"It's an emotional process"

Teaching those with a disability how to drive can be “an emotional process,” according to an Athlone-based instructor.

Barry Reid has put “countless” people on the road with various disabilities since he started working with the Irish Wheelchair Association in 1998.

He works with those born with disabilities such as Spina Bifida and cerebral palsy, and also those who have acquired disabilities, such as through injury or through diagnoses like MS or motor neurons disease.

Barry says the first requirement to qualify for his lessons, which are done from Clonbrusk Resource Centre, is a referral letter from a GP.

He then says he’ll perform his own assessment on a person’s disabilities.

“We do a physical assessment first of all,” says Barry.

“After that we have a good long chat with the person, you learn a lot by taking to someone for 15-20 minutes, then we put them into the car and look at what controls they can use.”

Barry says this is where the various adaptions available to his practice car come in.

“There’s left foot accelerators, hand controls and a multitude of adaptions that go on the steering wheel – we have around 15-18 different ways to drive our training car,” he says.

“You can even have an accelerator on the steering wheel with a ring on it that you pull gently from the back to accelerate the vehicle – anything can be done, but unfortunately costs are the bottom line.

“The most expensive car we have built was €174,000 for a person who had a spinal injury and was paralysed from the neck down.

“They could drive from their powerchair, into the vehicle, and off they go – it's bordering on airplane technology at that point.”

Barry says they cater to both people born with a disability and those who have acquired one.

“We might have someone who has driven for 10, 20, 30 years and had a stroke or was diagnosed with MS, motor neuron, etc,” he says.

“We do assessments on them staying on the road or, in some cases, taking them off the road.

“Thanks be to God it doesn’t happen too often; the majority of people we do assessments on we can keep them on the road in some shape or form.”

Barry says learning to drive can be an “emotional experience” for those with a disability.

“If you get someone who has a severe disability, they could be very restricted in what they’re able to do, depending on someone else transporting them from A to B,” he says.

“If we can teach someone to drive, we can give them their independence; they can socialise, get a job and become their own person who doesn’t depending on someone else.

“It can be a very emotional process for them and there are times we will see people at their most vulnerable.”

Barry began instructing those with a disability how to drive back in 1998 – the first person in the midlands to do it.

“I was originally a normal instructor but I had friends and a family member with a disability so I looked into doing it and did a couple of courses,” he says.

“Then I got in touch with the IWA and we got a car into Mullingar, there were others around the country but this was the first in Westmeath and the midlands.

“We’ve put a lot through the test and gotten a lot on the road since then – people who may never have had the opportunity to do so before.

“We will never guarantee to be able to get someone on the road but we’ll make a damn good effort of it and give it our best shot.”

Barry says the IWA also provide other supports such as help for passengers with a disability, VAT exemptions for adaptions, and further guidance.