If I wasn't aspie could I learn to drive? I hate taxis.

[Pats]

I'm certainly magnitudes better with a cart than in driving games, maybe because I get much better feedback

Do you mean the kind of cart in a grocery store? I don't always do well with those. lol

 

[Graphin]

My parents made me go to a kart racing hall involuntarly

 

[ilovetochat87]

I feel the exact same way about cars. For the longest time when I lived in a city I didn't need a car and took the bus and metro everywhere. When I moved to where I live now I had to drive again. Definitely a necessary thing for independence. I'm also an aspie as is my husband and we both drive, I don't like it all that much but I do it. For me the car is important in winter, when it's too cold to walk. Still have vivid memories of how cold it was to wait sometimes thirty minutes for a bus. So it's not something I miss now that I'm older.

A car horn will startle me, a cyclist, construction noise, pedestrians, a loud car or truck will distract me. Can hear things inside the car that are as loud as outside it. There are advantages though such as not having to carry heavy groceries home in your arms, heavy items are easier to buy and bring home in a car. Everything is quicker and an added bonus is that you can move further away from a noisy city center to somewhere quieter, as a result of owning a car.

You can if you decide to, drive. Had to take the driving course again at fifty-five, to pass the driver's test. As it had been thirty years since I'd had a license. If I've been able to do it, I'm certain most people can.

What I want to know is if you have that many issues while you're behind the wheel such as noise and distractions in fear and overstimulation while you're behind the wheel how are you still alive and haven't killed yourself behind the wheel? How have you not killed anybody else or caused a car crash or had physical breakdown or panic attacks? Because those are exactly the problems I have. Every thing you mentioned is exactly my problem and why I failed driving. I've known for a while that I suck at driving because regardless of having glasses on or not I just don't have good spatial awareness. I mean they're calling it depth perception but it's not really depth perception because I don't see the world flat or one-dimensional but I think they're calling it that because I have poor spatial awareness and when I walk next to people/with people I intentionally walk on their left where nobody is so that I don't have to worry about veering into people as if I were on the right side of them. And I don't adhere to the rules of the road because I can't pay attention. I get easily distracted so sometimes I see a stop sign and distractions around me get crazy and even though I know I clearly saw the stop sign I didn't. I'll space out from distractions. If that makes any sense. Like I saw it but I wasn't really paying attention so I didn't see it if that makes sense. And a lot of noise coming at me like radio in the car or people talking in the car or a lot of honking or the whooshing sound that I can hear from the cars going by distracts me and I kind of space out. And I had to take a course through vocational rehabilitation that they paid for and it was a driving instructor who teaches only people with physical and mental disabilities. They tested me out for Aspergers just to see where I was at mentally and socially and also a computer test where I click the clicker every time I see a blurry squiggly line on the monitor and hit light up buttons anytime they come on to text my reaction to things and how well I can keep up in hi traffic environments etc and decided that my night vision sucks and my depth perception/ spatial awareness sucks and I can't really do a whole lot when everything is coming at me all at once I get easily freaked out and overwhelmed. So she didn't think this was a good chance of learning but she would give it a shot because you never know and after six weeks she was right. I still didn't get any better than at the beginning. So she said I'm not a candidate for driving and that's okay. She said "not everybody can drive you will find other ways around". But I can't do directions at all so I can't tell anybody how to get to my location besides saying here's my address and you figure out how to get to my place. So hopefully a taxi/uber would know the directions . But if I were on a bus I haven't really learned that yet so I don't really know how to know what stop I'm getting off of. I never really learned that because I don't really have a bus close enough to me to learn. So I'm kinda SOL but I myself have the worst problem with driving and I've heard many many many many many people say I have Aspergers and I can drive just fine and I'm like how the F is that possible?! I know exactly why I can't drive and we all have the same problems being distracted, overwhelmed, panic sometimes in high traffic or high chaotic environments, or loud noises freak us out, or not necessarily claustrophobia but kinda like that, and easily scared etc. So why am I the only one on the spectrum that doesn't know how to drive if everybody else has that problem how can they drive and I can't ? That's the question I want to know how are you driving with all that crap about you and all those problems with it?

Another small thing that I kind of found interesting is the whole I have Aspergers but lived in the big city kind of a thing. Explain to me how you have Aspergers and you lived in the biggest type of city possible where everybody is cranky and in your way and there's 63 bazillion cars in a 50 ft.² area of street and they are all pissed at each other get out of my way move I have things to do blah blah etc. etc. and all the honking and there's not even room to ride a bicycle and everything has to be you park on the side of the sidewalk and put coins into a metor and you have to take the bus or taxi to get around because there's no room to get a car so you have to take a taxi or the bus or train. I don't think I could live in that kind of environment. That would freak me out. And I would have daily panic attacks. How does somebody with Aspergers have that kind of a city life and they are not constantly freaking out like I need to get the hell out of Dodge where it's quieter? I am very curious on that. You seem very normal and Nuro typical for claiming to have Aspergers. Nobody's judging here or mad here I'm just very curious how you overcome those things like that. What is your secret???

 

[Mr Allen]

I once drove my Mum's car round Morrisons' car park when they were closed after 4 PM on a Sunday afternoon, don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but it was a bit scary.

 

[Graphin]

I guess the question would be, who would you be if not an aspie

 

[Mia]

What I want to know is if you have that many issues while you're behind the wheel such as noise and distractions in fear and overstimulation while you're behind the wheel how are you still alive and haven't killed yourself behind the wheel? How have you not killed anybody else or caused a car crash or had physical breakdown or panic attacks? Because those are exactly the problems I have. Every thing you mentioned is exactly my problem and why I failed driving.

Have never caused an accident or been in one when I've been driving. Completely focus until I return home, then I usually sleep if I'm exhausted. That's what I've done most of my life, I control how I react and feel because it's necessary. I don't let my anxiety take over, although sometimes it has. Focus only on that one thing and ignore or put aside the hyper awareness as much as I can.

You know what's it's like in an emergency? When you have to do something like leave a house during a fire, or are on high alert for some danger? That's when you do everything you are supposed to do, you don't have a panic attack until it's over because you have to save yourself. If you can do it under those circumstances, you can do it anytime. And after awhile, it becomes a normal way to be and the panic lessens.

I delay the panic attacks as well until I can go somewhere private. It's rare that I succumb to one around other people, but it's happened a few times. So I usually attempt to stop whatever is causing it by leaving, moving away from the source, or if in a public place locking myself into a bathroom and doing breathing exercises. I've spent many breaks from jobs in bathroom stalls taking deep breaths.

Don't drive at night, in the rain, or while it's snowing unless I have no choice. Don't use four lane highways if I can avoid them. Do errands early by car, so fewer cars are on the road. Take the quietest routes, even if it takes more time.

How does somebody with Aspergers have that kind of a city life and they are not constantly freaking out like I need to get the hell out of Dodge where it's quieter? I am very curious on that. You seem very normal and Nuro typical for claiming to have Aspergers. Nobody's judging here or mad here I'm just very curious how you overcome those things like that. What is your secret???

People with autism do live in cities. I moved from a major city about fifteen years ago. If you don't know that life can be any different, and you have to support yourself you really have no choice. Cities are where the jobs are.

There were no supports for people with autism in Canada when I was growing up, much less any kind of diagnosis unless you were incapable of holding down a job. Then you were placed in a sanitarium for your life. If that's not impetus to find a job and support yourself I don't what is. There are still few provisions for people with autism in canada, no SSI or disability (unless you are physically disabled). You are essentially on your own, or your family cares for you and receives some sort of tax deduction.

You'll find that many older people here adapted without diagnosis, because they had no choice nor any idea that they were different from anyone else. We hold down jobs, drive, buy houses, marry, have children. It may have been doubly difficult but it's possible for some. It would depend where on the spectrum you are and how much you are able to do.
By the way, there are other female aspies here on this site who drive and have lived in cities, I'm not the only one.

I love to chat, another thing I've been meaning to mention. If you failed at learning to drive, and are autistic that does not mean that you can't do it, it might take you a little longer. Other aspie women do drive. Don't attack me because you failed and I didn't.

 

[Fade2black]

Why wouldn't an Aspie be able to drive. I don't see it as a problem for the reason, driving put the driver in control. I know I'm much more comfortable being in control. Which is maybe why I've always enjoyed driving, including very high horsepower race cars.

 

[Judge]

I'm hoping that all this new safety technology in automobiles will make the driving experience of autistic people just a little bit better. That whatever it may be that you don't compensate for in the instant of a second, that the car just may do it for you. In a nutshell it can react faster than a human being can.

Not that it's intended for anyone to rely on such technology, but nice to know when it's there when you need it. I've come to really appreciate it all...not resenting it at all.

 

[Autistamatic]

I like the idea of some of that tech, but it can be unsettling when you're an established driver. Automatics are rare here, but I had one for a couple of years and I couldn't wait to get back to a manual (stick shift as I believe you call it in the US). The fuel economy on it was also dreadful compared to the manual version of the exact same model I'd had previously.
My current car has an auto handbrake which I'm still not used to after 2 years, and sensors that flash and beep warnings of all sorts of imagined dangers! It can be quite distracting...

 

[Judge]

I like the idea of some of that tech, but it can be unsettling when you're an established driver. Automatics are rare here, but I had one for a couple of years and I couldn't wait to get back to a manual (stick shift as I believe you call it in the US). The fuel economy on it was also dreadful compared to the manual version of the exact same model I'd had previously.
My current car has an auto handbrake which I'm still not used to after 2 years, and sensors that flash and beep warnings of all sorts of imagined dangers! It can be quite distracting...

I drive a six-speed manual myself. But yes, all the "nanny-technology" takes a little getting used to. And yes, all those additional lights all over the dashboard at night make me feel like I'm on the bridge of the Enterprise. Forced me to lower the brightness of all those instrument displays. Just a sign of the times I suppose. But so far my car hasn't warned me with "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!"

LOL...yeah, I have an electric handbrake too. Still spooks me at times. But it's never failed me so far.

 

[Judge]

I can't stand all the tech in cars, its a car not a toy.

Rest assured, avoiding an accident is no game. And the technology works independently of the driver. You won't even be aware of it until you really need it.

 

[Judge]

or until it fails and slams the brakes on you all out of nowhere.

Well, with that mentality anything could potentially go wrong.

Better off taking a train. Oh yeah- operator error. Oops. One thing for sure, don't fly. You'd be shocked at the high-tech automation passenger aircraft have. Basically you can't escape this stuff.

 

[GrownupGirl]

There are plenty of people who aren't aspies who can't drive for one reason or another. I don't see that hating every possible mode of transportation is going to solve any of your problems. Bus drivers aren't acting the way they do just to annoy you, and cab drivers are pretty much the same wherever you go. Since the world isn't going to change for you, you might consider changing your attitude.

Welp, I guess I'll go on having a bad attitude then because the only thing that will change it is when the world stops being so full of it. But instead it gets more full of it every day. I can't stand it anymore and I just want to die.

 

[Judge]

I was reticent about such technology myself. Until I actually took a rather long test drive. I enjoy actually driving a car. Scoffed at the idea of a car driving me. But in this case it only intervenes in a risky situation. And it reacts faster than I can. It really works. But no, it isn't designed to directly rely upon either.

 

[Pats]

I like the idea of some of that tech, but it can be unsettling when you're an established driver. Automatics are rare here, but I had one for a couple of years and I couldn't wait to get back to a manual (stick shift as I believe you call it in the US). The fuel economy on it was also dreadful compared to the manual version of the exact same model I'd had previously.
My current car has an auto handbrake which I'm still not used to after 2 years, and sensors that flash and beep warnings of all sorts of imagined dangers! It can be quite distracting...

that's interesting since over here you can hardly find a stick shift. One of the reasons I like mine - no one can drive it so no one borrows my car and no one is going to be able to drive off and steal it.

 

[Judge]

I agree. People ask to drive my car all the time. But its a 5 speed and they get confused, most younger people here don't even know what a manual is.

The service manager for where I take my car even lamented they have a few employees who simply cannot operate manual transmission cars. Strange how some things can change over the years. All the cars I've ever owned were manuals. Go figure.

Who would have thought a stick shift could become an anti-theft device?

 

[Sherlock77]

What I want to know is if you have that many issues while you're behind the wheel such as noise and distractions in fear and overstimulation while you're behind the wheel how are you still alive and haven't killed yourself behind the wheel? How have you not killed anybody else or caused a car crash or had physical breakdown or panic attacks? Because those are exactly the problems I have. Every thing you mentioned is exactly my problem and why I failed driving. I've known for a while that I suck at driving because regardless of having glasses on or not I just don't have good spatial awareness. I mean they're calling it depth perception but it's not really depth perception because I don't see the world flat or one-dimensional but I think they're calling it that because I have poor spatial awareness and when I walk next to people/with people I intentionally walk on their left where nobody is so that I don't have to worry about veering into people as if I were on the right side of them. And I don't adhere to the rules of the road because I can't pay attention. I get easily distracted so sometimes I see a stop sign and distractions around me get crazy and even though I know I clearly saw the stop sign I didn't. I'll space out from distractions. If that makes any sense. Like I saw it but I wasn't really paying attention so I didn't see it if that makes sense. And a lot of noise coming at me like radio in the car or people talking in the car or a lot of honking or the whooshing sound that I can hear from the cars going by distracts me and I kind of space out. And I had to take a course through vocational rehabilitation that they paid for and it was a driving instructor who teaches only people with physical and mental disabilities. They tested me out for Aspergers just to see where I was at mentally and socially and also a computer test where I click the clicker every time I see a blurry squiggly line on the monitor and hit light up buttons anytime they come on to text my reaction to things and how well I can keep up in hi traffic environments etc and decided that my night vision sucks and my depth perception/ spatial awareness sucks and I can't really do a whole lot when everything is coming at me all at once I get easily freaked out and overwhelmed. So she didn't think this was a good chance of learning but she would give it a shot because you never know and after six weeks she was right. I still didn't get any better than at the beginning. So she said I'm not a candidate for driving and that's okay. She said "not everybody can drive you will find other ways around". But I can't do directions at all so I can't tell anybody how to get to my location besides saying here's my address and you figure out how to get to my place. So hopefully a taxi/uber would know the directions . But if I were on a bus I haven't really learned that yet so I don't really know how to know what stop I'm getting off of. I never really learned that because I don't really have a bus close enough to me to learn. So I'm kinda SOL but I myself have the worst problem with driving and I've heard many many many many many people say I have Aspergers and I can drive just fine and I'm like how the F is that possible?! I know exactly why I can't drive and we all have the same problems being distracted, overwhelmed, panic sometimes in high traffic or high chaotic environments, or loud noises freak us out, or not necessarily claustrophobia but kinda like that, and easily scared etc. So why am I the only one on the spectrum that doesn't know how to drive if everybody else has that problem how can they drive and I can't ? That's the question I want to know how are you driving with all that crap about you and all those problems with it?

Another small thing that I kind of found interesting is the whole I have Aspergers but lived in the big city kind of a thing. Explain to me how you have Aspergers and you lived in the biggest type of city possible where everybody is cranky and in your way and there's 63 bazillion cars in a 50 ft.² area of street and they are all pissed at each other get out of my way move I have things to do blah blah etc. etc. and all the honking and there's not even room to ride a bicycle and everything has to be you park on the side of the sidewalk and put coins into a metor and you have to take the bus or taxi to get around because there's no room to get a car so you have to take a taxi or the bus or train. I don't think I could live in that kind of environment. That would freak me out. And I would have daily panic attacks. How does somebody with Aspergers have that kind of a city life and they are not constantly freaking out like I need to get the hell out of Dodge where it's quieter? I am very curious on that. You seem very normal and Nuro typical for claiming to have Aspergers. Nobody's judging here or mad here I'm just very curious how you overcome those things like that. What is your secret???

A lot to take in, remember that everyone experiences Asperger's different, some have more severe cases, some have less severe cases, etc... There have been other threads in the forum about driving issues, you are not the only one, trust me on that... I do think there are some people who probably shouldn't drive, even though they can get a driver's license, other people who have issues as you just described, even some NT people

As for big city living vs. small town living, I live in Calgary a city of just over one million people, and spend most of my leisure time in the downtown core and love it, I am self diagnosed and certainly a less severe case of Asperger's... And as someone else mentioned I grew up without any knowledge of Asperger's into my 40's, have simply always learned to adapt, for the most part successfully with a few bumps... And yes I do have my struggles, but we all have a different story of our lives...

 

[kris]

I just got my license for the first time 3 weeks ago and I’m 36. Never too late. I took some professional lessons and that really helped get over my fears, though I do still have anxiety driving to work. its worth it for me to be able to bring my dog to the office though. I turn on google navigation after choosing my route and the verbal directions really help keep me focused and I don’t worry about getting lost or turned around. If I miss a turn, it just renavigates me.

 

[Bronzelincolns]

nah, I drive just fine.

depends on what side of the spectrum you fall on.

 

[Meistersinger]

I just recently gave up driving for 3 reasons:

1). That piece of junk Ford Escort I was driving had the entire exhaust system drop off it. The car itself isn’t worth $200.00 US, and i’m Not about to sink another $600.00US to fix it.

2). I can’t afford a new car, especially with all the medical bills, as well as credit card bills I ran up. No lender in their right mind would even look at me.

3). I’m going night blind. I can no longer see very well at night.