A Canadian woman born without arms and with shortened legs has fulfilled a lifelong dream of being able to drive after years of obstacles and a hefty price tag on the specialized car of her dreams.
Talli Osborne, 44, got her license in Las Vegas and is now tooling around after a seven-year ordeal dragged out by the COVID pandemic, a $1,000 occupational therapist appointment and a quote of nearly $100,000 for a fuschia Mini Cooper modified to her needs, she told the CBC.
Osborne said she’s proud of herself for not giving up on her goal.
“If you truly want to achieve something, you can do it no matter what the hurdle,” Osborne told the outlet.
Osborne said that when she got an estimate of nearly $100,000 to modify the car to fit her needs, she “almost barfed.”
She had bought the used model without the modifications, then not long after, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and without enough money to fully adapt it to fit her needs, her mom suggested selling the car.
“If I sell this car, that’s me literally giving up on this dream, and I’ve come this far already,” Osborne said she told herself. “Like, I have my dream car. So I just kept paying for it and paying the insurance.”
Osborne then got a call from the War Amps’ Child Amputee Program, which provides child amputees financial assistance for artificial limbs. The group said it would help pay for the modifications.
“I almost cried,” she recalled.
Modifications on the car include a 5-inch-diameter steering wheel mounted on the left door with a cup that can be used to turn the wheel, extended gas and brake pedals, and a touch screen that Osborne uses to change gears and for turn signals.
The car is also fitted with a seatbelt Osborne can put on by herself.
Once the car was complete, Osborne had to face yet another hurdle: getting her driver’s license in Nevada, which involved a doctor’s note from an occupational therapist and forms that required details about her “illness.”
“I was born this way, and nothing’s changing,” she told the outlet. “It was just kind of degrading for me because I’m not ill. It felt so disgusting.”
Osborne, who works as a motivational speaker, has been documenting her journey on being able to drive on social media. While the response has been largely positive, she said she still receives some comments questioning her need and ability to drive on her own.
“It makes me sad that they see me and they see this amazing video and that’s where they go,” she said.
“For me to get my license, it’s a million times harder, so I’m going to be a million times better driver.”
Osborne now hopes to travel to California to visit friends — and will likely be receiving even more visitors of her own, according to her little sister Mir, who says she cannot wait for her sibling to pick her up from the airport the next time she’s in town.
“I cannot stress to you enough how eager I have been for this to happen. Because it’s just sort of been something we’ve talked about, dreamt about, kind of tried to imagine for decades since we were young,” Mir said.
“This is a very positive thing in the right direction for a level of independence and freedom that a lot of people with disabilities don’t get to have.”
