Three year old Nolan Green cannot walk because of his disability, but he’s already learning to drive.
Nolan Green from Bethany has cerebral palsy.
"He doesn’t walk, he doesn’t talk," his father Tom Green said.
But at only three and a half years old, Nolan is already learning to drive.
"He loves it, you can see in his face, that you know, it’s a new freedom," Green said.
Nolan now has a customized motorized toy car thanks to Quinnipiac University senior Rachel Davis and her professors Jose Riofrio, Rose Flammang and Michelle Broggi. It’s part of the national GoBabyGo! program that modifies toy cars for children with disabilities.
"They don’t have the means of independent exploration," Davis said. "Which is crucial to you know learning and developing, so I think this is a big step."
Nolan’s parents or 6-year-old sister Natalie can operate the car by remote control, but Davis built an accelerometer headband, allowing him to control where he wants to go.
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"So he can look down to go forward and he can turn his head side to side to steer it," Davis explained.
Nolan and his parents visited Quinnipiac’s engineering building Thursday afternoon for him to test out his fine-tuned vehicle.
"I just feel so blessed and I’m filled with joy, and sometimes I’ve cried because he is just so happy when he’s in it," Nolan’s mother Toni Green said.
After this rewarding experience of giving the gift of mobility, Davis may go in a different direction after graduation.
"It’s really crazy to think that at 21 I’ve done something that’s actually made a difference, so it’s really exciting," she said. "I love doing it so much that I’ve considered not applying to medical school and actually going into engineering."
