Driving With Aspergers

When I was 16 years old, I was trying to get my learners permit to drive, but I didn’t pass. In fact, it took me fifteen tries over eight years to finally get my learners. Looking back on my first few attempts, I felt like I was pressured into my driver’s licence because my classmates and peers who getting theirs and I felt like if I got mine, I would be part of the group that got more independence because I was able to get behind the wheel of a car. I realized now that I just wasn’t ready to get my license at that age. I’ll get it when the time was right. When I was 24, I finally passed the test and I got it.

I don’t do well on tests. I can study all I want, but once the test comes, I freeze. When it was time for me to take my learners test, I was able to do it written instead of on the computer. I’ve had done it that way a couple times before, but when I passed, I was more prepared, and I had someone there with me to help me. Sometimes the questions are worded different, so the woman was able to put the questions in easier terms that made sense.

When you do the test on the computer, you get to see what questions you got right and if you get a certain number of them wrong, you fail. That made me nervous because I would less confidence because I knew that if I could the next question wrong, I would fail.

I did my road test three times before I was able to drive without my learner’s permit. I had practised for weeks to make sure I did everything right, but of course there was always something that you did that would make you fail.

I knew that I wanted to get rid of my learners because if it expired after the 2 years, I would have to take the test again and I didn’t know if I would get it a second time so I wanted to get rid of it so I could have my license and use it when I need to. I still walk everywhere and take the bus when I need to, but it’s nice to be able to get in a car and drive.

I'm at the point in my life where I'm ready to have a car. If I'm being honest, there are things that I don't do or places I won't go to because I don't have a car. There are jobs I don't apply for because its to far me to go. I know people that take the bus on a regular basis and they get into the routine, but I feel like I'll be even more independent because I can get out my comfort zone. As much as I love being able to be within walking distance to literally everything, I would love to be able to get into my car and drive downtown and be able to do new things and explore new places without having the anxiety of having to get home before the buses stop running of the day or having to cut the day short because its going to take me 2 hours to get home as to a 30 minute drive. People are going to convince me that having a car is going to be expensive, which I get, but you since you always had a car, you don't know what its like rely on others for a ride which I feel bad since I'm in my 30s and still bum a ride every once in a while. I want to be able to experience being able to travel a bit more and know what its like. The more I'm on the road, the better driver I'm going to become.

If there was an emergency, I don't want to wait for a bus or an uber to take me to where I need to go. I don't like relying on others when I know I can get there on my own independently with a car.

If I were to have kids. How am I going to get them around? How am I going to take them to the doctors, to school, to soccer practise?

Driving is not for everyone. Just because the people around you are doing it doesn’t mean you have to. People do things at different times. If it’s something you want, keep trying and you’ll get there. Don’t be discouraged. If driving isn’t what you want to do, there’s no pressure. Its up to you.