and I drove to NH and got trained and while we were there, they gave us the bumper sticker, "my other car is a Segway."  

Chris has now had the Segway for about 7 years. We lived about a half mile from the high school so he rode it to and from school whenever the weather permitted and then left it at school during the winter months so he could use it to get around between classes.  It's taken some spills and has seen better days and he may be getting a new one soon.  For a mere $5,000+/- investment, you too could have the Segway sticker.  But the boost to his self esteem and the confidence the Segway gave him during high school was priceless.  Instead of some unfortunate child wheeling around the school in his wheelchair, he zoomed around the school on his Segway, with a grace that he could never acheive in his usual lumbering gait.  Talk flew about why he got to use the Segway.  "He has no kneecaps" was one of his favorite rumors he'd overheard.  Teachers and students alike begged to be allowed to try it, sometimes to their own detriment.  The school insisted on a strict rule that he not allow others to use it inside the school but when a favorite teacher asked, he was hard pressed to say no.   I think the teacher later wished he'd refused after running into a wall and wiping out.  Chris made it look so easy and graceful but it had become second nature to him from constant use.    


Though other times after weeks of straight pain he perhaps felt differently, I was very impressed when he told me once that if he could wave a magic wand and make his legs normal he's not sure he'd do it.  I believe the wheelchair sports through Youth in Motion, learning to snowboard through Maine Handicap Skiing, and the Segway had a lot to do with that.   
 
We've been through a lot of changes in the last seven years, with Chris going from age 13 to age 20.  If he gets a new Segway this year, I guess the new "my other car is a Segway" sticker should go on his own car. 


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