learn to drive

You should never let your disability stop you from doing anything you want to in life and this includes learning to drive.

I will share my story with you and this isn't something I've done on the forum before. There's only 2 people on here that know this story and I haven't shared it for fear of being judged.

My daughter has Autism, learning disability and Social Anxiety Disorder. One of her dreams was always to be able to learn to drive and to be more independent. I'll be honest and I didn't think she would be able to achieve this BUT as her mum obviously I stood by her and decided I would help her in anyway I could. We did advise her that maybe an automatic would be easier so that's what she did.

I helped her apply for her provisional driving license which came back rather quickly. She claims Enhanced mobility PIP so we ordered a vehicle for her through the Motability scheme. Then I applied for a grant from Motability for driving lessons and she was given 40 hours. They found a driving instructor local to where we lived but she struggled with that person because he just didn't understand her.

Thankfully, he retired but it was a couple of months before they were able to find another. The next one was a specialist driving instructor for those with disabilities and he was amazing. He totally understood her, took his time to explain everything to her again and again and again.

In the meantime I decided that I would take her out in her car for extra practice. Yes, I had moments where I was terrified and pulled many of my hairs out in the process. 😂 Had some near misses and a kerbed alloy wheel on the brand new car within just a few weeks of collecting it. 😑 I took her out most days for at least 1 hour, I was mentally and physically exhausted.

Her biggest struggle was remembering things but with determination and working closely with her driving instructor we began to see improvements. She applied for her theory test but failed the first time. Then took it again some weeks later and passed. There was extra support in place for this due to her disabilities. .We booked her practical driving test but cancelled it so many times because she wasn't ready.

Motability increased her grant by a further 10 hours but that was the absolute maximum she could have. By the end of those 50 hours she still wan't ready and her test was about 1 month away so she paid for extra hours herself and at £55 an hour it wasn't cheap. We were very grateful for the grant from Motability though!

On the day of her practical test (special provisions were in place) I went to the test centre with her and her driving instructor and waited with him. It was the longest 40 minutes of my life. She went with the examiner on her own because she said she would be more nervous with another person in the car with her. She took the test in her own car because that's where she did her lessons…. she PASSED her test with just one minor fault! It will be 2 years in April. Now I can sit back and be a passenger while my daughter drives me around.

My goodness me, I've never been so proud!! She actually did it. It took a whole year of lessons, many tears and lots of frustration but she did it. Sadly, it hasn't improved iher independence because she won't go out alone but she drives when we go out together.

The morel of the story is, please don't listen to anyone. If you want to do something, or achieve something in life then please do it and prove everyone wrong!