A few months ago we made the decision to purchase a WAV (a wheelchair accessible vehicle). We’d been waiting on Motability to provide one for months and months and months (read: closer to a year than a quarter) and in that time we were lifting Mikaere in and out of his wheelchair and into his car seat. This kid isn’t small, and he’s not light. It got to the point by where I didn’t feel like I could do it safely (safe for either me or Mikaere) which meant that Sam had to come everywhere with us (which just wasn’t practical). Mikaere’s hips aren’t in the best shape, so we worried how all this manual handling was contributing to their deterioration.
Additionally, the upfront cost of the motability lease was a whopping £8k, which we’d saved, but the idea of that amount of money only covering a vehicle for the length of the lease (in addition they take ££ out of Mikaere’s benefit) felt like so much! When we missed the third “you’ll definitely have the new car by” date, we’d had enough.
So we pivoted, and found this beauty second hand. Meet Betty. She’s not new, BUT she has enough room for all of us (and a nurse!). Packing her up is a dream, and she’s made going places significantly easier.
We were lucky, in that her previous owner was literally about to “we buy any car” her when Sam reached out. We were able to negotiate what felt like an affordable discount (lower than the original asking price, higher than we buy any car) to have her be ours.
Which is lucky, because her configuration (wheelchair in the middle, two chairs either side, and one fold down in the back, and chairbench in the front) is essentially a unicorn set up. It’s exactly what we wanted, but pretty rare to see it in WAVS that are available to purchase.
Anyway, we’re pretty pleased. I wish we’d managed this earlier – having a WAV has improved our quality of life, Mikaere’s especially, and we’re grateful!
#wav#wheelchairaccessiblevehicle#nonketotichyperglycinemia#nkh#nkhawareness#ifhnkh#metabolicdisorder#teamMikaere#glycineencephalopathy#nkhcansuckit
