Ready to Learn

[chaoticidealism]

I am 25 and just learning to drive. When I was 16, I took driver's ed twice and failed it twice. Some of the professionals who are supposed to be helping me seemed to think that this meant I might never learn to drive, because I had had a try at it, and didn't learn. But a few months ago, I took an assessment and was judged to be capable of

Comments

[energeia5]

I got my license just after I turned 16--my parents made me take driving lessons and the test. I HATED driving--I wasn't ready. I haven't driven since the mid-80s. I could probably learn how again but it would still be stressful.

[chaoticidealism]

It only starts out stressful, in my experience. Each time you do it, it gets easier. I think I will start to automatize some of the sub-tasks eventually. Right now it's difficult because I have to think of a lot of things at the same time, including the instructor, who is chatty. (I haven't asked him to be quiet because learning to deal with distractions is part of learning to drive.)

[foundunicorn]

I was some thin like 23 when I got my license, and it took a few more years before I was good at it.
I learned to tie my shoes from a book of knots.

[ext_103710]

I got my license at 19, probably because the examiner was in a charitable mood that day. However, I didn't really feel confident on the road until I was about 29. It's a combination of both neurological development and gaining skills through regular practice, in my opinion.

As for mental retardation, I think our society just needs to stop using that term. Human intelligence is much too complex to be reduced to a number on a test, and to the extent that the label is used as a means of providing services, this could be done much more effectively by identifying specific individual needs.

[anonymous]

Lernt to drive at age 30 and failed my test first time.

Second time I passed, even though I went through a red light.

I like driving, I think I am reasonably capable, if you can drive up an icy Welsh mountain pass, with one hand on the wheel and the other out the window holding a video camera (probably illegal I might add, but when there is no-one else on the road but sheep, why not!) then you are capable.

I am not allowed to drive either a bus or lorry even though I could, silly laws.

Everybody makes mistakes

[anonymous]

Everybody makes mistakes. The human difference is that we learn from them.

I don't drive when I am sleepy or when it is too late to make an errand. I simply skip the dry cleaners and get it Monday instead of Saturday.

Recently I learned not to pass slower traffic on the right using a left lane where people make left turns. It was not marked Do Not Pass but it should have been.

That is why we have automobile insurance, to fix the other person's car in an accident. Of course, we do try to avoid accidents and try to drive slowly so people aren't hurt.

[ext_132625]

... I simply couldn't process information fast enough to take into account where my car was, what the speed limit was, to read the signs, to watch for other cars, to turn around corners...

This is me, too. I'm 24, and I can't drive; I've made three serious attempts at learning since age 18. I make more progress each time, but I always get discouraged and quit before I'm ready to take the test.

(Besides autism, I have vestibular problems that make me very dizzy, headachey and nauseous whenever I ride in a car. That contributes a lot to my tendency to burn out on driving practice.)