Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations.
This paper explores the everyday practices of scooter users as they construct and manage their identities. The qualitative semistructured interviews with 22 scooter users revealed the following themes: (1) being invisible, (2) from invisibility to hypervisibility, and (3) changing self-image (facing disability and invisibility). The study highlights scooter users’ ambivalent status and the literal and metaphorical ways in which their social and physical visibility and invisibility are manifested.
Primary Author and Speaker: W. Ben Mortenson
Contributing Authors: Alfiya Battalova, Laura Hurd, Lee Kirby, Sandra Hobson, and Richelle Emery
PURPOSE: Most research on wheeled mobility focuses on prescription, training, design, or the built environment. However, few studies have explored embodiment, self-image and relational aspects associated with the use of wheeled mobility devices, especially among newer users. In this study, we sought to understand how scooter users perceive their relationships with their scooters, their environments and their self-perceptions over the first year of use.
DESIGN: This phenomenological study involved a series of four interviews over a one-year period with 22 participants. Data were collected at the baseline, 12 weeks, 6 months and 1 year. To be included in the study initially, participants needed to be new scooter users (with less than one month experience) and to be able to transfer independently to and from their scooters. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically.
METHODS: Semi-structured interviews.
RESULTS: Fifteen (68%) participants identified as female, 7 (32%) as male; the mean age of the participants was 70.3 years (SD ± 14.3), and the primary diagnoses included multiple sclerosis, arthritis, stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Our analysis identified three main themes: 1) Being invisible (the experiences of being rendered invisible through attitudinal and physical accessibility barriers); 2) From invisibility to hypervisibility (the extreme examples of being seen as a scooter user in the context of public transit and sidewalk space); 3) Changing self-image (the process of transitioning to a scooter and coming to terms with its use). The first two themes focused on the multiple ways in which participants’ embodied selves are becoming invisible. Invisibility for many participants was equivalent to not feeling acknowledged or seen. This meaning originated from both literal and metaphorical invisibility. The third theme focused on self-image and the negotiation of acceptance of the scooter and its use in everyday life. It was evident that the process of transitioning to scooter use and recognizing its indispensable role in everyday mobility took time for many participants. For individuals who have encountered disability at an older age, the loss of mobility was often accompanied by feelings of self-consciousness and embarrassment.
CONCLUSION: Scooter users often perceive their devices ambivalently because they render them both invisible and hypervisible, and highlight their social exclusion and marginalization. These findings suggest that clinicians need to understand scooters users’ lived experiences. Scooter training needs to not only focus on learning discrete individual skills but also consider the potential stigma that users may experience related to disability and device use in real life situations. They also suggest the need for greater professional advocacy to address broader societal factors in the built and social environment that limit scooter user’s occupational engagement.
References
Jang, S., Mortenson, W. B., Hurd, L., & Kirby, R. L. (2019). Caught in-between: Tensions experienced by community mobility scooter users. Disability & Society, 0(0), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2019.1696749
Mortenson, W. B., & Kim, J. (2016). Scoping review of mobility scooter-related research studies. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 53(5), 531-539.
Paterson, K., & Hughes, B. (1999). Disability Studies and Phenomenology: The carnal politics of everyday life. Disability & Society, 14(5), 597–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599925966
