Autism & Driving: Can Autistic People Drive?

Being Autistic on its own isn't a disqualifier for driving or having a driver's license, but some common conditions that many Autistic People have can make driving difficult or impossible.

---

As I've mentioned in a previous post when I struggle to know what topic I want to write about, one way I can find inspiration is by opening Google and typing in "can autistic" or "do autistic" in a browser that I'm not logged in on (so as it doesn't know my history when asking) to inspire me with a prompt for the day. 

Google search results for ‘can autistic’ results: people drive, love, people join the army people live alone, have sex, adopt, drink alcohol, kids play sports, and be doctors.

I do this because while sometimes I write for myself, I also write to teach (unless I'm inspired by a topic I need to get out of my head because writing is therapeutic and cathartic for me). 

I want to teach things my readers would be interested in (vs. just what I am interested in). 

As an Autistic ADHDer (AuDHD for short), I struggle to absorb and pay attention to topics I'm not interested in. 

I can pay attention, but only to what my "brain likes" - something I have very little control over. 

My brain has an on-off switch that I cannot reach.

I'd be unstoppable if I could choose my areas of focus (because of how deep the focus can be when it latches onto something - like a starving animal). 

I struggle to turn off my hunger for knowledge on a topic once that topic has caught my attention. The animal wants what it wants, and I can steer it a little, but I can't make it want things it doesn't like.

When I was growing up in school, teachers forced me to learn things that were of no interest to me, not teaching me things I cared about (or making the information relevant to me and helping me understand the relevance) and failing to share knowledge in a way I could digest made learning difficult. I try to learn from these mistakes. 

---

---

This is just one of the many ways I work to make my educational content accessible to learners of various NeuroTypes or Brain Types, especially those with shorter attention spans (like mine).

I also use a lot of visual language and descriptions (because I am a visual thinker and the pictures my words paint matter GREATLY to me and the visual thinkers reading). 

I am also mindful of breaking my posts into sections, using headers, spacing, and shortened paragraphs for easy digestion. 

I could make this an entire post about making my writing easier for readers of various NeuroTypes to digest, but we have a different topic to dive into today - DRIVING. 

If you'd like to know more about how I write easy-to-digest content, let me know in the comments, and I can discuss it in the future. 

Back to the topic at hand - Can Autistic People Drive?

Some of us can, some of us can't. This one depends on several factors. 

The thing about being Autistic is many Autistic People have multiple Brain Types and co-occurring health conditions in addition to being Autistic.

Being Autistic on its own isn't a disqualifier for driving or having a driver's license, but some common conditions that many Autistic People have can make driving difficult or impossible. 

For example, Autistic People with sensory differences that impact depth perception and 3-D vision, motor control differences, attention difficulties, or seizures all may struggle with driving (or, depending on the intensity and combination, may be completely unable to drive). However, because not all Autistic People will experience these difficulties, not all Autistic People will struggle with driving. 

Some Autistic People excel at driving. 

Autistic People tend to live in extremes.

We have differences in our communication, sensory, and motor systems and how intensely we experience our emotions (and the world around us). This can show up in a variety of ways. 

---

Paid subscribers have access to the full post.