The State of New Jersey has finally given up its state secrets on drivers with disabilities, and I am behind the wheel once more.
After undergoing a formal assessment from a state-licensed driver evaluator who are housed in occupational therapy facilities in major hospitals, and who are rare as hen's teeth by the way, I was declared medically disabled but able enough to receive a prescription for adaptive equipment for my car.
Having lost the use of my left hand, my only option is to drive one-handed. As a result I was unable to operate the indicator doovelacky on the left side, although the use of indicators seem to be optional for most NJ drivers anyway, she says with tongue firmly in cheek.
So now, as you can see from the photo, there is a metal contraption that attaches to the indicator on the left side, which then crosses over the back of the steering wheel, allowing me to operate it with my right hand.
The steering wheel was also fitted with a turning knob so that it's much easier for me to steer with one hand. It takes a little getting used to but no major accidents yet so it's all good.
It's taken a long time to get this little bit of freedom back and it feels great, although I'm sure I'll be sick of driving again in no time. MIL's pretty happy too that she's no longer Driving Miss Daisy.
Now all I need to work on is being able to flip the bird with my spare gimp hand. A must-have skill for for handling the extraordinarily polite New Jersey drivers.
