Recently at Belmont Hill, students have begun to adopt a new tool to deal with various leg injuries: scooters. This fun and mobile device can often be seen in use by students going full-speed throughout the campus. Hence, the question of whether this new innovation has surpassed the usefulness of crutches has arisen. Read this article to evaluate the pros and cons of crutches and scooters!
Crutches:
For centuries, the advent of crutches has provided millions of people – including historic leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte and Franklin D. Roosevelt – the ability to easily transport themselves despite their disabilities. Today, the crutches’ importance in the world is just as prevalent and essential to the many who have leg impairments. Recently on the Belmont Hill campus, the emergence of scooters as an alternative to crutches has picked up some traction. While they may look fun to ride in, the benefits of crutches far outweigh those of the scooters.
To begin, lightweight crutches can be used in almost any environment, whether that be uneven terrain or extremely tight spaces like the stairs near Mrs. Rupley’s office. Their versatility allows students to easily move from one place to another without having to navigate through the many obstacles that someone with a scooter would need to. Furthermore, crutches are especially necessary here on the hill, as the many stairs and uphill paths can cause significant trouble to the scooter-users. For instance, in the math building, there are no elevators or ramps. In such an essential building at the school, only students with crutches would be able to access the classrooms.
In addition to their versatility, crutches also excel in their portability; they are easy to transport, fit into cars, and don’t require much storage space in comparison to the bulkier scooters. Additionally, crutches are more reliable and practical than scooters, as they never encounter issues with their brakes, wheels, or height adjustments. Moreover, people with scooters have to wait out the long period of time it takes to get into and out of elevators and draw attention to themselves from requiring the assistance of the notoriously loud platform lift in the library.
Scooters:
There’s a reason scooters have become so prevalent on campus, and it’s because they’re a better product than crutches. Crutches have been around for centuries, but there’s a reason why we need innovation. Scooters are a better alternative for those with leg injuries as they’re faster, easier to use, and conveniently accessible.
Crutches are slow and impractical for daily life, especially as a student. The crutches themselves fit uncomfortably under your arms and make it impossible to use your hands while walking. They also require you to hold your leg off the ground, constantly making it harder to rest the injury. Crutches’ odd shape makes them hard to put away during class or lunch, further decreasing the crutches’ practicality.
Scooters were designed to ensure that the speed and mobility of a person shouldn’t be hampered by a leg injury. That’s exactly what they do; it takes far less energy to move on a scooter when compared to crutches. The helpful brake feature makes traversing rises or drops in elevation significantly simpler and safer. Crutches lack this feature since they’re so slow to begin with. Luckily on campus, there are many sloped paths like the one from school to the Jordan Athletic Center or the path from the Science Building to Melvoin. The archaic crutches can’t take advantage of the paths at Belmont Hill and, therefore, aren’t suitable for our fast-paced modern world.
The scooter has been around for only a fraction of the time as the crutch but it has already shown its ability to make life easier for people with leg injuries. There’s a reason why we see them so often on campus: they ultimately work the best for students at Belmont Hill.
Indresh Chandel