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Hi folk,

I am a 38 year old man with PD (dx at 31). My wife of 11 years decided to
divorce me and began those proceedings about 16 months ago. We have two kids
- a boy, age 6, and a girl, 20 months.

I am over the bitterness of my wife wanting to divorce me, but she insists
upon taking the children away too. Her approach has been to use my PD
against me. It would be one thing if I was a danger to the children, but I
am still functioning quite well. I have only recently retired from my job. I
live along and manage quite well. My kids get to visit me every other
weekend and two evenings each week. I have taken them camping, fishing, to
children's parties and participate in school functions etc. I enjoy being
"Mr. Mom."  However, sometimes I don't feel well enough to drive or do fine
motor skill tasks like sewing an arm back on a stuffed animal. I explain to
my 5 year old "sometimes daddy is a slow-poke, but I will get to job done."

Unfortunately, my soon-to-be ex-wife has seized on my condition and was
successful in getting a judge to rule that I should not be allowed drive
with the kids in the car. I tried to explain to the judge that it is because
I know when I should not drive that makes me a safe driver. My doctors agree
that the only restrictions that should be placed on my driving are those
that I place on myself. I have never had a ticket nor been involve in an
accident. Nevertheless, I lost that battle. As it stands now I can drive
across the country (I recently returned from a roadtrip vacation of the
western US), but I cannot drive the kids 10 blocks to get an ice-cream or
replenish the diaper supply. It feels like I am under "house arrest."

If that were the end of it I would "deal with it" and get on with things,
but now my ex is claiming that she worries about the safety of the children
when they are with me. While there is no justification to this, I am
concerned that I cannot keep up the fight indefinitely. As of last week my
ex-wife's legal fees were in excess of $67,000!

My situation (disabled father, seeking visitation / custody with minor
children) seems to not only allow discrimination but invites it. I want to
spend as much time as possible with my children while I am still strong.

A few questions...

Is there anyone else in a similar situation?

How does one convince a court or anyone else that as a PWP that I can manage
my illness and that just because there are times when I refuse to drive
should not infer that I cannot drive?

Are there any advocacy groups out there who might be helpful?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Rick Barrett