As someone who uses multiple types of mobility aids - a cane, a scooter and a wheelchair - Anthea Skinner reflects on the different reactions each of these options attract from members of the public.

I have a disability, but I am ambulant... mostly. I can walk, but it's painful, and because my neurological condition is remitting, my balance and pain levels can change dramatically from hour to hour, day to day and week to week. Usually I walk with a cane, but when my health gets bad, or when I have a lot to do, I prefer to get around on wheels. I usually use a scooter, but sometimes I have someone push me in a manual wheelchair.

My situation is not uncommon, but people sometimes react strangely to the idea of someone who can walk using a wheelchair. In 2005 Miss Wheelchair Wisconsin, Janeal Lee, was stripped of her title after appearing in press photos standing up. Lee has muscular dystrophy, can walk about 15 metres at a time and usually uses a scooter to get around. She hadn't lied about her disability to win the title. Despite this, the event's organisers refused to accept that someone who could stand up could also be a wheelchair user.

Personally, I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard people make jokes about miracles when I've stood up from a chair. My friends, to their credit, mostly take it in their stride, and upon seeing me in a chair for the first time, their most common reaction has been along the lines of, "Nice wheels". One even told me that seeing me using a scooter was like seeing a seal swimming gracefully after only having seen it flap about on land. I think that was a compliment.

However, a few people have commented that they hadn't noticed I was disabled until seeing me in a chair. I found this astounding, not only because I'm a fairly outspoken member of the disability community, but also because I walk with a cane and have the gait of drunken giraffe. I guess for some, the concept of disability is so tied to wheelchair use that the ability to walk can be seen as the marker of able-bodiedness. In some people's minds, it seems, if you can walk, you're able-bodied, and if not, you're disabled.

I've been an occasional wheelchair user for a good 15 years now, but late last year I started using a scooter regularly to get around my very large university campus. The changes that it has brought to my life have been startling. I wasn't surprised to discover that my levels of pain and exhaustion at the end of each day reduced, but I was surprised at the psychological changes that have taken place.

I suddenly realised how much mental energy I had been spending planning my day so that it included the fewest number of steps. Say, for example, I knew that I needed to leave my office to go to the library, to get lunch and to go to a meeting in the adjoining building. I would always do my best to ensure that I did all three things at once (fewer steps than going there and back each time), and of course I would have to go to the library last, so I'd be carrying books for the minimum distance.

In the past, each day was like a highly planned military exercise, but with my scooter, I suddenly have the freedom to go where I want, when I want.

There have been other changes too. On foot, I avoid being alone in places that are unfamiliar. I get anxious that I'll get lost or run out of energy and not be able to get home on my own. I tend to stick close to my friends and, to be honest, I can be a tad clingy. And because I plan every trip down to each step, I become frustrated and distressed if my friends unexpectedly want to make a detour or extra stop. (Yep, my friends are very patient.) But in a scooter, I'm independent, I'm confident and I know that I can always get home safely - as long as my battery is well charged.

Deciding to use a wheelchair or a scooter for the first time can be a daunting prospect. After a lifetime of walking, I can understand how it can feel like giving in to one's disability. Despite society's perceptions, wheelchairs are not confining, and their use doesn't preclude the ability or choice to walk. Wheelchairs are really just tools, to be used how and when they're needed. They can even open up your world and take you on all kinds of adventures.

Anthea Skinner is a PhD student at the Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music and Assistant Archivist at the Music Archive of Monash University. She is the music columnist for Link Disability Magazine and plays percussion in crip-folk band the Bearbrass Asylum Orchestra. She is lucky enough to have not one, but two neurological conditions.