After 7 years and almost $100K, Canadian woman born without arms and short legs can now drive
CBC
It took Talli Osborne seven years to get a vehicle she could drive and the licence to drive it.
Osborne, who was born without arms and shortened legs, got her licence three weeks ago and is now able to drive her dream car, a modified fuchsia Mini Cooper.
Osborne was born in Montreal, raised in Toronto and moved to Hamilton as an adult. The motivational speaker has been living in Las Vegas since 2022.
Her journey to be able to drive has been long but Osborne was determined. "If you truly want to achieve something, you can do it no matter what the hurdle," she told CBC Hamilton while in Ontario last week on a visit.
The journey started with an initial meeting with an occupational therapist that she says cost $1,000. Following that came getting a used Mini Cooper, as well as getting a quote for modification work from the car dealership.
When she got the quote of nearly $100,000, Osborne said she "almost barfed."
She looked at grants and fundraising campaigns to get the money needed to modify the car. But the COVID-19 pandemic began and her hopes of getting the funds took a hit. It was around this point her mom suggested that she sell the car.
Watch: Talli Osborne demonstrates how she drives her new car
"If I sell this car, that's me literally giving up on this dream, and I've come this far already. Like, I have my dream car. So I just kept paying for it and paying the insurance," she said.
Then Osborne got a call from the War Amps' Child Amputee Program telling her they would pay the remaining balance.
"I almost cried," she said.
The work on Osborne's car was done by Courtland Mobility, a dealership in Burlington, Ont., that modifies vehicles for wheelchair access and other accessibility adjustments.
Tom Lancaster, a shop manager with Courtland Mobility, said this was a "unique situation" where the modifications required driving equipment that was very specific and adapted for one person.
The outcome, Lancaster said, was to design it so that the user could keep their independence and to be able to access things other drivers may take for granted.
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