On the road again
During those first three years, I wasn’t too concerned about not driving. There was so much going on that I didn’t miss it all that much. I had family and Support Workers helping me get to appointments and my wife could drive, of course. It’s funny. I thought I’d miss it more but it didn’t bother me… until it did. I had my prosthetics by then.
I think it was the long drives I missed. We’d always loved them. Driving up the coast since when I was a young guy with my mates heading to Byron for music festivals and then with my wife and family. I would always do the bulk of the drive. It was that feeling of driving on the open road that I missed.
It took a while to get my licence back. I first had an assessment with an Occupational Therapist and then came the special training and practice. The learning process took 10-12 hours and it was good after 20 years to brush up on driving skills.
It’s a thorough and gradual process with a specialist driving instructor taking me through the steps. We progressively went on to busy areas, and then eventually highway driving. I wanted to feel 100% confident, and ready to handle most driving situations. The only modification I needed was an attachment to my steering wheel and an automatic vehicle.
By the time I had to do the test, I felt very ready for the open road but it probably took me a month of driving until it was just second nature. It was a funny thing because I’d driven for 20 years before and now, mentally I found I had to remind myself, ‘Oh, I’m an amputee now, you have to be more careful with how you do things.’ One of the funniest things was picking up my daughters from school for the first time. They didn’t quite remember me driving and then there I was. It took them both a while to register and they’re kind of like, ‘Why are you in the driving seat?’
Haha! What was I doing there? Don’t you love kids!
These days Garth and his family are rocking it on the road together with long drives and holiday adventures up and down the coast. Garth drops his kids to school most days, picks them up, and is a happy chauffeur to sport and all the other family activities. He’s back sitting behind the wheel and no-one asks why.
“It’s just been this gradual journey, week by week. I had to learn how to feed myself again, I had to learn how to put a shirt on again, I had to learn how to balance. Just little things like picking up keys or a coin, or feeding yourself and making a cup of tea, just simple things.”
Member Garth at International Day of People with Disability Round Table Talk
“He set his sights on running blades, then driving, and now learning golf. He doesn’t see limitations and always says ‘I can’t do that yet."
