Client Testimonials of Adaptive Mobility Indiana Services

I just wanted to thank you for all of your help with driver’s training. I got my new license today! I really enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere that you provided during my training. I was very impressed with your professionalism. Please feel free to forward a copy of this letter to your superiors. I feel that a good employee should be recognized for their efforts.

You made my whole year! Thank you Mary Ellen, and for the biggest accomplishment of receiving my driver license!

I just had to write and tell you one more time how much I appreciated all that you have done for me. You made a very difficult time for me into a very pleasant one. In the beinning of our driver training, I was very nervous and very anxious, but you put me at ease. With your instruction and patience, I am able to drive again. Now when I drive, I will hear the little voice of Mary Ellen with reminders and cautions. But I hope you can hear me saying, “thank you, and I’ll be careful.”

My husband and I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate Mary Ellen. She was our son’s driver trainer for approximately one year. She was at all times professional, realistic, honest and optimistic. She always looked on the positive side of things. She should be commended for a wonderful job she did for our son. It is hard when you have a child with disabilities go with strangers especially driving around in a car. Mary Ellen soon gained our trust with her openness and honesty and our son thinks the world of her. Mary Ellen makes a positive difference in peoples’ lives and sees the abilities and not looks solely at the disabilities. She was as happy and excited as myself and my husband when our son got his driver license.

Mary Ellen seemed to understand my situation and that I was obviously not going to be able to get in the car and drive on a busy street. The first day, we did not even get into the car, which was good. I took some tests, which dealt with manipulation of objects in space as well as street sign recognition and reaction time. I was beginning to get excited again! We eventually go to the point where it was time for me to get back in the car, although I was still apprehensive because I remembered my bad fist experience {with a driver instructor}.

This time, however, it was very different. I noticed that Mary Ellen would break driving down into individual task. For example, the first day, l we just drove around the parking lot so that I could feel what it was like to control the car. I was not out on the road so I did not have to worry about obeying traffic rules. She broke things down into individual tasks through my training and we would not move onto something else, until I had mastered the previous task. This type of instruction was completely opposite from the way the first driver instructor taught and is what made me successful. I now have my license and drive everywhere.

Clearly, the education and training possessed by Mary Ellen was of great benefit to me and will continue to be for others whom she teaches. I almost did not try to drive again after my first experience,; however, my vocational rehab counselor suggested I have another opportunity. I would be a great disservice to deny a disable individual the opportunity to drive based an under trained instructor.

My son Adam has Ocular Albinism and Congenital Nystagmus- and was told at age 16, that he would never be able to drive. So you can imagine our amazement and joy when Dr. Windsor of the Low Vision center of Indiana fitted him with Bioptics, and referred us for driver’s training. They connected us with a Driver Educator, he set the schedule, and Adam began!

Now, keep in mind that this was the very first time he had ever been behind the wheel of a car! He drove around a parking lot for about an hour – and then went straight out to the road. Put the fact that he even had a vision problem aside! Adam didn’t know how to put a car in gear, use a turn signal, or anything else that someone sighted might know how to do from just observing another driver. When he returned home after 4 hours of non-stop driving that first day, he was a mess! The second day wasn’t any better! His instructor actually had him drive on Interstate 465!

The third day was it! He had not been encouraging the 2 days prior, but began to be critical of Adam’s progress. He told Adam that he better be “getting the hang” of this, because Friday he would be driving downtown Indianapolis! When he got home that afternoon, he was practically in tears, and we said enough is enough. We called Dr. Windsor, filled him in on Adam’s experience, and suggested that he not refer another patient to this Educator!

He put us in touch with Mary Ellen Keith, whose background was in Occupational Therapy Assistant Therapy, as well as hours of experience working with teenaged drivers. She was able to put Adam at ease, and help him to regain confidence in his own abilities. She was patient, encouraging, and fun! She met him right where he was. It seemed as though she could actually see the world through Adam’s eyes. We realized that it’s one thing to be able to teach driver’s training, it’s quite another thing to be able to understand the handicap, and then instruct how to drive inspite of it! We could never be able to convey our appreciation, and we thank God everytime Adam pulls out of the driveway.

Mary Ellen has spent time instructing my son, Brian, not only in the mechanics of driving an automobile, but also has made him aware of the many safety issues that may befall us, and more specifically, someone disabled and behind the wheel of an automobile. She has helped him understand the basics of securing help if needed, learning limitations, and also more importantly she has helped him to realize what a coveted privilege, driving an automobile will be and how very much this will impact his life.

Mary Ellen has a very direct, caring and understandable approach to the adaptations necessary for a person with disabilities to address. She seems to possess an understanding and intuitiveness with each client and has the ability to adapt to each of their needs very quickly and wisely. To use Brian’s words, “learning to drive will impact my life much more deeply than graduating from college”, which was also an accomplishment. ..We leave this time, with wonderful thoughts...for Mary Ellen.