Uneasy rider

“Hey, Segway dork — why don’t you walk?” “Use your legs!” “You need to get off that RIGHT NOW!”

The target of consternation is Peter Poullos, MD. What they don’t know is that the Stanford radiology resident suffered a spinal cord injury from a biking accident in 2003, which left him paralyzed from the shoulders down at the age of 30. And a TV show got him back on his feet four and a half years later.

Watching the program from his wheelchair, Poullos had learned about disabled travelers who globe-trotted aboard Segways, the two-wheeled, motorized scooters. The tourists cruised over cobblestones in Italy and dirt roads in Thailand — dreams that Poullos had long since given up.

The next day, a Saturday, Poullos test-rode a Segway and was hooked. He was exhilarated to be that close to walking for the first time since the accident. The Segway quickly became an extension of himself, he says. He rode into work with it Monday morning. “Standing tall on the Segway, nobody could even tell I had a handicap.”

However, the image of health and mobility that he projected made him the brunt of the public’s animosity toward the “SUVs of the sidewalk.” He was initially shocked by the negative looks and comments, but has come to realize that confusion is common when seeing a disabled Segway rider. Most assume that the rider is perfectly capable of walking. After all, he’s standing. So why not just walk?

Poullos daily demonstrates the inaccuracy of that belief. He has set out to right that wrong, beginning with a Feb. 17 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, which recounted his transformation from an avid cyclist to a maligned cruiser.

“My goal was to raise awareness of the Segway as a mobility aid, not just for my own benefit, but also for others who may benefit from its use,” says Poullos.

In addition to name-calling, he has endured demands to step off the Segway and confrontations with security, and has even been hit from behind by a guy at a football game “testing” the vehicle’s balance control.
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