Modified vehicles helping make driving lessons more accessible

Bhakti Patel is preparing to sit her restricted driving test.

She has cerebral palsy, meaning getting behind the wheel looks a little different for her.

"When I was younger, I had a stroke," the 20-year-old said. "My right foot is not that strong and it's hard for me to grab stuff as my right hand's weaker, so I kind of have to use my shoulder."

A new programme run by the Cerebral Palsy Society is funding her lessons in a specially modified car, kitted out with a left foot accelerator and a spinner that goes on the steering wheel, controlling the indicators and the horn.

But getting lessons in cars like these isn't easy.

"Because of the modifications in the vehicle, these lessons end up being more expensive," says Harald Leeuwenburgh from A1 Driving School.

That's not all.

"We need to go through the process of getting an occupational therapy driving assessment," says the Cerebral Palsy Society's Renata Kotua.

"This is at a cost of about $1000 and more if you live out of the main centres."

Around 8000 New Zealanders live with cerebral palsy.

"Half those people have the capacity to learn to drive but only a quarter of them are driving due to the financial input required," says Kotua. "Anyone with physical disabilities will be facing the same gauntlet when attempting their restricted licence."

The Disabled Persons Assembly NZ says there are too many barriers.

"Learning to drive is a milestone that many disabled people are neither encouraged, nor enabled to reach," says Chief Executive Prudence Walker.

"From the leaner licence test which raises potential barriers for people with learning disabilities... to the cost and lack of availability of adapted vehicles - and driving instructors who can teach people to drive them."

Peter Reynolds from the New Zealand Disability Support Network agrees, but said it's not a simple fix.

"The issues facing a person with a physical disability may present quite differently from those for a person with with an intellectual of sensory disability," he said.

"We need to think about the accessibility of the learning services and the likely cost increases that may emerge.

"Then there's the testing system, which has an obligation to be more accessible than it is currently. But then there's the driving rules and systems and the extent to which there may be accessibility issues and opportunities."

In a statement, Whaikaha - the Ministry of Disabled People, said its priority is "to support the creation of a more accessible and inclusive society for disabled people, which includes things like better access to driving".

Chief Executive Paula Tesoriero said: "We will raise this with relevant agencies".

At the moment, 14 people are getting funded driving lessons through the Cerebral Palsy Society, courtesy of a private donor.

"We're hoping to expand further into the country," says Kotua. "Obviously our reach can only go as far as where there are occupational therapists and specialist teachers available."