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I don't want to drive

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 7:39 pm
by SkyeKing
I am 21 yrs old and have always resisted driving. I know i will either get lost or run over someone/thing. My family, whom i live with, think i shoud be able to drive despite having dyspaxia.

How can I convince them that this is a BAD idea?

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 7:57 pm
by quackstar84
Drive into your house... that might work? :whistle:

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:20 pm
by Daniel
It must be a pain being in the US without a car. Perhaps you can get by in the likes of DC without, but it does seem like a very much car orientated sort of a place. I did once travel around the US by train, but then I am crazy :banana:

Not being able to drive is like one of the few last taboos, a bit like being a British guy and not liking soccer. Us dyspraxics are good at flying in the face of these :) It might not be easy but people have to understand that common things are not necessarily suited for some people. It may seem like 100% of Americans drive but no doubt there's a reasonable number who for whatever reason do not. It may be awkward but it is possible to live around it.

Personally speaking I put off driving for ten years and have just passed my test this past week. I didn't have much confidence in being able to pass but now I have I am going to use it to help me with my job hunting. I don't know if I'll ever be really proficient and I do have doubts about my ability to find the way too, but at least it's there for me to use now. Sometimes things are worth trying, sometimes they're not. You just have to make that decision.

Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:35 pm
by Liz944
I realise you don't want to larn to drive.... but if they go with you as a passenger and you have a few near misses, they may get the message....

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 6:28 am
by FREEFALL
i work at an aiport, and live near work so thers no point to nbe me driving also on a girls night out someone else is the sober sister and i can get wasted. though i know when i do learn it will have to be an automatic

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:05 am
by WTCCFan
It is sad that theirs Dyspraxics that don't want to drive.

I live in a cul-de-sac (if you imagine the symbol for Pi the layout is something like that - except the right leg is a bit shorter on account of the fact it goes to a small row of garages and the left leg - the one road in - goes down steeply).
So the neighbours used to safely let us kids out to play without fear of any one of us being run over by a speeding car or pervs coming in and kidnapping us. Theirs houses all round the street. And their was a lot of us. Including me I would say about 8.

Every one of the kids I used to play with now drive cars....aswell as having jobs and girlfriends. I know two have girlfriends. Except one. Guess who?! Me. I look out and theirs one feeling I have. Hurt. I am to hurt to feel proper jealous.

It all has come for them so easily yet because of my dyspraxic problems I am the only one who hasn't progressed. Their driving hurts as much as not having a girlfriend because I love cars and also I tried driving lessons in about 1991/2. But for some reason I felt I just wasn't getting any better. Though their was ONE drive where according to the instructor I drove perfectly in till I got to a tricky left corner.

I just don't know if I will ever learn to drive. :*( :*(

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:03 am
by sheppeyescapee
At this moment in time I have neither the interest/need/finances to learn to drive. I live in a city where the busses go every 10mins to all the places I need to get to, and 35mins on train to the train station near uni.

I may change my mind one day, but for now I'm fine without it.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:58 pm
by gherkin001
I can drive, and am a good driver, i'm just not allowed for the next three years having lost my licence due to having had an epileptic fit. The usual time to go clear to regain the licence is 1 year but as its a fairly recent diagnosis i must go 3 years before I can apply to the DVLA to get it back.

I miss my car and the freedom that driving gives me. I now am stuck to the damn pushbike and would swap that for the car as soon as the DVLA says I can.

Kirsty........ :bike:

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:03 am
by phoena
My driver license was been taken for six months because I was caught texting while i was driving. It was hard for me as I always have training for my work..I was really a bad moment for me...

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:50 pm
by Tim G
Bringing the topic back to its focus - I compleatly relate to you SkyeKing.
Like quite a fue dyspraxics I don't want to drive (I dident want to anyway), now I realise that it isent a good idea. - There are too many varables and things going on that I have to think about and deal with - so that puts me off. I also feel that even if I pass I am not consistaint and there may be problems later.

Allthough the US is verry much car oranteted there are other ways to get around if you put your mind to it so the car is not the only way - you should get that across to your parents first.
Expane to you parents why you don't want to drive and why its a bad idea for you - what are the problems and there implacaitions.
Tell them that yes there are dyspraxicis that can drive there are thoes who have and compleatly failed and thoes who like you don't want to and have the insite to know its not a good idea anyway so its not as simple to say that your dyspraxic but what does that matter when it comes to driving.

At the end of the day remember that they can't force you into it and its your choice so stand up for yourself.

Re:

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:43 pm
by Tom fod
WTCCFan wrote:It is sad that theirs Dyspraxics that don't want to drive.

Every one of the kids I used to play with now drive cars....aswell as having jobs and girlfriends. I know two have girlfriends. Except one. Guess who?! Me. I look out and theirs one feeling I have. Hurt. I am to hurt to feel proper jealous.
It all has come for them so easily yet because of my dyspraxic problems I am the only one who hasn't progressed.

I was in many ways saddened to read the above as it resonated deeply,

Not all of us have the choice. I'm visually impaired so much so that I can't see a car registration at the required distance and glasses don't make blindest bit of difference. I also have a quite strong dislike of sport and have yet to have a proper girlfriend. I've managed the getting a job but it's been very hard work. I suppose that's given me some sense of achievement though it is hard not be bitter or feel sorry for myself at times. Society and what we seem to be forced to feel we should do/be able to do don't help.

If you truly believe driving isn't practical for you at present (appreciate that situation may in future warrant reassessment) and you can manage without I agree with Tim in saying stick to your guns. I live in a rural area but fortunately I'm able to manage by getting lifts, buses or by walking. Think it's probably easier in more urban areas, Not least walking is good for you and driving is a very expensive business nowadays.

Tom

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:42 pm
by Tim G
driving is a very expensive business nowadays.
I don't really know how to put this ecactly but a quote that has come to mind and genralie sumes this up is this
"you can chase fashion or you can wait unitill fashion catches up with you" - quote Edward Craven Walker (inventor of the lava lamp).

Basickly what I am saying is that some things we as dyspraxics have eather found impossable or verry hard to do are slowly becoming the norm or being used with people who arnt dyspraxic.
For eaxmple beceuse driving is so expensive now people are chosing not to even though they are more then capable to learn and drive so its 'fashionable' to use public trandsport / not to drive.

There is more awareness and accpetence of people with learning difculites and dysablieies etc (I agree that its no way near what it should be though). In a way its not un 'fashionable' to be diffrent and people without difculties are wanting to be 'diffrent' now as its 'fashionable' where as before this it wasent but the issues still verry much exested.

Basicky what I am trying to say is that stick to yourself and not to get infulanced (I know its soo much easer said then done) and mabie you will find that others views of you will change and have in a sence caught up with you.

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:55 pm
by Moot
I've never wanted to learn to drive. It's so hard to live without one nowadays which is a big pain. I think I'd be rubbish and in turn that doubly ensures I would indeed be crap. Yay for rubbish confidence levels...

But yeah, I couldn't trust myself behind the wheel. I get blank mind moments more than ever now and that is something you cannot afford to get on the road. :/

In any case, I'm being more environmentally friendly. :cool:

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:51 pm
by shakey
"In any case, I'm being more environmentally friendly." - Good for you!!!

I do drive, but it took me 4 long hard years to learn and 4 attempts to pass. When I eventually passed, I found I was too scared to drive on my own for a good while. Of course then I didn't really understand why it was so difficult for me. I am now used to it (have been driving for 20 years) but I still am not too keen on motorways, I don't like driving at night (light sensitivity makes headlights difficult to cope with) and I rarely drive in unfamiliar places - I'm very glad for a sat nav when I do!

I would say to anyone thinking about it, go with what you feel is right. If you feel like having a try, then perhaps you could get a few trial lessons to see how you get on but make sure they start you off on a quiet flat car park so you can get used to the controls before you have to cope with too much extra traffic as well (though with supermarkets 24 hours nowadays they may be harder to find!)

I try to walk or cycle as much as I can, though I did have 3 years where I couldn't drive because of seizures & I did miss being able to use the car.

Re: I don't want to drive

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:03 pm
by allesandro
I learned to drive in the suburbs where spatial relations was not such an issue because there was plenty of room and traffic was not so hectic. But I live in a big city now and I know I would never be able to navigate the complexity of going around circles and traffic and pedestrians coming from all directions, not to mention the bike riders, the motorcycles, and let's not forget the lovely skateboarders.