We recently moved to a bungalow and have found the driveway not wide enough for a car and a wheelchair side by side. We are investigating whether the DFG will pay towards the widening of the driveway, however the OT said his feeling was they would say the driveway was 'functional' and we had to remove the car from the driveway when the wheelchair is on it.
Does anyone know of any other grants or charities which would help towards the works? I have looked through charities which will pay for equiptment but not ground works.

might be a daft question but doesnt he have to be in his wheelchair to be pushed to the car when he is getting in it?? are they suggesting when you are about to go out you leave your son by the door, move the car out to the road and then wheel him over to the car and put him in the car and then do the same when you return but backwards??
it might be worth going back to the council and asking them what the use of a drive is if you cant park your car on it as if there is a fire you would have to move the car before you could get your child into the road so isnt that a health and safety issue??
soz dont know of any charities that help with driveways as trying to get driveway done myself

The act foundation?? I'm sure they cover dfg type things...hope you get it sorted xx

I have a question about your OT saying your drive was functional. It may well be functional in terms of being a suitable place to park a car off road, but its obviously unsuitable for your needs if there is insufficient space to transfer from car to chair and vice versa. If I was in your situation the first thing I would do is to get your OT to agree that the adaptation/provision of off road parking would be beneficial. If you can do this then any further discussion will just be about the best way to get it done.

A mandatory dfg has restrictions as to what it can be used for and off road parking may not come under this, but councils also have discretionary dfg's that can be used for things not covered by a mandatory dfg. Your OT should have all the info on this, or will know which charity would consider this sort of thing.

My children's OT has advised us that we should speak to her about any applications we need for our children as she has dealt with most of the charities at one point or another as a reference for applications. But obviously to get your OT to help you would first have to convince them of how much it would benefit you.

Paul

Yes Corinne, thats exactly what they're suggesting, but they go one step futher and say neither of our cars should be parked on our driveway! So we should park off the drive and leave either son or daughter (I have a 2 yr old too) on their own whilst I get one or other in. Or walk them both to the carside on the road, like you would when your out, taking on the risks of what that entails. Why we like having the drive, we knew it would cause us issues, but it was the only one within our budget.
Thanks Lucy, I shall look into that.