As a teen, Jessica Haldin watched on as her school friends got their driver’s licences and secured their tickets to freedom.
It was something she wanted more than anything.
But at just two years old, she had her legs and fingers on both hands amputated.
She thought getting behind the wheel would be impossible.
“I got meningococcal back in 1993 … and as a result I’m a quad amputee, I had my limbs amputated,” she said.
“I just dealt with it, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
“I’d just get in the car and go with [my friends] — I lost all hope.”
Now, the 33-year-old from the southern Perth suburb of Rockingham is finally learning to drive in a car specially modified to suit her needs.
“Five years ago, my coordinator said, ‘Jess, you can do that, you can get your licence and you can get funding for it. I said ‘OK then, put my name down. If you’re going to fight, I’ll fight with you’,” Jessica said.
“[Now] I have a joystick for steering and breaking and accelerating, and then I have a microphone for voice activation for indicators, horn, window wipers and hazard lights.
“The first lesson was very nerve-wracking. [The instructor] turned around to me and said, ‘How’s your heart?’ and I went, ‘Going bloody fast’.”
Freedom to ‘just take off’
It has been a long journey to get approval and funding from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to be able to learn to drive.
Loading…
But Jessica is thrilled about the doors her new skills could open up.
“Literally, I don’t do much because I’m stuck at home,” she said.
“So I sit at home and if mum goes out, I go with her just to get out of the house … all my life I have been relying on her.”
She hopes to have her licence by the end of the year, and plans to “just take off”.
“To be able to just leave my house independently and just be like, ‘Bye, I’m going out’ would be everything,” she said.
“[When I get my licence] I will not be at home I have already told mum I’ll be off on the road, doing a road trip … I’d love to go to Margaret River, Albany, Bunbury, Busselton.
“I’d love to be able to just jump in a car.”
‘I have done my job’
While support worker Tamlyn Macdonald jokes that Jessica getting her licence will put her out of a job, she really couldn’t be happier to see her client thrive.
“She deserves it,” she said.
“It means I have done my job properly — the whole point of the NDIS is to help people to have an independent life … we can just go on to be friends for the rest of our life.
“Don’t let your disability hold you back, if someone tells you no, just use that as motivation like Jessica does.”
More people getting behind the wheel
As an occupational therapist and driving instructor, Mikayla Kongram sees people with disabilities get behind the wheel every day, and technology is making it possible.
She said the waitlists for driving lessons for people with a disability were “out of this world”.
“Those opportunities are so much greater than they were before the NDIS — so people have the opportunity to hop in the car, to have their vehicles modified, to get driving.
“It’s just amazing to get people out on the road … with the appropriate vehicle modifications.
“There are definitely people out there that have physical disabilities that may not be able to drive, but technology has come such a long way — we’re able to modify the cars in amazing ways to get people out on the road with a quite limited range of movement.”
Is there a ‘feel good’ story, colourful character, or uplifting news you’d like to let us know about?
Loading…
If you’re unable to load the form, click here.