Brmm Brmm, Beep Beep - Wave at my WAV

Thank You to Motability
for the government grant for the fan-dabby-dozy
B.........d conversion WAV -
wheelchair adapted vehicle.

Its beautiful but its not mine yet. Now that Motability have given the go-ahead, the conversion company will assign a vehicle to me and start the 'build', which will take three months. It is very quiet, a revolution in WAV design in the last five years since my first WAV which is a noisy open van, with a rattling wheelchair tie down bracket. The noise and echoing affects my Meniere's condition and restricts me in the time I can spend driving or being driven in it. Once I have the ultra quiet new WAV and ultra quiet wheelchair tie down system, theoretically I should have wider horizons. There will be no excuse (other than medical) for not visiting family in Yorkshire and once that duty is satisfied, if I survive it, I am so loooking forward to going further afield more often, to the beach, maybe even to London, for I so want to go to the Globe Theatre. I may just need a triple dose of the systemic steroid injected in my butt to achieve that, please.

Will there be room for one more in the pit with the Disabled Ramblers on their London tour?

The WAV design to my needs includes a remote ("it will fit in your handbag") operated auto opening rear door. Cool. And what they describe as "a dog lead with a bungee" for me to let down and bring up the power assisted ramp. I'll have a red one please.

I make no apology for mentioning a commercial enterprise. The company was created twenty five years ago, to address the specific needs of a specific newly cripped crip. This is my second B.........d conversion; they are the only company who lower the vehicle's entire rear floor, so that the floor is flat for its entire length, long enough for my six wheeled electric wheelchair - other WAVs have sloping floors, to accommodate the fuel tank or something, so the wheelchair passenger is permanently tilted back, an uncomfortable reminder of being in a dentist's chair, and in my Meniere's balance disorder, tilted me straight into a M's attack at the initial Motability assessment.

And B.........d do it with such style - and a CD player ! And loads of cup holders (one each for the gin, coffee and mineral water, if I was so inclined) and cubby holes for everything one ever thought one needed but forgot about once it was stowed away.

The only problem I have with B.........d is that ALL their advertising shows a man driving/pushing/loading a woman in a wheelchair. I have gently suggested they diversify a little and show the occasional variation of a woman pushing/loading/driving a man in a wheelchair, or maybe even a man/man or woman/woman combination; you know, as in real life.

I have known people who baulk at seeing £11,000-odd of their DLA mobility component disappear over the five year lease into Motability's coffers, never to be seen again, but I think it is a bargain, not just for the (stylish) independence but also for the peace of mind. For years I drove ancient cars and worried about them getting up hills/stalling in the rain/failing the MOT again.

It's perhaps easier for me. Being dependent on means tested benefits means I qualify for a full grant for the vehicle conversion, without any contribution from me. Also, strangely, I am better off without a 'better half' - being single means I qualify for an independent solution to transporting my wheelchair. Also, I live in a rural area, with just two buses a week (one to the nearest town and one back again) so public transport is virtually non existent. And no, the bus is not wheelchair accessible.

Transporting me and my wheels is one aspect of disability that works, for me, thanks to Motability.

Beep, beep, brmm brmm, zoom zoom.