Sònia Guirado (Badalona, 1976) moves like a fish in water in the pool. She won a gold medal in the 50 meter backstroke and a bronze medal in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle at the Barcelona '92 Paralympic Games. She has also taken part in the Atlanta '96 Games, obtaining various Olympic diplomas. Her life has been spent for many years next to swimming pools, first as a swimmer and then as a monitor. She currently works as a consultant at the Eurofirms Foundation, a human resources talent management company, and as she herself assures, “wanting is power.”
There is no one better than Guirado to make a statement like this. Although she is missing one arm and the lower half of the other due to thalidomide, and is 1.13 meters tall, the Catalan is the best example of how determination and desire can overturn any physical limitation. Just a few days ago she passed the practical driving test and already has her license.
Cheers.
Thank you so much. I am very happy because I have seen a dream come true that she had since she was young. She always wanted to get my license, but she was realistic. She thought there would not be enough facilities to adapt a car to my needs. In fact, about 25 years ago, more or less, I already tried to adapt a car. I bought it, I took it to a company here in Barcelona and although they tried to adapt it, it couldn't be done.
It must have been very frustrating, right?
You just let it run. You think one was right, that my disability is too severe and it wasn't possible. There are things that are not possible, well, nothing happens. You have to approach things realistically. I was born like this, so nothing.
But in the end he got his way. How did she think about the possibility of getting her license again?
One day I saw a person who was driving a car with a joystick. And I said to myself: 'Hey, maybe technology has advanced enough for him to be able to adapt a car and drive it.' So I informed myself. I was looking at a large number of adaptations, both here in Spain and in other countries, and in the end everything led me to Bilbao, the only place where they could implement the adaptation that I needed.
He didn't think twice and went to Bilbao...
Yes of course. I am a person who likes to fulfill his dreams and his challenges. I contacted the driving school and went to Bilbao. They did a feasibility study on the adaptation that I might need and submitted me to a safety examination with the DGT. This test was used to prove that I could drive safely for myself and other drivers. It also helped to find out the adaptations that I would need and the codes that must appear on the license. That's where the whole story began. I saw that there was a small chance of fulfilling my dream and I said go for it!
How was that security examination with the DGT?
It is a simple test. It's simply a matter of seeing if you are driving safely. The test is carried out on a closed circuit where there are uphills, downhills, cones... They evaluate whether you are agile behind the wheel in different types of situations that you may encounter on the road. Everything is done based on safety, not based on circulation.
Were you very nervous when you took that first test that was going to open the door to your dream?
Absolutely. I am not a person who gets nervous when faced with big challenges. I can get nervous in other more stupid and insignificant areas, but not in this sense. And with the traffic test, neither.
What has been more difficult for you, getting your driving license or getting three medals in the Paralympic Games?
(Laughs) It's different. Winning a medal at the Games represents four years of swimming, swimming, swimming; train, train, train; and water, water, water. They are four really hard years that you have to combine with studies and work, because you can't make a living from adapted sports. They were some very intense years of high competition. On the other hand, the card is something else. We have been in the process for a year, because we are not finished yet, since we are working with the adaptations of the car. But everything is reduced to two weeks of intense practices. Now, in terms of personal satisfaction for having achieved a challenge, the Olympic medals and the license are on the same level. They are two different things, but at the end of the day they are two challenges that I have achieved.
A year in the process, he told me...
Yes Yes. First of all, we had to go to Bilbao to do the feasibility study with the engineers who adapted the car and see different options. On the other hand, with the car they have (the driving school), with which they prepare people with disabilities, see the options to do the internship and take the exam. I have done the practices and the exam with the driving school car. The first week was to see how we adapted the car so we could examine myself. After returning to Barcelona I had to go back to Bilbao with the car I had bought to see how it could be adapted. That's when I took the DGT exam. Then came another week of practice to adapt to the joystick before returning to Barcelona.
And it was at home where the theory was learned...
At home I prepared the exam, no driving school, everything online. But I had to go to Bilbao to take my theory exam. Luckily I passed the first time.
And when does the end of the whole process begin?
On February 19 I started a very brutal intensive. Six hours driving each day, three in the morning and another three in the afternoon, with a break in between to eat, until the day of the exam.
For someone who is getting a license, like you, isn't six hours behind the wheel a day a lot?
The truth is, no. I love driving. I really enjoyed the internship. It relaxes me so much that I even enjoyed the landscape.
Didn't he get tired?
While I was driving, no. But when I got home I went straight to the couch. It was like saying 'sofa swallow me' (laughs)... But the next day, again at full capacity.
He likes to drive…
I love it. It's not just that I feel safe behind the wheel, but driving is the dream of my life, since I was very young. I have enjoyed those two weeks of internship in Bilbao incredibly. The last day or the penultimate, I don't remember well, it was time to finish and I hadn't even realized that three hours had passed. In fact, we only rested the first weekend. The last week was intensive, from Monday to Sunday.
How was the day of the exam?
Very good. In fact, I was examined by the coordinator of the examiners. It seems to me that he didn't want to miss it because, in addition, it was very popular news in Euskadi. Many media outlets interviewed me and it received a lot of attention. He was very kind. He treated me very well, with very clear orders. I would say it was an easy exam in the sense that he made it easy for me. The circuit was like all the others, it was not specific for people with disabilities by any means, but rather it was like what a person without disabilities would do.
Until now, the electric scooter is their means of transportation…
Yes, the motorcycle! I get around on an electric scooter, the motorcycle I call it. It is a scooter that is adapted for me: it is short, it has four wheels like children's bikes. It is taken to a tow truck to put it in the trunk of the car. I would like to ride a motorcycle, maybe it will be the next challenge, let's see... (laughs).
Driving an electric scooter through a big city also brings them…
In my case it is totally different because it is as if it were an orthopedic element. It goes at the same speed as a wheelchair and I'm going down the sidewalk. It is a children's scooter, it does not fit into the concept of a scooter as we all know it.
Going back to the beginning, is what you have done a great financial sacrifice?
I estimate that the entire process, from the moment I leave the house until I return with the car already adapted, which I don't have yet, is going to cost me about 80,000 euros. Getting your driving license in Barcelona is not the same as getting your driving license in Euskadi. It means much more spending on travel, accommodation, food... Since I am not self-employed, I have to go with my partner, so all the expenses have to be multiplied by two, and then I have to organize so that someone can take care of my son when I am not. we are in home. And there are also the costs of the car, which is second-hand, the procedures, the driving school classes and the adaptation of the car. About 80,000 euros in total.
A lot of money.
Yes, a lot. Driving school classes cost 6,000 euros and the adaptation of the car costs 60,000 euros more. Everything is very expensive. Keep in mind that just the joystick that I have with the foot brake is 47,000 euros, which is what I have paid so far. Now everything else is missing: being able to get into the car, being able to put the motorcycle in the trunk, being able to control all the secondary controls, such as the heating, the music..., being able to fasten my seat belt... All those things that people who do not have disabilities do without think... Well, for me all that needs an adaptation. It is a total remodeling of the car.
“Driving is winning. Gain autonomy, freedom…” It is the name of the crowdfunding campaign that you have opened on the Gofundme.com website.
Yes, I have an active campaign to face the expense of this entire process. The State grants aid of a maximum of 3,000 euros and adapting a car costs twenty times more. It's a lot of money.
The joystick is the fundamental part of your car…
Yes, everything is there. When you push it forward, the car accelerates and when you pull it back, the car brakes. When you move it to the right, the car turns to the right and when you move it to the left the car turns to the left. But I realized that it would be more comfortable for me to have the brake on my foot as well. As, luckily, we are designing all those things for my car together, we will see if it is possible to make this adaptation. We also don't know right now how I will close the door or how I will turn on the heating. But I can say that the indicators, the horn or the windshield wipers work by voice. We will also place a crane in the trunk so you can put the motorcycle in. For the rest, I can add little more. But I am sure that I will be able to be completely autonomous behind the wheel, we just need to see how we are going to achieve it.
When do you estimate that you will have the car ready to drive it?
It will still take time, about three months. First they have to remove the steering column which is where the connection with the joystick will be inserted and they do this in Germany. Afterwards, the car will have to return to Bilbao and from there they have to make the adaptations that are not yet 100% known what they will be like.
Have you already thought about the first big trip you will take with the car?
To begin with, my partner has already told me that he wants me to take the car back from Bilbao, but I have told him that's nothing. I'll make a small piece to test it, but right off the bat, no. First I want to move around my environment, feel safe because I am used to the driving school car and mine will be very different. And as a long trip, in summer, I would like to go to Almería because my family is from there. Furthermore, they have helped me a lot throughout my life and getting there driving my own car will be a way of thanking them.
You're lucky, from Barcelona to Almería it's all highway.
(Laughs) Too much highway… A little monotonous, but it is what it is.
In the meantime, it will be time to continue pushing the 'bike'. Because it's better not to talk about public transport, right?
It is very sad that to take the train I have to wait for specific times. I give an example: the company where I work has its headquarters in Girona. Well, can anyone believe that only two adapted trains leave in the morning and another two in the afternoon? But once the train arrives, in my case I couldn't get the motorcycle on by myself because there is a small step. And once I have overcome this obstacle and I am already inside the train, I cannot hold onto anywhere to be safe during the journey. And the 'bike' is left loose. It's one after another. There in front of me, where I work, I have a Railway station and the elevator almost never works. More than once I have stayed inside and have not been able to go outside. The firefighters had to come to carry me up the stairs. It's non-stop.
And the buses?
Luckily there are more and more adapted buses, but whether the ramps work is another matter... Sometimes I have to wait for one to pass and for the ramp to work. It's like taxis. I can't take just any taxi. It has to be an adapted taxi and there aren't that many. Maybe I want it by 3 but I can't have it until 5. That's why I need the car to be able to move freely.
How do you imagine your first day by car in Barcelona? Although Bilbao is a large city, Barcelona's traffic is taxing on any novice.
In Bilbao there are hardly any motorcycles... Imagine, then, we don't even talk about bikes and scooters anymore... The traffic in Bilbao is totally different. Cars circulate well on roundabouts, it is quieter traffic. Here, in Barcelona, the driving is much crazier. You won't see me in Plaça Espanya until I remove the L at least. Bikes and scooters give me a lot of respect, you don't know where they are going to come from. The luck is that I don't get nervous or upset and that I feel safe in the car. Since I'm not afraid of it, it will be a matter of getting used to it, there is no other option.
