Motoring with cerebral palsy (view report contents)
Driving with CP
Legal requirements
When applying for a driving licence or car insurance, you must tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and your insurance company that you have cerebral palsy. You must also tell them whenever your ability to drive changes significantly and the insurance company must be informed of any car adaptations. The DVLA will ask for your permission to contact your GP or hospital consultant for more information on your condition. From this the DVLA decides if you are fit to drive. There are a number of possible outcomes.
You may be issued with a full licence, a time-limited licence (for later review) or with a licence to drive suitably adapted vehicles only. If you are affected by epilepsy and the fits are controlled by medication, you will not be licensed to drive until a clear year after a fit.
Another likely outcome is that the DVLA will require you to attend a Mobility Centre for an assessment – for more information, go to Plan of action.
For further information on getting a driving licence, go to www.dvla.gov.uk or get What you need to know about driving licences (D100) from a post office.
Effects of cerebral palsy
The cause of cerebral palsy (cp) is most commonly the failure of a part of the brain to develop, before birth or in early childhood. This can be through a range of illnesses or complications in pregnancy, labour or early childhood. Occasionally cp is due to an inherited disorder, but this is rare. It is a non-progressive condition, but over the years you may have physical changes – through older age for example.
There are three main types of cp which correspond with the part of the brain that is injured. With spastic cp, some muscles become stiff and weak and can affect your control of movement. With athetoid cp, there will be some difficulty controlling your posture and a tendency to make unwanted movements. With ataxic cp, you will usually have balance problems and possibly also shaky hand movements and irregular speech. The effects of cp can range from extremely mild, where there may be a slight muscle stiffness in one limb, through to a profound disability affecting all limbs.
For some people, the parts of the brain affected result in sight, hearing, perception and learning difficulties. To drive you must be able to read a standard size number plate (with glasses or lenses if necessary) from 20.5 metres (67 feet) or 20 metres (65 feet) where narrower characters are used. An eye specialist – an orthoptist or ophthalmologist – will need to assess and treat any visual impairment you have.
With any sensory or cognitive effects, it is important that you go to a Mobility Centre for a full assessment of the different skills you need to drive safely. No two people with cp are affected in the same way and the assessment and adaptations need to be geared to your particlular needs.
For more information on cerebral palsy, contact the Cerebral Palsy Helpline at Scope, go to Helpful organisations for contact details.
Report Contents
About
this guide
Driving
with cerebral palsy
Choosing
a car
Plan
of action
Products
and techniques
Getting
in and out
Primary
controls
Secondary
controls
Finance
Further
information
Helpful
organisations
