Cleats & disability

The cursing and stamping when I try to get my left foot into my Shimano 105 pedals amuses my riding buddies but its really dispiriting. I can wrestle my right foot into the pedal and then it stays there til its time to dismount, my left is a never ending source of anger.
I'm really tempted to go back to using SPD pedals but I dislike the loose feeling when riding longer distances on the road.
For the OP I would suggest multi release cleats and trying different clear angles, CMT means some very odd angles of interface ive found.

I did assume no other issues, my apologies.

That does make sense! Before I got the cleats in the same position on both the winter & normal shoes... hilarity* ensued.

* Sketchy moments with foot flying off the pedal...

Very true, but not everyone is confident enough to take primary at lights & many will wait near the kerb.
My dominant foot is the right one, trying to kick off on my left is very odd & doesn't feel safe.

The problem is that in the UK, the left foot is often the one we need to unclip at lights etc. By that I mean starting off with the left foot clipped in (IME) leads to veering rightwards briefly.
I would suggest trying the cleats in positions that at first seem odd, with My CMT I find my feet point in funny directions & not always directly ahead.

I am a below knee amputee and its been a journey to find out what works best. I started with the humble toe over clips, but also had a fear of not being able to remove my foot if needed. I then tried the MTB cleats after reading some other blogs on amputee fitness. I was happy with them, as they meant I could walk wearing the MTB type shoes. Its a process thing, you've got to try to see what works best. I'm now onto the road type pedals (3 bolt type), as it makes putting tri type shoes on easier on my prosthetic foot..

I would suggest getting her to clip in on her left foot first, and keep her right foot for unclipping and pushing off at intersections.
Good luck!

I'm probably being overly optimistic about BCF but I woulder if they have any sort of link person who can advise cyclists with varying physical challanges on how to over come these problems, I intend this as a question if any one might know. If BCF don't then they are missing out on helping a large section of society engage in a wonderful sport/hobbie.

I have CMT too, for the last year ive been struggling to get some SPD-SL cleats & 105 pedals to work for me.
For whatever reason, its really frustrating as I simply cannot get them to 'click' in the way that SPD's work - ive been riding MTB's with SPD's for over 10yrs without trouble but SPD-SL's are rapidly becoming a nightmare.
I find I have to almost 'screw' my foot into the pedal before it binds & simply cannot find a position where it clicks into place without a strong twisting motion combined with a LOT of downward pressure.
If anyone can offer help I would be very grateful.

There are multi-release cleats available, these are easier to get out of.

You're looking for the SH-56 ones. About £10 from your favourite online retailer.

And as GKam84 says, start out with the lowest tension possible and tighten only until your wife needs to intentionally move to release the cleat.

I can imagine that given her ankle, if she's a hard time to release the current version (single-release is what comes with the pedals, model SH-51) then clipping back in could be tricky too. So avoiding unnecessary release is probably good.

NO, you are on the right set up for easy unclips. Just back off the left pedal a bit so she doesn't have to twist and pull so much, should just be able to lift her leg and unclip, but not enough for her to unclip every rotation.

If that makes sense. Back it off in stages until it is easy for her to get in and out of.