Camille Craven, 58, from Scotland’s Western Isles, has been able to regain her confidence in driving with a disability, thanks to the new DriveAbility Scotland satellite assessment centre in Aberdeen.
Camille works as an Estate Services Manager responsible for tourist facilities and activities. In June last year she felt she was struggling to move her right foot safely and lost confidence with driving. This resulted in her husband needing to take time off to drive her to work, the shops and hospital for regular appointments. Camille discussed these difficulties with her Healthcare Specialist who signposted her to Motability, who referred her to DriveAbility Scotland.
A member of the national charity Driving Mobility, DriveAbility Scotland provides clinically led, ‘fitness-to-drive’ and mobility equipment assessments. These services focus on enabling as many people as possible so they can maintain or regain independence with restricted mobility. Clients self-refer or are signposted from the NHS, DVLA, Motability and the Police.
Living off the Scottish mainland and in the Western Isles, Camille benefited from DriveAbility Scotland’s brand-new satellite centre which has just opened in Aberdeen. It meant she didn’t need to get to the main centre in Glasgow. She begins her story:
“I read Motability’s website that in Scotland if you want to drive with adaptations, you need to go to a DriveAbility Scotland centre for a driving assessment. I made contact with them and they explained how they would recommend the right controls for me and how I might be able to lease an adapted car through Motability. The centre in Aberdeen had literally just opened so I decided to book an assessment and was actually one of their first clients. I went along and didn’t really know what to expect so was nervous, but Fiona and Alex went out of their way to be kind and explain everything from start to finish. They put me at ease in an automatic adapted vehicle and allowed me to try both pull push hand controls and a left foot accelerator.”
“Once the driving part of the assessment was done, we went back to the centre and they discussed everything. They asked me what I thought about the options and I said the hand controls for braking and accelerating felt a bit alien and more tricky for me. I felt a lot more comfortable with the left foot accelerator. Following the visit, I was posted my report with all the information and recommendations set out clearly which I could take to a car adaptation centre such as City Mobility.”
Camille has driven for many years and being behind the wheel remains fundamental to her career and lifestyle. She continues: “Driving independently is important to me for work. At the moment, I rely on either my husband taking me to and from work or my colleagues picking me up. Friends also take me places. The island I live on is quite big and our main town for supermarket shopping is 60 miles away. I do have a local shop just over a 5 minute drive away, but I must rely on other people to get further afield, especially for hospital appointments. So being able to drive myself again means I can get to work and go shopping without asking for help.”
In summary, Camille has been very impressed with the level of service and support she has received from DriveAbility Scotland. She encourages everyone with restricted mobility, who wants to drive, to reach out to the charity to see if they can help. “I think for anybody that’s concerned about their confidence when driving, I would definitely recommend DriveAbility Scotland as they are so helpful. The team do their very best to put you at ease and in the end, there is nothing to worry about, it is not a test. You’ll receive very good independent advice and guidance.”
“They kept saying we are not here to judge you; we are here to help you with your future driving. We want to find what’s going to help you get the best out of driving. I would say for anybody that’s having mobility issues or thinking they are never going to be able to drive again, not to write it off at all and get in touch with them. DriveAbility Scotland will do whatever they can to help you get back on the road and keep you on the road.”
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