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Dear_one
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02 Aug 2017, 4:43 pm

There's at least one bridge that has professional drivers available for nervous drivers. Maybe they could be persuaded to do an AS prevalence survey.
I know a non-driving NT woman who has trouble just because her mother never let her run around as a little kid, for fear of damage. She has very little spatial awareness. After many hours of driving up and down her driveway with her husband, he asked her to drive around the potholes. She was genuinely baffled as to how that is done, and he, a high school teacher, felt the task of explaining even that was impossible.



shortfatbalduglyman
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02 Aug 2017, 9:07 pm

anti_gone wrote:
Why do you need to drive?

Is there no public transport in your area? Do you need driving for your job?


______________________________________________________________________

the city i currently live in has much better public transportation than the one that i went to college in.

having said that, the bus does not go everywhere at all times. after a certain time, around 8pm, it is really inconvenient to take the bus at all. paranoid someone will rape me at the bus stop.

in some instances it might be necessary to carry something of large volume or mass. something that would not fit on a bus.

in some instances, it is a hurry. for example if my appendix bursts. then can't rely on the bus either. granted i wouldn't be able to drive either. but someone has to drive me.

but so glad the bus system is so convenient over here. relatively.



germanium
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02 Aug 2017, 10:27 pm

We have anouther truck driver that is very clearly autistic and is often inappropriate in meeting but is a good driver inspit of his autism. :D



TheSilentOne
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03 Aug 2017, 12:00 pm

I have issues with driving, and it is pretty much mandatory that you drive where I live if you need to get around. I rarely drive as I tend to have a lot of panic attacks while driving and end up pulling over because I can't do it. It might also be sensory overload with the noise from other cars, the noise from the car I am driving and all the lights. Those are all things that bother me even when I am not driving. Perhaps it is the sensory overload mixed with the anxiety that causes me to almost "shut down" when driving.


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dazzer12
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06 Aug 2017, 1:56 pm

EyeDash wrote:
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had the exact problems driving that you described, but didn't associate it with my autism. Wide, multi-lane highways are really hard for me. And roads that open out onto a wide landscape are very challenging. Bridges or roads on a steep mountainside are next to impossible. A lot of times I can ignore my sensory issues, but I can get overwhelmed when flooded with large amounts of information all at once about heights and speeds and distances. Once on a freeway, I remember that my normal perception of the car moving through a stationary landscape suddenly got replaced by a perception of a still car and interior with an onrushing landscape zooming around me outside of the windshield. That was really disorienting. I can get into such fear that my hands grip the steering wheel painfully tightly and I start to slow way down, which is a bad thing on a highway or freeway. I've gone to enormous lengths to map out routes on Google Maps to make sure I won't encounter something I can't handle and so I know the route by heart in case I might make a wrong turn somewhere. My mind seems to not just be located in the car - I feel as if I'm all over the area, which is why steep roads or bridges scare me to death. I really understand the lemming-like behavior driving on bridges. I've resorted to asking acquaintances to drive on occasion. I also started using Blue-Blocker sunglasses, which help some with the visual overload. The fear and difficulty become less if I drive a route repeatedly, but I've also found that if I try a familiar route after being away from it for a few years, the difficulties return. It's not just an anxiety-related phenomenon and when I've forced myself on a difficult drive, it can get dangerous. I was on anxiety medication for awhile and it did zero to help with the problem. I'm in Colorado and have used shuttle services when I've had to go to the airport as the freeway is a nightmare. There are some local shuttles that I should check out, but I avoid public buses as I've had bad experiences with that when younger - it's not always safe, especially if you're autistic.



you describe my situation so well :) i really need to find positive coping strategies one gent mentions above needing sharper vision and i am considering polarized lenses with a slight tint although sometimes i feel blinkers would be best.



dazzer12
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06 Aug 2017, 1:58 pm

Dear_one wrote:
dazzer12 wrote:
i really need to drive will tinted or wrap around glasses possibly help?


No. You need sharp vision. Has anyone tried video game driver training? What you need is enough time to not just get accustomed to the environment, but to develop automatic responses to it, as you do to balance and avoid stuff when walking around.


Driver training game, think i will research if there is a uk one with routes :)