Published on 12, July, 2020
I got my diagnosis around three months ago and turned 17 last month and that means driving. I've never really wanted to drive and made that clear, but of course everyone still wants me to learn, which I understand.
During my first lesson I really tried to enjoy it, and after I was trying to stay optimistic and say I loved it, but it was so awful. It was so overwhelming, doing so many different things at one time, having to focus on all these different things.
I've had one other lesson, which I dreaded, and was so overwhelmed the whole time, once I got out the car I started having a panic attack.
I can't drive and I don't want to. I know how important it is to be able to drive but not only is it just overwhelming, it's also dangerous to me and other people. If I somehow get my license and get overwhelmed while driving I could crash and really hurt myself or other people.
I've tried talking to my mum about it as well as my granny but they both say I should do it anyway because it's an important skill to have. I don't think they really understand that it's different for me than it is for them
Any advice is really appreciated :)
Split the task into smaller chunks. There are 4 parts to driving - 1, learning to work the car's controls - do that off road in a car park until you get the coordination sorted. 2, learning the paper stuff - road signs, lane positions, braking distances etc. That's just evenings at home with the highway code. 3, putting all together - there are lots of closed-course driver training places for teaching 16-year olds to drive so they can pass their test on their 17th birthday or for nervous lerners. 4, Getting out and doing it all with other cars around you - like a normal driving lesson - but if you're sorted with 1, 2 and 3, that will be a piece of cake for you..
Another option is to learn in an automatic - that's just like Mario Karts - so much easier than messing around with clutch & gears. Autos are much better at dealing with today's stop-start traffic and so much more relaxing to drive.
I like the automatice idea ,,,,,, as we move to electric being an automatic only license will become less relevant. Most ( 95% ) of electric cars have only one pedal :)
Exactly - all electrics are 'auto' anyway. Autos had a bad rap in the 60s because they were only 2-speed - so needed big engines with lots of torque so they we only fitted to bigger cars. Since the 80s with the advent of 4-speed autos, they became the equivalent of manuals and could be fitted to small engines without them running out of puff at 40mph. I can drive both but I love autos - so much more civilised that stamping on pedals and stirring the box.
yea took me a while to work it out and I used my car from then on my co-workers in work where in stitches about it.