Disabled Driving - Experiences as a Irish Disabled Driver in Ireland

My car is definitely one of my most precious possessions, more than a collection of bodyparts and an engine, to me it has been both life giving and life changing. It is 8 years old and doesn't look much, but it gets me where I want to go, and if my engine was as trustworthy and reliable, I'd be very happy. Before I got it I had absolutely no life. Now I know people tend to look at the past with tinted glasses, tending to gloss over the difficult times, but I can say quite definately and categorically that my years BC (before car) were a nightmare that I wont easily revisit.

There is nothing more depressing than living in the countryside. using a wheelchair without any car. It would have made a tremendous difference at third level. Instead every trip (however small) had to be planned with military precision and budgetd for. While everyone else went home at the weekends, I endured the quiet weekends because there was always so much hassle in gettin me back (my mother only drives locally).

I remember the feeling when I got the car at 22, of just making up your mind to go somehere and just going. Honestly, its the closest thing to walking for me, just being able to get from point a to point b under your own steam. You didn't have to wait until someone was free. As I said before, I am a movie lover, and it was brilliant to be able to see new releases on the big screen, rather than having to wait months for them to come out on video as was my practice before.I had to bite my lip often, knowing that I was being ripped off by the taxi man

Update 11/11/05

Yesterday as I was negotiating my way home, after a cold wet winters day with leaves everywhere, my car went into a wall knocking both out of action. I was fine, and I just feel shocked and embarassed. It is really great to see the humanity of people in action. The amount of people who stopped to help was nothing short of shocking. My own sister passed me by, thinking that because the accident happened near a protestant church, that there was some service on. Now I am stranded, looking for a used automatic car. I would'nt have a new car if I won the lottery, I loved the fact with the micra that I never had to worry about any scratch or bump. They were all just battle scars, and I never had to worry about it being robbed. But it sure will be some time before I am driving again. I'm not even sure if I want to drive again, but I cant have any kind of life without it. As long as noone else was involved, thats the main thing, walls and cars can be easily replaced.

12/11/05

God, this is bringing back old depressing memories of my "life" before the car, sitting back and watching the hours, days and months meld pointlessly together. My youngest brother also has FA, and is in that position now. Its terrible that there is no short term solution. To even rent an automatic car with hand controls in the interim period, is not even an option. Thankfully I work locally, so I will be able to get a lift in/out. I took friday off to deal with all the insurance stuff, and ringing around garages to no avail, emailing etc.

7/12/05

Here are some useful contacts for any disabled driver

At the moment, to be honest, I am coping quite well without the car. I have bigger things to worry about, and who likes driving at this time of year anyway, with the short days and long dark nights, which are an absolute nightmare to drive in when you live deep in the heart of rural Ireland. There are NO streetlights, a luxury only afforded to urban towns, and I don't miss being constantly dazzled by oncoming traffic or being forced into the ditch by big people carriers and land cruisers, whose owners assume that they own the road. I sincerely hope that the case is not closed, as regards the car issue, and that I can return to it in the near future. My sister brings me in to work, and either she or my mother collect me. I was finding it increasingly hard to transfer safely from the chair to the car. Every trip had to be measured in terms of number of transfers, and after the crash, when I went to the mobility centre in clane, I realised how many more adaptations and devices there are available now, for example a little indicator switch, which you could easily operate with your thumb, which would have made life A LOT easier.

I'm sure the emotional floodgates will open when the days are long and sunny, and I am trapped at home once more.I am placing a lot of blame for my current physical woes firmly in the direction of my current quickie wheelchair. It can be no coincidence that my overall health started to go into freefall almost from the moment that chair (Quickie TI) came into my life.I am holding fire until I get my new rgk chair next month, which has a special ergonomic seating design. Hopefully it will help improve my posture, core muscles and overall functionality.Another option is to buy a car, and under a new scheme launched by the IWA, to have a personal assistant drive me about. This is almost the last resort, but even I have to admit that I am getting closer and closer to this precipice of dependancy!

Tuesday 14/3/06

The rep from the IWA is coming out today. I have to be honest, and not try to pretend that things are going to get better. I know I am weaker in a lot of ways now than a couple of years ago, and I dread to think whats around the corner.The reality is that my sister will get married soon and move away, leaving my mother, and two wheelchair bound brothers. This is the stuff of nightmares, a day that I have long dreaded. But even for work, if I can have a PA drive me in/out of work, well even that would be good.Work for me is a refuge,a welcome change of scenary, a 9-5 distraction.

Of course I miss the car, but there are things that I certainly do not miss. I don't miss negotiating through fog and terrible winter weather, trying to assemble and get into the chair in the pissing rain,when I would be like a drowned rat after 10 minutes getting ready.

After a year and a hal of buses, taxi's and a whole lot of quiet days, myself and my brother finally are back on the road, thanks to our new van. Its real good to have the world, and all its possibilities, brought a little closer. Even for small things like getting a chinese or a dvd. Literally the only thing that I no longer do is swimming, which I have to say I miss dreadfully, but we have open insurance on the van, so here's hoping!