Mobility for a disabled couple

Aim

Driving lessons and a car, to help a queer disabled couple become more mobile and lead fuller and healthier lives.

We are Sam and Elly, a couple living in Derby, UK. We’re both queer, and genderqueer, and we’re also both disabled. Elly is severely so, with a mixture of mental and physical health conditions, the latter including ME, EDS, asthma and seizures. They use a wheelchair most of the time when out and about, but are frequently housebound and often bedridden, especially over the winter. Sam is more mildly disabled, with depression and EDS, but still enough to affect what they can do, especially on bad pain days and over the winter.

We’re also both self-employed. Sam works full-time, dividing that between an art/craft/design business, and casual work as an events steward; Elly manages 5 hours work a week, split between proofreading/editing, creating folk music (home recording is a wonderful thing!), and making Kumihimo braids.

We’re doing our best to build our businesses and live full lives, but our income is low, and we rely on Housing Benefit and Working Tax Credits to keep ourselves going – money that it is not always safe to rely on in the current climate. Elly tried claiming Personal Independence Payment a few years ago, but the stress involved in claiming severely exacerbated both their mental and physical health problems, so even though they are entitled to it, they withdrew their claim.

We are hoping to gradually improve our situation, and we know something that would help enormously: for Sam to become a driver, and for us to get a car. Here are just some of the things that this would help us with:

• Elly could get to medical appointments at both the GP and hospital reliably and sustainably. Being housebound so much makes it difficult for them to access proper medical treatment for a number of their health problems, including the seizures, for which they still do not have a proper diagnosis, and which seriously impair their cognitive function.
• Sam could get shopping and other errands out of the house done (including their own medical appointments!) more speedily and without wiping themself out on bad joint pain/fatigue days, thus improving both their general health and the amount of energy they can put into other aspects of their life.
• Elly could get out of the house far more, especially over the winter and when they are particularly ill. Whether that’s to visit friends in Derby, a trip to the museum or to one of the parks on the other side of the city, or just to keep Sam company when they’re doing shopping, it would make an absolutely enormous difference to their quality of life and mental health. (Our project photo demonstrates exactly how happy getting outside makes them!)
• We could get into the countryside far more easily and far more often. We love green spaces and fresh air, and we both experience some remission of our health problems when in them, especially Sam’s depression and Elly’s ME and asthma. Derby’s not bad for parks, but being able to drive out into the Amber Valley or even the Peak District from time to time and explore some wheelchair accessible paths would be healing and wonderful.
• Sam would be able to take on more stewarding shifts (since many are inaccessible by public transport), and would have a less tiring commute to their current shifts, improving their health and our income at a stroke. They would also have a solid way of commuting to more regular work if they are able to get some.
• Sam would also be able to trade at craft fairs more often and in more rural locations, and would have easier access to facilities such as the Nottingham Hackspace, which they use for their jewellery-making work.
• Elly would have at least the possibility of getting to folk clubs in Derby and further afield, and if things improve, even to do occasional gigs.
• We’d be able to participate more in the life of our community, from attending services at the cathedral or gatherings of local druids, to getting involved in the local green, left, LGBT and/or disability rights scenes. We also have a number of friends locally who we’d be in a much better position to help with various things and go on day trips with, which would be wonderful.
• In the longer term, having a car would give us more flexibility as to where we live, and in particular it would give us the option of eventually moving somewhere more rural or more remote, with better air quality, which would almost certainly lead to a significant, long-term improvement in our health.
• And last but oh goodness not least, we’d be able to travel out of the area. Elly leaves Derbyshire at present on average about once a year, and did not do so at all in 2016. Sam can manage rather more in the way of getting out and about, but the expense of public transport and not wanting to leave Elly behind does hamper them quite a lot! We have loved ones all over the UK, not all of whom are in a position to visit us, and we want to be able to go and see them. And who knows, perhaps we can even have the odd holiday from time to time. :-)

So, what would we need to become car-enabled?

Firstly, we need Sam to finish learning to drive, and to pass their test. They passed their theory test last year and have had 10 lessons, but they still need to do the rest. They’ve been quoted £500 for an intensive course of lessons that should get them comfortably to test point, and would like to do this. The test itself costs £62.

Then we need to buy a little second-hand hatchback (though with enough space for a wheelchair to fold down in the boot!), and to pay the road tax and the first (and inevitably most expensive!) year of car insurance.

We have £400 of this money already, thanks to a generous gift. But we don’t have the rest. Hence this Crowdfunder. :-)

We’ve given our target as £1500, but this is flexible funding – there are things we could do with different sums, and every little will definitely help!

• £150+ would mean that Sam can finish learning to drive, and take their test. And hey, that wouldn’t solve the problem, but it would still be a very useful thing, and one less thing to do if an opportunity arises for us to become car owners in the future!
• £300 would give some flexibility if Sam fails first time and need additional lessons, and otherwise would mean that we would have something to put by and hopefully gradually build on for saving up for a car.
• £700-1000 would mean that we could probably pay for a cheap second-hand hatchback, and would have something towards paying the first year’s tax and insurance. So at this point, having a car by the end of summer becomes a likelihood.
• £1200-1500 should cover the car, tax and insurance as well as the lessons and test. We’d be sorted. :-)
• And beyond £1700 (which we’re not expecting but would be amazing!) we’d be able to afford a slightly better car and/or be just generally in a reassuring state to cope with any problems with the car in the first year.

In short, a car would be the best possible mobility aid for us both at the moment, improving our health, improving our income and financial security (quite possibly, over the long term, to the point where we could come off social security entirely!), helping us to use our energy and time more effectively and rewarding, and just generally improving our quality of life. We would be more grateful than we have words to express for any help that we receive in achieving this aim.

This project successfully funded on 18th June 2017