Having been brought up with disability(My Father had both of his hands blown off in the second world war)I just wondered how many truckers have some kind of disability, being physical like a missing limb ,or medical like diet or blood disorders. How do you cope? and are your disabilitys a danger to others??
I’m not disabled, but I have met one artic driver who only had one arm, amputated at the elbow on the right right arm.
He also drove a manual gearbox.
I also had a disabled glider flying instructor, left arm was what they call flail, completely stuffed up the nerves in a motorbike crash.
He managed to instruct very well, and also flew a motor glider from Germany to Uk and back quite often.
There are gliders that can be set up for people with paralysed legs, or no legs.
In the press last week, there is a woman who got her pilots licence on powered aircraft, paralysed from the hips down.
There used to be (probably still is) a chap who I used to see on the ferry who had a wheelchair. I am 99% certain he a lift type device fitted to his truck.
He drives(drove) a silver FH globetrotter with Manchester City logo’s on it.
i used to meet a lad every now and then and he had a really bad hip.
not sure exactly what was wrong with him but he couldn’t move his left leg properly.
it kind of swung out and to the left and then forward.he had a stick too.it looked pretty awkward.
the mad thing about it was that he was driving a Magnum…not the easiest of yokes to get into with that problem i’m sure…
I posted on another similar post about a bloke with no hands driving a wagon & drag roll on roll off, he was dropping & swapping boxes, steering, moving levers etc, he made it look easy, I’ve got both my hands & I couldn’t hope to be able to do it half as well as this bloke, he was in Johnson & Johnson at Camberley IIRC, driving a blue CF Daf 6 wheeler.
There was also a bloke that had a disabled bay put in the Dover Eastern Dock, it was right next to the wheelhouse, I think he had a Transcon, I remember that he got free road tax as it was his only vehicle, the rest of us paid $3100 
(no pound sign on this machine so you’ll have to excuse the $ sign)
Dratsabasti:
In the press last week, there is a woman who got her pilots licence on powered aircraft, paralysed from the hips down.
If this was the same one I read. Woman born with no arms becomes first pilot to fly plane using only feet
It’s a woman who was born with no arms and has got her pilots license by flying with her feet 
Love to see her have a go at driving a truck. Prob put some of us to shame 
Spot the obvious mod to this Actros! Never saw the driver but i’d imagine a 1 leg situation was maybe on the go!
There was an article in T&D a few years ago about a driver from lawson’s in carlisle who had some kind of disability and had has his DAF XF adapted in some way to accommodate it. i think he had lost an arm/hand?
Les Mundon I think was the guys name came from bristol drove coach’s owned his own company only had 1 arm that was a manual motor left arm missing and it was a old coach so no auto box he’d change gear with his right hand crossing through the wheel.
Another guy Not seen him for a while, some called him no legs yep he had no legs, he would drive anything no adaptions to anything, had his own truck never paid for the severn bridge just showed his blue badge.
Olog Hai:
There was an article in T&D a few years ago about a driver from lawson’s in carlisle who had some kind of disability and had has his DAF XF adapted in some way to accommodate it. i think he had lost an arm/hand?
IIRC he was paralysed from the waist down. He had a chair lift fitted to enable him to reach the drivers seat. He also had a second man to do all the manual work on the trailer.
I think his disability was a result of an accident at work, and I seem to recall it was a cheaper option to have the truck specced to his needs in build, rather than adapt an old one.
I seem to remember Lawsons valued this guy so much, he was worth the obviously massive outlay on speccing a vehicle in this way, and doubling up on the vehicles ‘staff’.
Hats off to Lawsons I say, firms like this are too rare now.
hmmmmmm.
i"ve got a" droop left foot gait"
to the lay people,that means i walk with a limp,because i don"t have full feeling in my left foot due to a crushed nerve when i fell off the top of my truck,landing on my feet,and re-arranging my disc/nerve layout.
i will be like this permanently,it doesnt cause me any big problems,i still have full clutch control,i just walk a bit funny,and i can throw some weird shapes on the dancefloor.
i dont pose a danger to anybody else,i have only once since i did this fell over whilst walking due to my foot not contacting the ground straight,and badly twisted my ankle,couldnt put shoes on for a week for the swelling.
because of this i also get severe cramp in my left leg,due to muscles that arent being used as they should be,going into spasm.this only happens when im in bed.it"s not funny trying to dance round a low cab,being 6"2,trying to get rid of that at 2am.
nevermind,there are people worse off than me,so i guess im lucky to be honest. 
Its good to see people getting on with their disadvatages rather than expecting society to carry them around, its a pity that the europrats dont see reason when it comes to people getting by at their chosen proffession, rather than just taking their licence away. Up untill quite recently I knew of a HGV driver with one eye, sadly he is no longer with us but these days he would have been shown the door by the authorities, much like my son who has one lazy eye and for that reason can not get an HGV licence.
little enis:
Its good to see people getting on with their disadvatages rather than expecting society to carry them around, its a pity that the europrats dont see reason when it comes to people getting by at their chosen proffession, rather than just taking their licence away. Up untill quite recently I knew of a HGV driver with one eye, sadly he is no longer with us but these days he would have been shown the door by the authorities, much like my son who has one lazy eye and for that reason can not get an HGV licence.
We have a driver with one eye, he got injured by a ratchet ■■■■■■■■ a curtainsider i think (before my time at firm) . The injury was sustained prior to a rule change so he is ok to drive.(hes about 60 and passes medicals without problems)
i recieved a t.b.p injury in 1987 when i was 18 yr old,(basically means the nerves were snapped going to my right arm from the spinal column),end result being knacked right arm.i was working as an apprentice bus mechanic at the time,so that was the end of that for a while.
re-habilitated myself by working on cars/motorbikes until i got a job as a mechanic on the buses again,then passed my pcv test(auto) over 9 years ago,having done plenty driving from then.
i always wanted to drive trucks even before i got a start on the buses,but due to them being un-available in auto in large numbers,couldn’t hire them anyway,until recently when a local instructor who i had asked a few years earlier about lessons was able to access both trucks for c and c+e.
passed class 2 in august and class 1 in october first time for both,just as the financial world seemed to fall apart!
as for safety concerns i’d say my disability doesn’t have any drawbacks for me or anyone else .
I have Secondary Progressive MS. Google the symptoms if you’re interested, it’d take too long to type them all up here. Like all MS, it’s incurable, and unlike the more common Relapsing Remitting type (which I started off with) it’s not treatable either, so it’s a matter of eating an ever increasing quantity of pills to control symptoms. Oh, and doing physio, much to the amusement of anyone who sees me waving my very fat legs about on loading bays…
I have to be very careful about getting enough rest, eating a healthy diet and not getting pushed at work. The days of being able to knock out 5x15hr shifts a week (split, naturally… ) are long gone, and I carry a seatbelt exemption because of some of the spasms (known as “MS Hug”). I’m also banned from most manual stuff on H&S grounds, now. I DO still do some of it “on the sly”, but almost invariably regret it later when it catches up with me. Still never learn, though. 
My licence comes up for medical renewal once a year, and is constantly under scrutiny by both my quacks and my employers to make sure I’m still fit to drive. The latter have been truly great about keeping my hours down and my rest time up, as well as running me on the work I prefer (out of Tilbury where it’s less pressured) as far as is possible.
Thanks to the above I’m safe, and will carry on as long as my condition allows. I’m also a complete nightmare to be ill around, as I have no sympathy whatsoever unless you’re dying. I’m a stubborn cow and haven’t had a day off sick since diagnosis over 2 years ago.
I lost a few months twice over when they stopped me driving until they knew what the problem was, and did some surgery to sort out problems caused by my bizarre posture (which is why I now drive sitting VERY upright) but I hadn’t had a day off sick for several years before that either, even though they now think I’ve had the condition since I was 20-ish. As Rikki (who gets to deal with the aftermath) will tell you, that isn’t necessarily anything to be proud of… Knowing when to stop has never been my strong point…
Kate:
Olog Hai:
There was an article in T&D a few years ago about a driver from lawson’s in carlisle who had some kind of disability and had has his DAF XF adapted in some way to accommodate it. i think he had lost an arm/hand?IIRC he was paralysed from the waist down. He had a chair lift fitted to enable him to reach the drivers seat. He also had a second man to do all the manual work on the trailer.
I think his disability was a result of an accident at work, and I seem to recall it was a cheaper option to have the truck specced to his needs in build, rather than adapt an old one.
I seem to remember Lawsons valued this guy so much, he was worth the obviously massive outlay on speccing a vehicle in this way, and doubling up on the vehicles ‘staff’.
Hats off to Lawsons I say, firms like this are too rare now.
That’s my Uncle Steve and the second man was his son (my cousin).
Besides this Jim Lawson also bought some land and put a purpose built detached bungalow on it for him.
I’m disabled with three disabilities as defined by the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. After my first diagnosis I informed the DVLC as it was then. The DVLC suspended my licence until I met the criteria they laid down for it to be reinstated. My GP kept a close watch on my situation and wrote to them when we both agreed I was fit to drive. The DVLA then requested a Consultant’s report which was very positive as I’d followed the Consultant’s earlier advice and kept up all my appointments. I then received my licence back.
During the process my GP hinted that heart problems and progressive sight problems are the hardest to reinstate. GP also said that its best to inform the DVLA ,as it is now, volantarily (as I had done) about any health condition that may affect your driving as opposed to having your licence ‘taken off you by them’.I found the process to be very fair and open if you follow all the advice and can reach the criteria. My advice is that It pays to be warts and all honest with your GP from the outset.
David H:
I’m disabled with three disabilities as defined by the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. After my first diagnosis I informed the DVLC as it was then. The DVLC suspended my licence until I met the criteria they laid down for it to be reinstated. My GP kept a close watch on my situation and wrote to them when we both agreed I was fit to drive. The DVLA then requested a Consultant’s report which was very positive as I’d followed the Consultant’s earlier advice and kept up all my appointments. I then received my licence back.During the process my GP hinted that heart problems and progressive sight problems are the hardest to reinstate. GP also said that its best to inform the DVLA ,as it is now, volantarily (as I had done) about any health condition that may affect your driving as opposed to having your licence ‘taken off you by them’.I found the process to be very fair and open if you follow all the advice and can reach the criteria. My advice is that It pays to be warts and all honest with your GP from the outset.
Good luck with your health David, I dont think our GPs are the problem when it comes to us getting clearence for an HGV, its them buggers in Brussles, they are forever bringing in higher and higher hurdles, it was only a short while ago that they were demanding the revocation of HGVs of anybody who had to wear Glasses. It seems we are no longer responcible for our countrys destiny.
David H:
I’m disabled with three disabilities as defined by the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. After my first diagnosis I informed the DVLC as it was then. The DVLC suspended my licence until I met the criteria they laid down for it to be reinstated. My GP kept a close watch on my situation and wrote to them when we both agreed I was fit to drive. The DVLA then requested a Consultant’s report which was very positive as I’d followed the Consultant’s earlier advice and kept up all my appointments. I then received my licence back.During the process my GP hinted that heart problems and progressive sight problems are the hardest to reinstate. GP also said that its best to inform the DVLA ,as it is now, volantarily (as I had done) about any health condition that may affect your driving as opposed to having your licence ‘taken off you by them’.I found the process to be very fair and open if you follow all the advice and can reach the criteria. My advice is that It pays to be warts and all honest with your GP from the outset.
Sorry for the duplicate hit the wrong button.
I am, disabled after a RTA in 1971 suffering a spinal injury- broken neck which left me paralyzed from from the chest down, I was a HGV driver, now work as a CPC holder national and international for owner operators as a transport manager. I also drive a transit van and a mercedes sprinter from my wheelchair, access via lift through the rear doors.Ive done 800,000 miles on hand controls over the years. You can be involved in the road haulage industry able bodied or disabled and still get in the truckstops and enjoy the banter with all the other drivers, keep on trucking [/list]
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