COLCHESTER – People with disabilities, their friends and families, and community members showed up in a meaningful way for the first annual Vermont Adaptive Driving Show.

Held this past Saturday at UVM Medical Center’s Fanny Allen Campus, the event strove to bring the disability driving community together to promote inclusion, UVM Driving Rehabilitation instructor Heather Zuk said.

“We dreamed up this event several years ago before COVID and we thought it would be a fun way to showcase how people with disabilities can be independent and get people with disabilities together to meet each other and network,” she said.

UVM’s Driver Rehabilitation program helps younger people with disabilities learn to drive and older people with cognitive or physical challenges find ways to keep driving, assuming it is safe to do so, program site supervisor Kristen Brewster said.

Sometimes, schools are able to pay for these lessons for high schoolers as a part of ensuring they access an equal education to their peers, she added. Those interested should talk to their school.

At Saturday’s event, about a dozen cars and trucks with modifications were on display and their owners showed off their vehicles and explained how they are able to drive effectively through mechanical alterations. 

Some of these modifications included ramps and lifts to get into the car or truck but also more discrete ones like a gas pedal on the left side instead of the right side so people with an amputated leg can drive more effectively.

Nathan Brewster is one driver who has benefited from modifications to his vehicles and UVM Medical Center’s Driver Rehabilitation Program. After becoming disabled at age 14, he found it difficult later in life to find reliable transportation.

“I ended up going to Albany to get my master’s degree, and I found it was difficult to get transportation, and I had to rely on other people to drive me places,” he said.

He worked with a UVM Driver Rehabilitation instructor, who determined he could drive, and developed a system that would enable him to operate his vehicle.

To drive, Nathan backs into his vehicle on a ramp and locks his power chair into the front of the vehicle. By using his head to hit a switch on the wall and the hooks on his prosthetic arms to operate a screen and lever system, he is able to control the van.

By helping people with disabilities learn to drive, UVM’s Driver Rehabilitation Program helps them remain more active in their communities, especially in rural areas.

“It’s so incredible about the independence it gives you; one of the biggest issues facing people with disabilities is transportation,” Nathan said. 

Chrissy Greenough, a vendor at NuMotion, was also at the event to promote the business’ adaptive equipment offerings.

“We work with your doctor and a physical therapist or occupational therapist and then we can provide certain types of equipment like powerchairs,” she said.

The company was at the event to promote their business, which has a branch in Williston but is also active throughout the country.

Zuk added that she hopes people who came to the event or heard about it who aren’t disabled are able to see the strengths of people with disabilities. 

“I want people to see that there shouldn’t be any barriers to independence and that you should see people as fellow human beings that can do the same things you can do, despite disabilities,” she said.