Mobility News. November – December 2020

Driving with Cerebral Palsy
Cara Readle is 28 years old;
she is a part-time actress
and has Cerebral Palsy (CP).
She has been a Motability
Scheme customer since she
was a child and kindly spoke to
journalist Chloe Tear about her
experiences of learning to drive
on the Scheme. Chloe also
has CP and had the chance to
reflect on her own experiences.
When I spoke with Cara
it was clear she had such
enthusiasm for life. She spoke
fondly of her acting career
as a child and how she was
even lucky enough to have a
starring role in the CBBC hit
show, Tracy Beaker. When
Cara was younger her mum
had a Motability Scheme car
on her behalf, which had to be
big enough to fit her mobility
equipment into. As Cara got
older, she learnt to drive, and
the car became her biggest
lifeline. Cara says that even
though things may take you
a little longer when you have
CP, you always get there in
the end.
I also have a Motability
Scheme car, but this is
driven by my parents or PA’s.
Throughout life I certainly
agreed with Cara’s mindset and
her experiences resonated with
me. Having Cerebral Palsy can
mean things take longer and
everything just takes that extra
push. I believe this can make
us treasure our achievements
and it is worth it.
What was it like learning
to drive?
“I was 16 years old when I
started thinking about learning
to drive because you can
start earlier when you have
a disability. However, I didn’t
end up with the head start I
had liked due to needing a lot
of doctors notes and the initial
belief that I would be unable
to drive due to the way that
Cerebral Palsy affected me.
Firstly, I had to go to an
assessment centre where they
had a virtual car that tested my
mobilitynews
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