Summary
Many people with neuropathy have a loss of confidence that stops or limits their driving. However, with specialist driving controls, the Disability Driving Centre helped Tonya and Bob get back behind the wheel, even after one of them had their driving licence taken away.
For most Australians, losing the ability to drive happens gradually with age, or not at all.
For Tonya Cook-Pedersen and Bob Grant, it happened suddenly triggered not by age but by neuropathy, a condition that reduces sensation and control in the hands and feet, often with little warning.
Tonya and Bob got back to driving with confidence by using specialist driving controls. In Bob’s case, he needed to restore his driving licence. Here’s their stories:
Tonya: from restricted trips to unrestricted freedom
Tonya Cook-Pedersen lives with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, an autoimmune condition that attacks the myelin sheath protecting her nerves.
While juggling a consulting career, school-age children, and long drives to visit her parents in northern NSW, she began having minor driving incidents as her symptoms worsened. She scaled back to short neighbourhood trips and started looking into alternatives.
Tonya added “ability to drive” as a goal under Maintaining Independence in her NDIS plan, which funded an assessment with a Driver Trained Occupational Therapist (DTOT).
The assessment confirmed she needed assistive driving technology, and her next plan review secured funding for hand control lessons. She trialled the controls in a vehicle at a Specialist Driving School before committing.
“I really wanted to be sure this would work for me,” she recalls. “There was no point getting funding for something I couldn’t adapt to — but I was pleasantly surprised.”
With that confidence, Tonya applied for capital funding to modify her own vehicle. She pushed to have a satellite accelerator and brake lever installed by the Disability Driving Centre – then known as the Total Ability Installation Centre before our recent name change and move to Chatswood.
She was determined to have them fitted before her final test, rather than testing on a different set of controls to the ones fitted in her car.
“It was seamless,” she notes. “It made no sense for me to learn on one set of controls but be tested on another.”
The difference it made to Tonya
The result was a full return to unrestricted driving.
“I was still running my consulting business, still managing school routines, and needed to do long drives for work and family,” Tonya explains.
“When I couldn’t drive, everything became difficult — for me and for my husband. Now, there’s no real issue anymore. I can even make the long trips to visit my parents again.”
Bob: the importance of independence
Bob Grant’s neuropathy developed as a side effect of multiple myeloma medication, leaving numbness and burning in both feet.
He went into a driving assessment expecting guidance on managing the condition; instead, the DTOT found him unsafe to drive, and his licence was suspended. It was a shock.
Bob turned to taxis and rideshares, but his independence narrowed sharply. The turning point came on a visit to the Blue Mountains: after taking the train up, he couldn’t secure a taxi and was left facing a difficult late-night walk — a stark reminder of what he’d lost.
Because he was above the NDIS age threshold, Bob self-funded his driving controls, the required driver training and the installation of the controls, engaging the Disability Driving Centre to modify his car.
Even through he initially found driving lessons with the new assistive controls frustrating, he eventually got the hang of things.
“I had ten lessons,” he said. “By the seventh, I finally started feeling more confident, but it was a total retrain.”
He was fitted with an ergonomic radial combined brake and accelerator with a spinner knob, and regained his ability to drive independently.
The "life changing" impact on Bob
Bob couldn’t be more emphatic about the effect on him, saying: “It’s given me back my life.”
“I never thought I’d have to stop driving until I was really old! You know intuitively that at some point you’ll have to stop driving, but when it happens unexpectedly, it’s a huge blow to your lifestyle. We’ve got reasonable transport here, but it’s nowhere near the same as being able to drive yourself.”
“It’s the independence,” he adds. “It’s being able to do things when you want to, not relying on others, or when a taxi is available. Getting that freedom back is life changing.”
The Controls They Use:
Tonya:
Satellite Accelerator + Brake Lever
Bob:
Ergonomic Radial Combined Brake & Accelerator with Spinner Knob
Live in or near Sydney?
Interested in Driving with Neuropathy?
Join Us At Our Next Drive Day
Disability Driving Centre ‘Drive Days’ are where people try the latest driving controls on private roads or tracks – a chance to try a range of controls at minimal or no cost without the pressure of other traffic.
We plan to host regular neuropathy-specific Drive Days in Sydney. If you’d like us to contact you when the next one is confirmed, complete the form below and we’ll be in touch in time so you can prepare.
Exploring Driving Controls? We're Here to Help
As Tonya and Bob’s experiences show, driving with neuropathy or other physical impairments is absolutely possible with the right assistive technology, the right professionals, and the right support.
The Disability Driving Centre is here to help you through every step with:
- Contacts for Driver Trained Occupational Therapists and Specialist Driving Instructors
- Information on NDIS funding and vehicle modification pathways
- Access to Australia’s leading range of disability driving controls
Our associated company, Total Ability (who continues as a business importing the world’s best driving controls and other vehicle access equipment into Australia) also created several free guides, including our Complete Guide to Driving With Disability and our NDIS Guide to Vehicle Modifications, to support you on your journey.
If you’re in or near Sydney, you’re welcome to visit our Disability Driving Centre in Chatswood to speak with our team (by appointment only) and get ‘hands on’ with some of the equipment you might use.
Get in touch today and let us help you get back to driving.
