Driver's Education

I went back to driver’s education this week.  I had my much anticipated evaluation for hand controls for my car.  The evaluation was done by an Occupational Therapist (OT).  It felt quite strange being on this side of an OT evaluation and treatment.  We swapped OT stories, which did dampen my anxiety, some.

The evaluation was required by the installing company, not the state of Georgia. I found out that my assumption was correct.  There are NO laws in Georgia regarding adaptive driving equipment or training.  So the experience for me in my state may be different from what may be required in yours.  My training required was simply based on the OT evaluation and her recommendation of what I needed to safely drive. 

My evaluation consisted of vision, cognitive, physical evaluation and of course, a driving test.   The whole process took 4 hours, which totally drained me.  I have not had the endurance for much without frequent rest breaks, so this was taxing on my body. 

 

I have never had test anxiety, yet this day I was overwhelmed by it.  The vision test was pretty simple, testing acuity and depth perception.  Which, I have no depth perception and never have my entire life, because of a lazy left eye.  Even though I did not “pass” this portion of the test, it is a deficit I have had my whole life, and I am used to accommodating for it.  

The cognitive test was stressful for me.  I had to remember lists of words, do simple math in my head, comprehend a paragraph read to me and answer questions.  I passed in the “average” range, but it did confirm deficits which I knew I had.  My short term memory and math skills are no longer in their top performance. These are test that I, myself, would give to head injured clients.  It was frustrating that I now could not pass with flying colors.  Thanks Levaquin!

My physical evaluation also did not reveal too many unexpected areas of deficit.  Overall my strength is significantly weaker than it was prior to Levaquin.   My muscle strength (for any OTs reading this) was in the fair plus range proximally.  For those who are not OTs, my hips and shoulders were much weaker than my hands and feet. However, I know from just doing normal activities around the house, such as even typing this, my hands are also weak and fatigue quickly.  The one area that did surprise me was how slow my reaction time was with my right foot.  The OT had a gas and brake pedal attached to her computer to measure my reaction time with my foot, and then with my left hand to see if I could benefit from the change to hand controls.  My reaction with my hand was much quicker and in the safe range.  Because I did not have the movement of the car and feedback from the surrounding environment, I had a difficult time maintaining the correct speed with my foot.  The proprioception in my foot was impaired and I no longer was getting feedback from my ankle and foot where it was positioned.  This also surprised me, because I was not aware that I had this problem. 

 

I also was given the Georgia state written road test.  Good grief, when will the testing end!  The above testing took a total of 2 ½ hours.  The road test was about to begin.  Based on my evaluation, the OT recommended the push/rock hand control with a hand spinner knob used for steering.  After a quick review of how to work the controls, the driving practice began. 

 

I was suddenly catapulted into feeling like I was 15 again, learning how to drive a standard stick-shift.  The sensation of being on those quiet Mississippi country roads with Dad trying to get me to understand how to release the clutch and at the same time apply enough gas came rushing back.  The anxiety and the sweaty palms were included.  The difference here, I am now MUCH older, and the roads are definitely not quiet in the Atlanta area.   I first started in a business parking area, and gradually progressed to divided highway driving.  The driving consisted of many turns, start/stops on inclines, merging etc.  The controls actually require very little pressure and allow my left arm to rest on my knee or on the door arm rest.  The steering knob is used to help with one handed steering.  She originally had it place in the 2:00 position on the wheel and my shoulder quickly became fatigued.  She later moved it to the 5:00 position which was markedly better, but my arm was already so fatigued at that point.  By the end of our drive, I was feeling much more comfortable with it and could carry on a conversation with her while driving. However, my right arm felt like a noodle.   She will give me one more road practice in my own car once the controls are installed.  

I could have never driven that much with my foot, that is for certain, but I was discouraged with how quickly my arms did fatigue.  As I write this, it is 2 days after my road test, and my right shoulder is still quite sore and fatigues even more quickly than normal.  I have come to the realization that long car drives are no longer in my future.  But at least this gives me the ability to take my daughter to school, or run an errand. I am hoping with having the steering knob installed at a lower position, and not having my body so tense from the anxiety of learning something new, I will be able to withstand the driving better.  I also have an option to add in additional arm rests if I need them.  However, I am going to just try what they have recommended for now and see how that works.  They are getting installed on April 11. 

For those that I have spoken to that have been contemplating hand controls, I hope my experience helps you.  I am not going to lie; it can be quite a costly item.  It is not covered by insurance, however it can be applied as a deductible for your taxes as Durable Medical Equipment.   I am sure the cost will highly depend on your state law requirements.  You have to consider the cost of the controls with installation plus, in my case, the cost of the OT evaluation and the amount of training needed.  In my situation, since I still have children dependent on my driving and my husband is out of town a lot, the need outweighed the costs.  I have spoken to some in other states that did not have to undergo such an evaluation that I did, so they only had to pay for installation costs.  Others have told me their state required 10 hours of training, which certainly would make the cost astronomical.   In my opinion I would not get these controls without having someone really show me and train me in how to use them.  In this case, I say driver’s education is a must.   

Thanks for reading!