Getting back driving quickly after acquiring my disability was really important for me. The system basically is that you can be assessed by a specialist Occupational Therapist who may make recommendations about whether you can drive or not. On the Isle of Man, this is an OT with the ‘stroke’ team. If she can’t say ‘yes’, then you can be assessed by a specialist driving instructor. And if he can’t pass you, then you are assessed at a specialist driving centre in the UK. Because I knew the system and my level of disability, I made an arrangement to go straight to the driving centre, while I was still in rehab in England. I was told that if I made an arrangement directly, without going through the usual process, I’d have to pay for it myself. This was fifty pounds, but it saved a trip back off the Isle of Man and about eight weeks, so I paid up and on the day I was discharged from rehab, I went straight there.
They began by having me sit in a static ‘sports car’. There are LED’s built in to the windscreen. You accelerate (it makes real engine noises; vrumm-vrumm) then when a light comes on, do an emergency stop. There were twenty of these emergency stops to be performed and the reactions are timed. I did all of them extremely quickly, no reaction time issues. But one of them, around about number seventeen, my foot clipped the corner of the brake pedal and slipped off, back on to the accelerator. Obviously, in the real world, that would be a disaster. They had a discussion and decided to give me the benefit of the doubt and took me out in an automatic car. As we drove around a quiet area, I was having to look down at the brake pedal when I needed to put my foot on to it. Even if the examiner hadn’t noticed my glancing, I’d have owned up to it, it was something that clearly wouldn’t improve. Obviously, he’d spotted this, it was his job to. So on returning to base, driving a ‘normal’ car was ruled out.
Next, we went out in a ‘push/pull’ hand control vehicle. There is a handle next to the steering wheel. Pull to accelerate, push to brake. A knob is attached to the steering wheel so that it can be operated one handed. I took to it straight away. Occasionally forgetting if it was push or pull to brake and managing to switch indicators on while using my hand for another job was a bit difficult, but I knew I’d get used to it. This is the simplest adaptation. Rods physically connect the leaver to the pedals, so they move as the push/pull hand control is moved. Other adaptations are available, including ways to operate indicators & windscreen wipers etcetera from the steering wheel, but I don’t need those.
Push/pull adaptations can only be made to automatic cars. At the time, my everyday car was a manual (or ‘stick’ for anyone reading this on the other side of the Atlantic). Fortunately, I also had an off-road, Land Rover Discovery. This is a proper ‘off road’ vehicle. Raised kit, big wheels, snorkel. And by pure coincidence, it was an automatic. I was therefore able to arrange for the adaptation to be made as soon as I arrived home. A week or so after my return to the Isle of Man, a friend drove it out to the guy who fitted the adaptation. Then the following day, I was taken to pick it up. Only the second time of driving with hand controls was away from his workshop.
That evening I went out with the Isle of Man 4×4 Club for a night time run! In the dark & rain, I had to repeatedly remind myself which way to push/pull. It is somewhat counterintuitive, I wanted to ‘pull’ to brake. I guess it is because you pull a leaver to stop a motorbike or cycle. Even a horse! But it is actually obvious, if you do an emergency stop, your weight will go forwards on to the leaver. If it was ‘pull’ to stop, you’d end up accelerating again as your body went forwards.
I could lift the wheelchair in/out of the boot and hold the roof rack to get around to the driver’s door. I improvised to get in. I bought a folding step and tied some string to it. That way, I could climb up to the cab, then use the string to pull the step up behind me!
It isn’t your normal ‘Blue Badge‘ driver’s car! On one occasion, I drove in to a car park and straight in to the accessible parking space, the Disco was covered in mud (far more than here). There was a group of people sat at a picnic bench nearby. I saw them all glaring at me and talking to each other. Then when they saw me slide out and slowly walk away with two walking sticks, they suddenly found something really interesting to look at in the trees above them!
This was in March 2013, in Wales with the 4×4 Club. Only about the third time I’d driven off road. I acquired my disability the first weekend in May of that year.
