Right side car entry

Drove in my car down to Florida in Feb. with a friend.  This meant that I got to ride passenger at times. That right side car entry brings a whole different set of problems, none of which were even practised in the car in the therapy department. Lifting the left leg in is not a problem but the left arm/hand stays to the left side of the left leg, Which then slides under my left butt cheek as I try to get my right leg in. My compensating solution is to sit on the seat, making sure my left arm is in my lap as I pivot and bring both legs in. This works for cars but while in Florida our hosts had a Chevy Silverado pickup which means grabbing the handle on the door post to lift myself up, get my left butt cheek on the seat, grab my left arm while trying not to fall out of the pickup, put it in my lap and swing both legs in. Nothing in this was ever mentioned, modeled or tried in therapy. I'm assuming car entry is an ADL and thus should have EXACT PROTOCOLS on how to do that.

Or the left side problems described here:

Drivers side car door closing

Drivers side car door closing

My hospital had a car in the therapy department so we could practice getting in and out of the passenger side, never the drivers side. So the dumbing down of stroke goals is completely ingrained in therapy departments. There should be an ADL for everything to do with a car, opening the car hood with only one usable hand, using turn signals, adjusting the radio and heating controls.  There are many failure points in car door closing.

1. Fingers do not extend due to spasticity to fit into the door handle slot.

2. Arm does not hang down straight due to spasticity.

3. Both of these means there is a failure to even get to the starting position of door closing.

4. The step of the right leg into the car requires the left arm to swing out from next to the body, spasticity means that failure occurs at this point also.

5. As your butt cheek hits the seat the door should be starting to close, your left leg needs to quickly get pulled inside as the gap narrows. Failure again as the left leg no longer moves quickly enough.

All in all a failure from start to finish. I expect for the millions of survivors wanting to drive again after stroke there should be stroke protocols that address each failure point. 

Compensation is not good enough, we need to demand recovery. For me that would be stopping my spasticity. Everything else I can take care of by myself.