Driving with MS

As my life with MS progresses, I’ve come to realise how important it is to maintain my independence as much as possible. A huge key to enabling this is being able to drive myself around, so that I can take myself places rather than relying on others. Going to doctor’s appointments, meeting a friend for coffee, driving to a vet appointment with my dog, taking my children places – these are all things I still want to be able to do by myself. Of course, it’s more convenient. But, perhaps more importantly for me, it helps me feel like I’m still useful, valid and able to do at least some of the things that I could before my diagnosis.

Trouble with public transport

Of course, there’s always public transport. I still use trains sometimes for longer journeys, and I’ve aways preferred taking a bus into town rather than driving. You avoid contending with traffic or trying to find a suitable parking space. But unfortunately, as time goes on, I’m finding that public transport is becoming less convenient. 

When I arrive at my destination stop, for example, there’s often a walk to get where I want to go, which is too far for me to manage. Even getting on and off a bus or train can be quite a feat. I’ve considered taking myself on the bus in my wheelchair, but having tried this once, it’s not something I relish the idea of. Particularly at busy times, when even finding the space to park my wheelchair on the bus could be difficult. I also feel conspicuous and in the way. Taxis are another option, and again one I do use sometimes. But this still involves relying on others and can be quite expensive. Over time, I realised I was avoiding going out rather than facing some of these difficulties. And was in danger of becoming isolated.

Adjusting to driving with MS

As I result, it gradually dawned on me that I really would benefit from driving in order to maintain my independence and live a fulfilling life. And so, my journey to driving with MS had begun! This hasn’t been a straightforward path for me personally, for a couple of reasons. 

First of all, I’ve never been what you might call a confident driver and I’ve never enjoyed driving. As a child of parents who were both driving instructors (and even taught driving instructors) when I was growing up, I was more aware than the average child of the challenges and dangers of driving. Whilst this doesn’t seem to have affected my siblings, unfortunately for whatever reason it made me hyper-aware of the enormity of the responsibility I was taking on as a driver. As a result, driving’s always been something I’ve done somewhat reluctantly, out of necessity rather than choice.

Then there came the added difficulty I faced due to my MS symptoms. Due to weakness in my legs, I found I wasn’t able to use the pedals effectively in a manual car. I therefore stopped driving and requested a driving assessment. 

Driving assessment and learning to drive with my hands

The assessment process in my experience was quite difficult to navigate. But I think that COVID and lockdowns definitely played a part in this. It therefore took some time to get everything sorted, but eventually I had hand controls fitted in my next car. 

The adaptations have meant that I’ve felt much happier about safety. But they’ve also involved learning a whole new skill set in my (late) forties! Learning to drive an automatic car with my hands after nearly thirty years of driving manual cars with foot pedals was interesting. It took many hours of practicing in empty car parks or on quiet roads, as well as some driving lessons, before I felt confident. Now, though, driving with hand controls is second nature. So it feels like it’s all been worthwhile.

Finding out about more car adaptions

I’m certainly no expert, but along my driving journey I’ve discovered that there’s such a wide variety of adaptations available these days. They cover a huge range of needs, so that many more people can keep driving. A recent discovery is a driver’s seat that can swivel round and come outside of the car, which helps you get into the car more easily. I’ve also heard of adaptations that enable you to drive WAVs (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles) whilst sitting in your own wheelchair.

In my next car I’m also going to have a hoist fitted in the boot for my powered wheelchair. This will let me go places where walking is needed, without relying on someone else to take the wheelchair in and out of the car for me. 

I’d encourage anyone who’s interested to research what’s available that might suit their current or future needs – you never know, you might be surprised at what can be done to help keep you on the road!

What driving with MS means to me

For me, driving with MS is more important than driving ever was before, and I’m so glad I persevered with it. Without driving, I’d be at risk of being isolated and missing out on life. I want to see myself as an independent person despite MS, and being able to drive helps me to achieve this, and to live life to the full. It gives me back choices that I might not otherwise have. MS may have taken my ability to walk as I used to, but that doesn’t mean I need to let it take away my chance to have a fulfilling life!

Find out more about driving and MS