Being able to drive, and get out was the biggest step to "getting my life back" for me. At your level, you will probably be able to drive a regular car, with hand controls. Do you already own a car? If so, you may only need to get hand controls for it ($1500) or so. Expensive, but not as much as considering getting a whole adapted vehicle. The best cars to drive are ones that allow for a level transfer, and are big enough to allow you to get the chair in. (Mid size and up. Mini vans and SUVs are harder.) There is no public transportation for wheelchairs where I live either, so until I was driving, I depended on friends or family to drive me around.
The first step may be to learn how to get into the passenger seat, so that you can go out with friends. Do you use a slide board to transfer into bed? Transferring into the car is the same concept, just in a cramped space. It isn;t much harder once you figure it out. Until you get good at it, stick to cars that allow a fairly level transfer (ie ... not big SUVs or mini vans). A good point here, it is hard to fall …. Between the
door, the frame and the wheelchair, there isn’t far to go!
In
rehab they taught me just enough to get into the car with help.
After I was home, I went to outpatient PT for
a while, and learned how to load the chair.
I use a slide board to transfer. I position myself in the open door, scoot
forward in my chair, place the board under my thigh, and on the car seat, I put one foot on the ground and
slide across the board into the car seat. Then I pull my feet in. It works better with leather seats, with
cloth ones, my butt tends to want to stay where it first hits the seat. When I was first hurt, my mom made a nylon
seat cover, that made it easier to slide into position once I was in. You will
have to experiment as to where to put your hands, each car is different. When I was first injured, we would open the
window first, so someone could reach me.
In the beginning, you will be in someone else’s car. So they
can load the chair for you. Once you are
finally driving yourself, you will learn to put the chair in the car with you.
I was looking for a video online to show you. I wasn’t able to find one using a board, but
both of these are pretty good. These
guys are able to pop right in, but if you imagine that they used a slide board,
the rest of the video is pretty accurate, as to how I get in, and then put my
chair in. (Don’t worry about the chair
loading for now, just know that you will be able to learn how to do it, it is easier than it looks.)
I use permanent hand controls, one guy in the video
demonstrate portable ones. You can
search around for more videos as well, but WARNING ….. if you aren’t familiar
with online vids, there are some weird ones out there. If the title is “Sexy girl with floppy paralyzed legs transfers into the car” you
might want to skip it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQraE9xrArw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xAG_G5DKAA
As far as learning to drive with hand controls. What state do you live in? The regs about hand controls varies from state
to state. In some you can just go and
have them installed, and figure it out. In many, you can’t purchase them until you are
tested by the dmv. In Connecticut, where I live, the dmv will also
teach you how to use them on their cars. There was no charge for this, which was
great. The con was it took almost a year
from the first phone call, until I was driving my own car. Easter Seals sometimes gets involved, or
commercial classes.
OK. this really rambles, it will make more sense when you try it. Feel free to ask me some more questions if what I said is too confusing.
So, step 1: get a friend to help you figure out how to get into the passenger seat of the car, and go for a ride!
Getting out is important, I know for me, the more I just stay home, the worse I feel.
T 7-8 since 2005
