AUTISM AND DRIVING
CAN PEOPLE WITH AUTISM DRIVE?
Can people on the autism spectrum drive? This is the most asked question both by autistic individuals and neurotypicals alike. Well, can they? Yes and no, or should we rather say it depends? Okay, then we’ll say it depends. But what does it depend on? It depends on how autistic an individual is.
Why do I say this? Because autism as we know is a broad spectrum of different disorders. What this means is that autistic individuals have different abilities and challenges because no two autistic people are the same, ever.
Autism varies from person to person, and this is one of the major reasons why it is difficult to detect or diagnose if you prefer the term. But we’re not there, we’re here — on driving. That said, driving can be easy for some autistics and harder for others.
Let’s all remember that driving requires more than turning a steering wheel, paddle on the brakes, and fiddling with the handbrake and gear. There is more to it than that. I want us to look at some IMPORTANT things that driving requires — or rather demands.
Driving requirements
Driving, as I have mentioned, demands skills that many autistic individuals lack or suffer with. These are skills like attention, communication, eye-hand coordination, prediction, fast thinking, and judgment, just to name a few. To be able to drive better and safer, we all need to acquire and master these skills, autistic or not.
Another thing I want us to consider about autism is the possible or potential hurdles that autistic drivers may encounter when driving by relating them to the above-mentioned requirements.
Challenges autistic drivers MAY face
· Another thing that autistics struggle with is multi-tasking. Therefore, they might have difficulties concentrating on their driving while paying attention to other fellow drivers.
· This means that the chances of them being easily distracted are pretty high.
· Challenges controlling their nerves (fast thinking). Remember that autistic people get anxious very easily compared to non-autistic. Therefore, things like traffic jams, road rage, tailgating, and all the chaos that you face on the road might be difficult for autistic individuals to handle (judgment).
· And communication. Communication plays a huge role on the road as drivers use different methods to communicate with one another such as turn signals, brake lights, hazard lights, headlights, and the horn. So, if a person with autism doesn’t understand this way of communication, driving might be hard.
Now that we understand what driving requires and the potential challenges autistics may face, let’s ask ourselves the big question again: CAN PEOPLE WITH AUTISM DRIVE?
Remember my answer? I said it depends. It depends on all that I’ve just mentioned.
If the autistic person’s abilities and challenges don’t limit them
THEY CAN DRIVE
If they find driving easy and are comfortable when driving
THEY CAN DRIVE
If they can concentrate on driving and pay attention to other drivers (aka multi-tasking)
THEY CAN DRIVE
If their eye-hand coordination is good (holding a steering wheel, feet on brakes, and still being able to change gears)
THEY CAN DRIVE
If they can think fast and be able to predict
THEY CAN DRIVE
If they are not going to be easily distracted
THEY CAN DRIVE
If their nerves won’t get in the way of their driving
THEY CAN DRIVE
If they understand social cues
HELL, WHY NOT? OF COURSE, THEY CAN DRIVE!
Here’s a bonus
This post doesn’t just cover driving with autism only but driving with other disabilities too. To read more on driving with autism and other disabilities, click here.
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