New Zealand Lottery Grants Board Distribution of Funds

Individuals with Disabilities Committee
Te Komiti iti mo te Tangata Haua
FREEDOM TO DRIVE
Mike Hamill finds driving far more
enjoyable and stress free thanks
to a grant to adapt his car from
the Individuals with Disabilities
Committee.
A true Southern man, Mike lives
alone in Invercargill and values his
independence highly. He is reliant
on his car to ferry him, along with
his wheelchair, to his part-time
job and to all the community
and volunteering activities he is
involved in.
He is chairperson of the Southland
CCS Disability Action Local
Advisory Committee and works
at least six hours a week with the
Salvation Army.
Mike is an excellent driver, with
no cognitive impairments, but
he was worried that with the
decline of some of his physical
Lottery Grants Record 2008–2009
functions he was beginning to
have problems with such things as
working indicators, safely loading
his wheelchair onto the hoist at
night and maintaining the correct
position in the seat of his car.
After applying for an assessment,
Mike found that with an RB
Spinner he would have built-in
switches to operate indicators,
lower beam and windscreen
wipers without having to remove
his hand from the steering wheel.
Lighting on the driver’s door would
highlight switches operating the
wheelchair hoist at night and
additional lateral support built into
the driver’s seat would hold Mike
in the seat.
These and some other
modifications, as Mike says in his
letter, have given him back his
confidence.
The Lottery Individuals with
Disabilities Committee
approves grants for vehicles
and mobility equipment
to enable people with
disabilities to get out of
their homes and participate
in, and contribute to,
their community. It also
approves grants to people
with communication
disabilities for equipment to
make it easier for them to
communicate.
Dear Lottery Grants Board.
I would like to thank you for my grant that helped me to
adapt my Rav 4, so I am able to drive with more support
and the RB spinner is fantastic!
With age, my CP (Cerebral Palsy) and now Fibromyalgia
are making life a little more challenging. But Alec and his
team have made a great job of altering my seat, adding two
well padded armrests, to support me while I’m driving. They
put in a floor switch, so that I can now use my overdrive
button without having to cross over my arms, and they have
installed a light down at the driver’s door so I can see what
I’m doing in the dark, when I winch up my wheelchair onto
the roof-rack carrier.
But the best thing his team did for me was to install the
RB spinner, a clever little device that lets me control my
wipers, dip switch and indicators without taking my hand
off the steering-wheel, an absolutely amazing little thing!
This has given back my confidence to drive to where I want
to go, even in peak-hour traffic. It’s also great to drive to my
Wednesday CS Art classes, something that I really enjoy…
I am now able to drive to work and visit friends and family
without the pain and fatigue that hounded me.
Thanks again Lottery Grants Board, you’ve changed my life!
Specialist Committees 7