The number of people with a Motability car has increased sharply in recent years, to 860,000.
That rising demand is a result of more people successfully claiming the higher-rate mobility component of benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP), non-means tested benefits designed to help with the greater travel costs experienced by disabled people.
Teenager River-James Whybrow says he often feels “judged” for having a Motability car.
The 18-year-old is autistic, has ADHD and a condition that affects his joints, leaving him regularly in pain.
He says people have directly challenged him before on why he is eligible for a car on the scheme.
“If you want my car, then have my disabilities as well,” he says, adding that he just wants “the same opportunities as anyone else”.
River-James cannot drive himself, but says having the car means his support worker can take him out and give him “access to the world”.
He says he is angry about the decision to remove the tax breaks for the scheme, adding that the people making the changes “aren’t living it”.
“If they knew what it was like, day in, day out, they might not be making those decisions,” he says.
His frustration is shared by 21-year-old Maxwell McKnight, who leases a wheelchair-adapted van that allows him to get to university, to work and to see his girlfriend.
“Without it, I basically sit at home,” he says.