Shopping When You Have a Mobility Impairment

I’ve been struggling to know what to write recently–I started this blog as a way to splurge all my thoughts out, almost like an online diary.  When I started it, my MS was transitioning from Relapsing-Remitting MS to Secondary Progressive MS. I was getting my head around having a body that had stopped working as I wanted it to and the impact that had on my home life and my work life.

Read More – From Relapsing-Remitting to Secondary Progressive: An Experience 

Underpinning this all was the challenge of transitioning from an able-bodied person to a disabled person. To be honest, I think I’m still coming to terms with that. I still think that activities and experiences are going to be relatively easy for me and it’s only when I make the attempt to do something ‘normal’ that I realise just how much my disability impacts my functioning.

For those reading my blog for the first time, my MS has greatly affected my ability to walk. I used to say that fatigue was my biggest nemesis but it has been slightly less of a daily battle since my HSCT treatment.  Now, my nemesis is definitely mobility– or a lack of. It impacts upon me in every way possible, from being able to explore outside with my children to accessing where I want to go on holiday to putting my bins out.  Exactly the kind of things that I used to take for granted before my legs started getting heavy, leading to stumbling and tripping.

Shopping When You Have a Mobility Impairment

Yesterday, whilst the children were at school, I decided that I wanted to pop to the shops in order to buy a couple of things for dinner. The sun was out, I was finally able to go out without a coat and so I decided to go out on my mobility scooter, as opposed to the car. I sometimes wonder whether abled-bodied people realise just how difficult food shopping can be when you have a mobility impairment?  I didn’t, when I was able-bodied. There are so many things to consider if you are on your own.  Here’s the rundown of my experience yesterday:

Shopping List:

BANANAS

SOYA YOGHURT

ICE LOLLIES

Though I was on my mobility scooter, I had to take my crutches as well in case I needed to get out of my mobility scooter and walk at any point.

Step 1:

I had to consider how I would carry my food back home. I took two bags with me as that’s all that I can carry on my mobility scooter – one bag hanging from each handle.

Step 2:

I arrived at our local co-op and noticed the hand baskets at the entrance. But how can I carry one when I’m in my mobility scooter? Can I leave my scooter outside and walk around the shop? No – in that case, I would have to use two crutches to walk which means that I have no free hand to carry a basket. I noticed one ‘disabled’ trolley but this only works for people in wheelchairs due to their size and where you place the trolley in front of you. I decided to put my shopping in the little basket on the front of my scooter.  If I buy more than a few items, I need someone to come with me and help me with my shopping.

LESSON: Having a disability can impact on the amount you can buy and/or carry

Step 3:

Onto bananas. I managed to get myself to the bananas where I was presented with four tiers of shelving. The top shelf had their ‘perfect’ bananas  – ripe ones that were perfect to eat now and over the next couple of days. The bottom shelf had bright green bananas that wouldn’t be ready for another few days. Guess which ones I had to get? The green bananas went into the basket at the front of my scooter.

LESSON – only being able to access certain products reduces your choice

Step 4:

Freezer section. The one in my local co-op has a tall freezer section with doors that open out. The lollies I wanted were right at the top of the freezer. I looked around (I’m not averse to asking people to pass me something I can’t reach, though people are more reluctant to do this, I’ve noticed, in these times of Covid) but no one was about. This was the time that I needed to use my crutches.  I managed to get myself out of the scooter but dropped one of my crutches down in the process. Clang! I carefully bent down to pick up the crutch, opened the freezer and grabbed the lollies.  I carefully sat back down, placing the lollies in the basket. I tried to balance my crutches between my legs as I usually do when I’m on my scooter.  Clang! Crutch down again. By this time, there were people around, walking past me. Did they look at me and all the noise I was making? No. Did they offer me a hand? No. I looked at them to catch their eye to see if they could grab my crutch for me but they turned up the next aisle instead.

LESSON – Not everyone is willing to help or notices the person obviously struggling

Step 5:

Onto the yoghurt – success! It was at eye level and easily grabbed.

(Unplanned) Step 6:

Wine!  Much needed – but I had to choose a bottle that was easy for me to grab at shoulder level.  Luckily, it was an Australian Merlot and fit nicely in the tiny space left in my scooter basket.

LESSON – shopping is stressful and wine can help 😉

Step 7:

Tills.  By this time, I was conscious that shopping had taken me longer than anticipated because of the one-way system and clanging crutches so I thought I’d pop through the self-service checkout as I have done in the past (even whilst on my scooter). Alas, store merchandise had been placed on either side of the self-service tills and the gap between them was too narrow for my scooter to get through.  I would have to go in the queue. Another 5-minute wait for it to be my turn – I knew I would have to rush to get home before my daughter arrived back from school.  Careful manoeuvring of my scooter to the end of the till to bag my shopping and then back to the side to pay.  Luckily, I had a lovely cashier who offered to put my shopping bag onto my scooter handle for me as I found it difficult to lift from the till area.

Lesson – store layouts are often not disabled-friendly

Lesson – there are some lovely people out there, happy to help

So that’s my experience of ‘popping’ to the shops.  Something that used to take me 10 minutes max.

Thoughts on Shopping When You Have a Mobility Impairment

I often think that maybe if I used a wheelchair it would be easier – there are wheelchair baskets, after all.  But then I would presumably have the same difficulties with choosing and reaching for the desired products? I understand that not everything in the shop can be waist height and therefore accessible, I just miss being able to make a choice.  This is also the case in clothes shops where clothes are placed on high hangers.

This inaccessibility reminds me just how much I have to rely on others to help me – I appreciate them so much but wish that I didn’t have to have help.  Especially when it is my 10-year old daughter helping me.  I know that she doesn’t mind, but she truly is my ‘young carer‘, and that upsets me.

Shopping when you’re disabled is only one of the things that I find difficult now.  I like to think that I am the same person that I was before my MS symptoms flared but I guess that all of these considerations that I now have to make are changing me from the spontaneous person that I was once to one who is more careful and measured. So, in my case, my disability hasn’t just changed me on the outside, but the inside as well.

I hope that everyone is well and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Love and light