Scooting adventures with Sally

While some people say that the use of a mobility aid gives them a new lease of life, for others it can seem more daunting. We spoke with Sally who opened our eyes to a new way of getting around, reminding us that there are a number of options available to suit all levels of ability.

It was way back, around 15 years ago and I had numbness in the right side of my face. I left it for a couple of days before I decided that I needed to go and make an appointment with a GP. She suggested cerebral palsy and referred me to see a neurologist. I then had an MRI. From there, I got my diagnosis.

The thing with MS was that I didn't know very much about it. All you tended to hear back then were not very positive stories; you didn't hear about people's journeys. I told a very, very small number of people and their reaction was bigger than mine. They were supportive, but I kept it very close probably because of what I've explained in terms of how people just see the end as opposed to the journey.

I managed to keep my diagnosis to quite a small group I didn't feel that there was a need to talk about it more widely. I didn't want to be defined by it and I definitely didn't want to be the friend with MS. I just wanted to still be the same me, I wanted to be Sally.

The reason for speaking out now is that my MS has become more obvious. There are also real benefits to talking about it. If I don’t say what I've found useful, then it's a missed opportunity. People who are going through a similar journey might find things that I have to say helpful, such as my experience using scooters. Everyone has their own MS journey, and I'm going through mine.

It’s not something that I would ever have thought of associating with somebody who's got a mobility challenge. Everyone's MS is different and my challenge is mobility. I have foot drop with my right leg, which makes me trip and look strange when I'm walking.

I have a friend who uses skateboards and has a micro scooter. One day in either 2012 or 2013 we were talking about holidays and she offered to lend her scooter to me so I took it to Greece. I didn't scoot through the airport but used it to help carry my bags. I think people still associated scooters with kids at that time.

I bought my own scooter in 2015. It has bigger wheels which means you can get further quicker, plus for me, the bigger wheels make it easier to balance. It's brilliant and when I first got it I would get scooter envy from kids.

If you'd have asked me at the beginning, there was no way I thought I was going to be able to balance on a two wheeled scooter. I thought I was going to need a three wheeler but that's really not the case. The key thing is to try it while you're still able. Don't wait until you're at a more challenging stage with your MS.

Number one, I can cover greater distances with little effort. Without a stick, I can walk around 100m but with my manual scooter, more like 1km. I can keep up with friends more easily and effectively walk with them. It makes me feel part of something, as opposed to being separate from everybody else. That, for me, is a really big deal.

Number two, they look cool. Just because you've got a disability it doesn't mean you don't want to look cool anymore. You don't have to look different or be different, you can be the friend who scoots as opposed to the friend who has a MS.

Number three, I can take my smaller scooter abroad. I was very fortunate at the end of last summer to go away. That was the first time I had scooted from check in to the plane and then I even took my scooter on with me as it's tiny. It made such an enormous difference.

There's been so much change over the last 15 years, including the introduction of electric scooters. I'm hoping that scooters in general will become a more popular way of getting around. I did write to my MP to tell her about my use of electric scooters. I want to make it legal to use one in a bike lane so others can see that you don’t have to go straight from being able to walk to a sitting mobility aid. It's a long, long journey and there are many stages in between where you can still use other things.

I'd like to make scooters more accepted in shops and airports so they understand that I’m not just going to scoot around and be annoying. It's my mobility aid and I think there’s the potential for it to be other people's mobility aids.

That's a big challenge as well; if you were to talk to people about mobility, it does not conjure up a cool image. I really hope that over the coming years, people come up with ability aids that aren't just something that you have to use and look older than you may be. Let's get people coming out with cooler mobility aids and making them a fashion accessory. If you've got to use it in everyday life, why not allow people to choose it in the same way you do a haircut or what clothes you wear?

I've been in shops and been challenged or asked if they can take my scooter to store it somewhere. The response is always a polite "No, thank you as I need it." The whole piece around invisible disability has been much more talked about over the last couple of years so I don't get challenged as much now as I did. Although my scooter looks different than the classic mobility aids that people are used to seeing in airports and in shops, it isn't just for fun, and I'm not doing it to be disruptive.

I think you need to focus on celebrating. There will be lots of things that you can't do but skip the commiserating and don't be afraid to try new things. Just because you can't do something that you could once do, it doesn't mean to say that you won't be able to do something you haven't yet tried.

1. Try someone else's scooter out first as a starting point. I'm sure you'll have a friend or a relative who has got one you can borrow.
2. Don't assume that because your standing or walking isn’t great that you won't be able to balance on a scooter.
3. Always wear a helmet just in case!