The greatest words of advice received at the Motability expo came from one of the adapters there when asked if they had come across any Motability van lifts that didn’t rattle or make such a noise. ‘Ah yeah, I just turn the radio up to drown out the noise!’ That’s fine for the driver but what about the poor bugger in the back sat next to it!

We came away from The Big Event that we had been so excited to go to feeling deflated and rather depressed. We had heads full of dreams of trying to be ‘normal’. Let me expand on what I mean by ‘normal’ by exploring our on-the-road options with a not-your-average full-time wheelchair user. The average family will have the pick of any car from small and smart to big and beautiful, our family gets pushed towards the Postman Pat van, and whilst this doesn’t sound the end of the world it isn’t always in a good way; some adaptations for WAVs (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles) stick the wheelchair user in the boot – how is that in any way inclusive. After 12 years in a Postman Pat Van, we want an ordinary family car that doesn’t scream disabled at everyone. So armed with our welcome pack and complimentary tape measure we headed to the normal car area to see our options.

There were hundreds of people milling around the non-WAV cars, the vast majority measuring the boots to be able to get their chairs in. We enjoyed the craic as we started chatting and discussing what we had found out, which cars were suitable and which ones weren’t, reminiscing of a time when they made boots big enough to put the wheelchair in and the long list of suitable but discontinued cars. We got a high five from one wheelchair user as we puzzled over how to make the boot wide enough and found the chairs inched forward. There was more of a buzz and font of knowledge from the punters than the dealers who were pretty much just standing around looking bored. There are 1.2 million wheelchair users in the UK, surely the market could be better. It’s only set to get worse as we move into the electric vehicle era where boot space is even worse and vans can do a huge 100 miles on a single charge. I’m all for saving the environment but if we are going to be able to join in with this crusade, they are going to have to do a whole load better!

It’s not impossible for us to have an ordinary car but it’s still going to need adaptations consisting of two hoists, a smaller wheelchair, and a better harness for sitting in the car. The suitable list is rather thin on the ground. Our choices are VW Tiguan, Suzuki Swace or a Kia Sportage. The issue here is that none of these cars have a sliding door so the option of a BraunAbility Turny is taken away and you are again pushed towards the Postman Pat van as these only work on a sliding door vehicle if you need the person sat in the back and we do as our daughter, who has 4 limb cerebral palsy, has a habit of thrusting her arms about and generally landing a hard smack to your face – not conducive of a safe journey when the driver is getting beat up. Another option is The Milford Person Lift, a nifty bit of kit that transfers the person from a wheelchair to a car seat. It’s a great idea but is done manually so not a hundred percent great for the caregivers posture and back.

A huge issue we face when looking for equipment and solutions for our daughter is her huge range of complex needs. When you look at the brochures for these things it usually shows an older person in a wheelchair or someone who has developed mobility issues. What it very rarely or never seems to depict is someone like our daughter who is one of many who have had issues from birth and will never be able to switch her highly supportive chair for a lighter foldable option. You can get hoists and help to get the chair into the boot like the BraunAbility Joey lift or the Smarter Lifter hoists but finding a boot to cater for our 45kg, meter high, un-collapsible chair is another story. Which finds us back in WAV territory and the Pat van.

In the end we decided to turn the radio up!!!