Australia might have an image overseas as the Land of the Larrikins, but many that live Down Under will tell you it’s a hard-nosed nation obsessed with rules and order. The country has some of the strictest road rules in the world, and harsh penalties for those that break them. In a recent example, 2022 saw the country introduce new driving fitness standards that put autistic drivers under the spotlight. It’s already had a chilling effect on many, and has raised questions about just how the country plans to treat neurodivergent drivers differently from everybody else.
As reported by Australian government-funded outlet ABC News, it all stems from the 2022 update to the national Assessing Fitness To Drive standards. Austroads is the government association of Australian and New Zealand transport agencies, which develops these guidelines for the nation in partnership with the National Transport Commission (NTC). In recent years, the NTC had received submissions requesting standards for assessing medical standards for drivers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Previously, the NTC noted that people with “intellectual or other disabilities” were allowed to take standard driving tests which were adequate to “determine their suitability to hold a license.” However, with the updated guidelines, autism is now listed as a condition that “should be assessed individually,” potentially putting thousands of individuals and their right to drive in question.
The new guidelines apply nationally but are subject to the interpretation of Australia’s individual states. This leads to varying standards depending on one’s location. Queensland, for example, requires drivers with an autism diagnosis to obtain a doctor’s clearance to drive via a medical form. Failing to do this can attract a monumental $9,288 fine ($6,146 USD) and loss of license. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the state was ahead of the curve, enacting this policy in 2012. Meanwhile, Western Australia requires disclosure of an autism diagnosis, too, with fines of $500 ($330 USD) for those that don’t notify the Department of Transport. The situation is murkier in other states. New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania all have a requirement for notification of any health condition that could impact someone’s ability to drive, but don’t outright classify autism in this category. The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory similarly follow this template.
The problem staring the bureaucracy in the face is that many drivers with autism have held licenses for years without major incident. They passed the standard driving tests and took to the roads as any other. ABC News spoke to multiple drivers shocked at the changed guidelines. In the case of Barb from Queensland, she’s held a motorbike license since 18, and a car license since 30. To date, she says she’s had no parking or speeding fines during her whole driving life. In 2009, she received her autism diagnosis just before her 40th birthday. Despite this, she was unaware of Queensland’s rules for autistic drivers. “It’s pretty discriminatory as well, looking at this and devaluing us as to what our capabilities are based on, you know, a diagnosis,” she told ABC News.
It’s a growing issue, too. Australia has seen significant growth in autism rates as the condition has become better understood and more adults have sought diagnosis. In 2018, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported an estimated figure of 205,200 Australians with autism, a full 25.1% increase from 2015. The growth trend goes further back, too, with 2015’s figure up 42.1% compared to 2012. Further studies by researchers at the Australian National University have found an autism prevalence of 1 in 25 children in Australia, though is yet to be peer-reviewed. Some commentators have suggested the operation of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has played a role in the growth in these figures.
However, the new spotlight on drivers with autism could have a chilling effect on those with a diagnosis or seeking a diagnosis, either for themselves or their children. The Autopian spoke to multiple Australian drivers on condition of anonymity to discover how this guideline change has affected individuals. Names have been changed to protect the identity of the sources.
Kerry lives in New South Wales, and has been driving since the day they were able to secure their learner’s permit in 2011. “I’ve never lost a demerit point, nor been pulled over, despite driving every day,” Kerry told The Autopian. Despite a clean record, the new guidelines have them concerned. “The idea that I may have to jump through all of these hurdles to prove I’m a human is insulting and a terrifying outlook for the future.” Kerry notes that they have a very literal understanding of the road rules, which they believe makes them a better driver. “It makes me very literal and hyper aware of my surroundings which I view as a benefit,” says Kerry.
Ultimately, Kerry is aghast at the changes, but reluctant to go against the rules. “I will still disclose my diagnosis whenever that time comes but I’m utterly embarrassed and very upset that yet again, I’m treated as a lesser because of a lack of understanding,” Kerry told The Autopian.
Charlie in Western Australia has been driving since the age of 15, and is now in her thirties with no major accidents on her record. The changes are a serious concern for her, her family, and her livelihood. “I also hold a boat license and a commercial pilots license, and again, I would be concerned about my rights to hold those licenses,” says Charlie. “We have to pass the same driving tests as everyone else, why do we have to be held to a higher standard?”
Charlie has long suspected that she may be autistic and believes her eldest child may be as well. However, the new guidelines have her mind made up about seeking a diagnosis. “I already wasn’t going to get a diagnosis due to it potentially affecting my pilot’s license, but this sure helps affirm I won’t bother pursuing it,” Charlie told The Autopian, adding “My eldest child seems to be showing clear autistic traits too, but won’t be chasing a diagnosis for him either, given he desperately wants to be a pilot.”
Australia’s status as a car-oriented society plays into this for Charlie, as well. “It’s really important for day-to-day life to have the independence and choice to be able to drive,” says Charlie.
Psychologists have already reported that people have ceased to pursue diagnoses in fear of the potential repercussions. The guidelines could lead to states stripping licenses from individuals, or force drivers to undergo costly additional medical reviews with expensive occupational therapy assessors. Some have already reported issues navigating a maze of red tape to keep their legal driving status after disclosing their diagnosis, despite holding a valid license for years.
Ultimately, there’s a serious question to be raised as to the validity of these guideline changes. Australian states set driving tests to determine whether or not an individual is fit to hold a license. If those tests are insufficient, they should be improved across the board. The guideline changes seem to indicate that there is some edge case where an autistic driver could pass a standard driving test, yet somehow be unfit to drive. That’s a curious conclusion for the authorities to make, particularly given the scores of drivers with autism who safely navigate our roads every day.
Australian drivers with autism now face a complicated quagmire ahead of them. Government bureaucracies are now exploring placing new conditions on their legal right to drive, while the industry of specialized occupational therapy driving assessors stands to expand greatly as thousands find themselves subject to new onerous assessments. In the absence of a grand statistic showing some new issue with drivers with autism, one has to wonder why this is being pursued to the detriment of so many.
Image credit: Bailey Mahon via Unsplash
What does an autism diagnosis mean, effectively, for a functional adult? My niece is autistic but it’s quite severe as she’s nonverbal and prone to extreme outbursts. So as a child she receives special schooling as well as other forms of support but I’m not sure what’s available for adults who scan take care of themselves and manage their lives.
I did notice when I changed the address on my license recently that my state has a spot on the ID to include information about any disability and autism was listed as one that could be displayed. I assume it was so that our too often trigger happy police officers hopefully won’t think the person who’s “acting weird” is a threat and gun them down for being twitchy or something. Probably a good idea but if that’s the reason it’s a regrettable one.
The main things it could mean would be support and accommodations. You can get help dealing with life with ASD, and you may be able to get accommodations, such as permission to use headphones to block out distracting stimuli, dimmable lights, or the like.
A lot of people choose not to pursue a diagnosis because they can get the help without and have the freedom to choose their accommodations without having to request special accommodations.
Thanks, I forget that for many people it’s primarily a sensory issue so accomodations like you mentioned could make a difference. I’m so used to thinking of treatments as pills or injections that it’s sometimes hard to think outside the pharmaceutical box, I guess.
For me it was one of the big missing pieces in the ongoing puzzle of my mental health issues.
“Oh. So THAT’S why I’m like that”.
Sounds like a money grab to me.
I’m more than likely autistic, and for the same reasons Kerry pointed out in the article, I know it makes me a better driver too. Everyone is different. And there are plenty of NTs who are dangerous drivers too.
Never bothered with a diagnosis because the nearest facility would be 3-4 hours away and not covered by insurance and probably hella expensive. And besides, what’s in it for me anyway? I am who I am regardless, and people will either like me or not just the same.
Yah, yer alrite by me, mate 🙂
Second! Mine manifests as being uncomfortable in social settings and crowds, but it makes me a very good machinist and programmer. I’m also very good at towing trailers, which is another part of my work. I’m suddenly glad I don’t live in Australia.
While I think this guideline wasn’t made in malice, I do think it’s hamfisted and not well thought out. There are a lot of second- and third-order effects that are going to be big problems. It seems like it was meant to address people who have major impacts from autism; the people who are nonverbal and have major problems with angry outbursts. What the drafters forgot is that autism is a spectrum.
Mate, this is piss poor “journalism” and nothing but clickbait. Be better.
There is no law being forced upon anyone with ASD to do special driving tests or anything like that. There is a “guideline” that exists that states if you have a condition then you MAY need something from your doctor to say you are fine to drive. That’s it!
You also need to do this if you have a host of other neuro conditions like parkinsons, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and so on. Shit, you need to do this if your eyesight is not great.
No one is taking licences away from anyone, go and read the guidelines first before throwing up a junk article to try and get people to visit the website.
Signed,
Someone with ASD and who is Australian.
To be fair, those are either progressive and/or co-occurring progressive in the case of CP. A major difference is people as a whole tend to adept as they age, so a person with ASD would likely improve as a driver as they age. Note, I don’t have a study on the matter. Nor does one likely exist. Theoretically, this would be the conclusion from our current knowledge.
Agreed, those are conditions that tend to get worse and need managing differently.
The point of it all is that they’ve added guidelines about ASD, in the same way there are guidelines for your doctor(s) about driving if you have brain surgery, lose a limb, are diabetic, etc. It’s then up to your doctor to assess if they think there might be an issue with driving. The guideline was obviously added because the issue was being raised within the medical profession enough to warrant it’s inclusion.
Still doesn’t force anyone to take special tests, hand in licences or anything drastic like that.
I’m all for screening and banning them. If they can’t handle stimuli like a normal human, why should they be trusted behind the wheel?
This is a very ignorant take. Be better.
I already am. No autism here.
Are you saying you’re better than a person with Autism?
two letters to share with that comment. f is the first one. troll?
From this exchange, I can tell you that almost every autistic person I know is certainly a better person than you. The couple shitty autistic people I know still might be better than you, but I don’t know if this is the only topic on which you choose to be this vile.
Try harder to be a decent person, if you’re capable.
Neurotypicals, who say autistic people have low empathy and don’t understand social situations, repeatedly prove that they are in fact projecting
Perhaps but I sense you have other issues
The ones that bad wouldn’t be able to obtain a license, but I don’t know if that was too difficult a conclusion for you to reach or you just have no clue about autism, which encompasses a very wide range from full on disability to maybe appearing slightly quirky. There are many people with milder forms of autism out there who don’t know they’re on the spectrum and have had little reason for them or anyone else to suspect it.
That makes sense, somebody who can’t handle stimuli shouldn’t be trusted behind the wheel.
It’s just that’s not what autism is.
It’s also worth noting that most autism diagnoses just means that person is a lil weird and has few practical implications in the real world. Somebody who’s a lil weird is definitely not unfit to drive.
Hell, show me someone who isn’t a lil’ weird!
People are just people, and er’ybody got their quirks: we all just tryin’ to get along in this funny old world
We’re all weird in our own ways, but learning about autism has helped me understand why I tend to avoid social settings, why noises like squeaks, rattles, and crying babies set me on edge, and why I can focus so much on a programming task that I forget to eat.
Once I learned the source of my quirks, I was able to cut myself a little slack and start to (partially) manage my oddities instead of letting them manage me.
I have some of those same quirks and, as a relative has severe nonverbal autism, thought I might be on the spectrum as well. Nope, schizoid personality disorder is what the psychiatrist told me. They have similar presentations, apparently. I see a lot of people who are self-diagnosed and wonder if they might not want a second opinion because of things like that. Of course if a diagnosis is going to result in a loss of rights I can understand why they wouldn’t seek it out.
That’s interesting! Probably not going to get diagnosed, because I can convince myself that I don’t really need to, but it’s something that I can read up on.
I can certainly identify with that. We’re often our own worst critics. Even worse, it took real effort to learn to cut myself the slack that I would automatically grant others.
When I’m not shitposting on the internet, I went and got me a LCSW. Wouldn’t recommend, don’t work in the field anymore. But it’s a good way to meet a variety of people with a variety of issues. I have no idea why of all the options in the DSM, this one is the gate you chose? Autism has so many variations in presentation that can led to diagnosis. Just having the test/supervised behind the wheel time is a meaningful enough barrier most autistic persons who shouldn’t drive won’t. It also doesn’t increase in severity with age or late presentation. Also, why not ban ADHD as well? They are clinically viewed a lot closer than they are viewed social.
If they were looking to ban say Schizophrenia/ Schizoaffective/ Bipolar w/ psychotic features. Which all typically present in a persons 20’s. I think there is a very real argument that a significant change has taken place that may affect driving. However in the grand scheme of road terrors it’s fairly limited population that would likely harm the few with almost no benefit to the populous. But this seems entirely pointless. Unless of coarse the Australian authorities assumed every person with autism is a non-verbal child prone to emotional disturbances. Which they probably did, instead of you know consulting with people and thinking about it.
It does feel like a rather sudden change that could have very outsized consequences. Bureaucratic moves with unintended ramifications? Well, we’d heard of such things, but never believed…
This just feels like an idea a dude with too much power thought of on the shitter, and ran with it. Its ignorance of reality would be impressive, if it wasn’t so wildly stupid.
I’m pretty sure as a Seppie (American) I could just get an international driver’s permit and drive a rental car in Australia – and I’m mortally certain I’d be a much, much greater danger on their roads than any neurodivergent citizens who are capable of passing Australia’s strict driving requirements. Seriously, I have never heard of autistic people being any sort of significant risk driving. Those who can handle it, do, and those who are too severely affected don’t pretty much on their own without government interference.
I’m pretty sure you could just show up with your American DL and rent a car….I travel a lot, and nobody has asked me for an International License in 20 years.
Really? I almost never drive outside the US but I rented a car in Iceland recently and both my husband and I had to present the int’l license. I wonder if it’s that country or we just look like really bad drivers …
Unlike a lot of British people, I don’t have a dream of emigrating to Australia (or New Zealand). So as someone with an autism diagnosis only slightly thinner than a phone book, I say this with all sincerity; fuck you Australia.
Belize is where its at, its great, you can start some sketchy software companies, murder your neighbor, invest in cryptocurrency, whatever.
I think “Crikey!” is my response to this, given that in many ways modern Britain seems (to someone with absolutely no firsthand experience of or with it, mind) to be governed by the rough equivalent of a particularly militant (although not Militant) HOA. Australia always seemed like a good compromise between that and the untramelled liberty and open gunplay that we here in the USA know and love and fear. If it’s too heavyhanded for Brits, then the only alternative is Canada, which means I need to start driving two cars back and forth to work every day to speed up global warming a bit in hopes of making it habitable someday.
Well, or New Zealand, maybe, if you can find a place away from all the Hobbits. Or Ireland, now that it’s mostly food-secure through the practice of trading corporate tax shelters for agricultural products.
New Zealand is analogous to Canada as Australia is to the USA in many ways. And for the record, there are no Hobbits in New Zealand, just Kiwis, kiwis and kiwifruit…
I’ve always thought of the kiwi green (56, 90, 25; #8EE53F) and pleasant land of New Zealand as Canada’s antipodean analogue that similarly rolls its eyes and sighs every time the batshit neighbo(u)r downstairs/across the Tasman Sea does something bizarre and unspeakable yet again.
Yeah, uh, Ireland kinda has some stuff going on at the moment It’s not exactly the ideal time to put down roots there as a foreigner, even for a Euro.
The little smiley face seems an inappropriate response, so just imagine a nod in resigned agreement instead.
TBH, while Austroads is an umbrella group that “looks” at road management across Australia and New Zealand, in practice, it’s more of a think tank. NZ follows the rules set down by the New Zealand Transport Association, which is why we don’t share the same road markings. In reality, the ASD guideline is purely Australia-specific – the article shouldn’t have really mentioned NZ.
Are we talking London phonebook, or Aberystwyth?
I’m from London so what do you think?
Chipping Norton?
Ow! Stop hitting me!
Aberystwyth it is then
There are some neurotypical people out there who shouldn’t be driving. Singling out people on the autism spectrum is awful. I’m guessing Oz’s driving tests are much stricter than the ones in the US. If the individual can pass that test let them drive.
This sounds like overreach at its finest. Just crazy.
As someone who has recently gone throught the “ah shit, I’m probably autistic” discovery, nope nope nope. Nopity nope nope. I’m on the fence about pursuing diagnosis as it stands, and if I were Australian, that would turn to a hard no. Cars are my life, driving is what I love, and no license=no job. Ngl, even as an American, it makes me lean more towards no because what if the US decides to do the same? “Probably,” is enough for me.
As a former NSW public servant, I may have some insight into this. None of us would actually want those who are able to drive safely (regardless of their ability or disability) to be excluded from driving. However, policy guidelines, government policy and the enabling legislation of the day sometimes hamstring us into some fairly perverted outcomes or simply no progress at all.
Lay upon that the relatively new restrictions on senior bureaucrats being unable to comment to the media regarding their knowledge and insights so that information is then packaged and politically massaged for dissemination by the Minister of the day…which often means the message is mangled.
Suffice to say that everyone with a driver’s licence that is over the age of 75 and/or a disability that may impact one’s ability to drive (vision impairment, hearing loss, amputation, paraplegia, epilepsy etc) requires a routine assessment to determine their continued fitness to drive.
My guess is that someone or many someone’s asked for the guidelines to consider an autism diagnosis in the scheme of driving and the guidelines have made mention. Now however there’s no specific policy response to that guideline that provides the necessary nuance to the otherwise quite simplistic enabling legislation.
Most, if not all, current licence holders in the autism spectrum likely have nothing to fear from the changes to the guidelines as they’ve already demonstrated their capacity to drive safely. The issue is that the rest of the legislative process is yet (if ever) to catch up…which is where the real problem lies.
In the US the rules/laws vary from state to state for Epilepsy. Some states say that if you are on one of the anti-seizure meds you can’t drive. Some say you must be off of those meds for 6 months, then you can drive. Some say as long as you haven’t had a seizure in 6 months regardless of meds, then it’s cool. In all states though, if you lie about the condition or meds intake you can get sued to high heaven and possible criminal actions even if there was no medical issue during the accident or violation. It’s a funky set of restrictions that are extremely inconsistent.
I’ve heard it’s a year. But regardless, someone having a seizure while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle is a clear threat to not just their own safety, but to the drivers and pedestrians around them as well.
You are right about the 1 year thing as well. The other wackadoo thing is some states require doctors to report it, but only a few. This site explains the differences…
https://www.healthgrades.com/right-care/epilepsy/driving-laws-and-epilepsy
*this link is from 2020 so some things may have changed. You get the idea though.
Try this one for added info for 2023 : https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-people-with-epilepsy-drive#seizure-triggers
In California, they will suspend your license if you are diagnosed with a concussion. You have to get a doctor’s release to get it reinstated. Happened to my X while we were on vacation. What a PIA to get it reinstated.
Good to know this.
Shit. I would have been suspended like close to 100 times by now.
Screw that…
That explains a few things
So glad I don’t live in Australia!
Straight 8. Fireball 8.
I swear to God. Someone who’s healthy wanted to think of a minority to mess with. It’s the job justification syndrome. Any hard numbers on how many people with Autism actually cause accidents?
See also those people in an email chain who decided Suzuki Altos and Mitsubishi Delicas were suddenly the gravest danger facing motorists in their states
Obviously, taking away someone’s weekend toy is very different than taking away someone’s independence and possibly livelihood, but I think the two dissimilar issues are motivated by a very similar mentality on the part of the bureaucrats responsible
It shouldn’t matter your medical history, if you jump through all the licensing hoops (I recall there being MANY) and pass the same test as anyone else you get your license, period.
The flip side is when I moved to Texas it was basically too easy to get my license.
Yeah, here in the US, you don’t have to do much to get a license and even less to keep it. It’s especially bad if you test for your license in a rural area. They don’t make you go into any city with traffic or do much of a parallel parking test. It’s garbage. And then you keep your license without a skills test pretty much indefinitely, just as long as you keep renewing.
I spent my test talking to the instructor about Australia and how they wanted to visit one day. And the parallel park? “Those cones represent other cars, you can touch them but can’t run them down” .. what!? As long as it’s evidence free I’m good is what you’re teaching me.
Mine didn’t even use cones. A bus could have parked in the space I was given.
I failed the vision test when I went for my learner’s permit, the guy gave me the permit anyway, but told me and my mom that I had better see an optometrist ASAP.
I have no idea why it was never caught in a physical exam before that, but I suspect my doctor had been performing the test incorrectly and not having me stand the right distance from the chart for like years
My son made 3 right turns, parallel park in a huge spot, all within a small parking lot at the DMV. Crazy, it was right at the beginning of COVID, so the instructor just watched from the middle of the parking lot. Nothing like when I got mine.
Wow. That is even worse than my rural experience. We sure do love to make sure everyone gets to drive, huh?
Just before they started doing that, they were just giving out licenses and telling everyone they would have to come back to take the test LOL. My son couldn’t do it cause he was still doing all the learner’s permit stuff and on-line classes. Plus, he had to meet a certain number of driving hours with me.
I got my license in Kentucky but my test seems similar to the ones a lot of people get here in the States. I had to drive around the block in a small town, parallel parking (with nothing behind me), doing a three point turn and…that’s it. As long as you signaled, didn’t hit anything, and drove the speed limit, you’d pass. I took that test when I was 16 and have never taken another. When I moved to Indiana I just had to pass a written test to get my new license. Hell, they didn’t even inspect my cars when I registered them here.
Yeah, when I moved to Idaho and they gave me the written test, they acted like it was amazing that I knew following distance would be measured in seconds, rather than a specific distance at all speeds (and the choices were like 10 ft, a car length, or however many seconds…it was pretty simple). And no inspection in either state I’ve held a license in.
Pretty sure I could have sped in my initial driving test as long as it wasn’t excessive.
What is the reasoning for denying the autistic the privilege of driving? Have they been shown to be significantly more collision prone?
Related question: How’s the public transit system down there?
God, I cannot stress how glad I am to see this topic being covered. As a Queenslander who has a lot of friends with a diagnosis and even more currently seeing doctors about it, this has become a huge sore point in our social circles.
The fines are absolutely disgusting and unnecessary, and it sucks to see the impact it has had on whether people I know are going to continue with diagnosis, or just throw in the towel and deal with not getting a proper diagnosis because the govt has made it too hard and too risky to be labelled autistic.
There are much greater risks to our road users than folks with an autism diagnosis, we have next to nothing in place to ensure that elderly drivers abilities are monitored, they basically have to get in a major accident before anything is addressed, we have a lot of people on international licence permits who absolutely are not up to the same driving ability as people who learnt to drive on Australian roads (this is a cultural point, not a racial one and I hope any reply to this respects that) and a huge number of other things impacting the safety of public road use here, but never, in all my years, has it ever been said or thought that people with autism are a risk to road users.
This is a blatant deterrent for people getting diagnosed, that is what it is and it’s disgusting.
I think the cultural point you made dovetails neatly with the points people are making about driver testing in Texas.
I imagine someone tested on a less strict system, who hasn’t been educated in the Australian system which has its own unique attributes, and isn’t used to driving on the other side of the road are the people you’re talking about.
Yeah, I don’t enjoy making the point, especially to Australians, because it’s pretty easy to set people off on racist rants, but the thing is, there’s also plenty of Aussies driving overseas who struggle with the local laws, but also, there are a LOT of unwritten laws that people are taught from their peers that foreign drivers just don’t understand and that’s equally dangerous.
And the other point I skimmed is those who’ve held their licence since far less strict times. The guy who taught me for most of my early driving years told me about getting his licence.
Him and his Dad went to a country town police station, an officer got him in the driver’s seat of one of the police cars, they went up and around the block and back into the carpark. That was it, and he’s been eligible to drive ever since.
I completely agree with your points, and as someone with family that have been diagnosed as neurodivergent yet have driven with no incidents for decades this is highly concerning.
The point about elderly drivers is a good one, there was an elderly man here who launched his AU Falcon into two shop fronts in the space of a few months and still had his licence until after the second incident. Fortunately nobody was hurt.
While there is testing done, it’s only a medical each year after 75 and a drivers test every 2 years after 85 in NSW so he very likely slipped through until these incidents like you mentioned.
If they can assess the elderly, why can’t they have something in place with nuance for the neurodivergent based on their diagnosis and severity of symptoms and take into account their driving history?
I would like to know what the logic is behind this, because I have seen no evidence whatsoever that an autistic person is inherently worse at driving than anyone else.
All this is going to do is prevent people from getting a diagnosis or any supports or accomodations they might need in other areas of their life.
“All this is going to do is prevent people from getting a diagnosis or any supports or accomodations they might need in other areas of their life.”
That may, in reality, be the aim of these regulations.
No mention in this article if these rule changes were prompted by a studied correlation between autism and improper or illegal driving, but I see some talk of incidents of poor impulse control and even individuals swerving right into oncoming lane when instructed to take a left in the linked ABC News article.
I think that’s important here.
My actual first thought was that this is going to provide major fuel for Australian antivax liars*
*Lets be clear: Wakefield’s paper was withdrawn, and he lost his medical license due to having major financial interests in getting the MMR vaccine withdrawn.
A lot of that talk is stuff that would easily be caught in education and testing and it would be irresponsible to flag a group of people on a wide spectrum based on it.
I’m completely with you. I just think that an article about laws like this should include mention of what prompted the discussion about imposing them.
’What, where, when, why, and how’
Oof, that’s… not great. I’m going to assume that much of the commentariat is going to take some issue with the whole premise of this for… reasons.
There are a number of Aussies hanging around these parts. Anyone care to explain who is spearheading this in your country?
If a person’s autism was affecting their ability to drive, that should be apparent when they take the driving test. It’s not like autism is a disease you can catch, it’s a life-long status. I’m sure Australia has a tough driving test, given their other strict motoring laws, so that should be enough to weed out the people who shouldn’t be allowed to drive.
This is frustrating, because autism is a spectrum. There is a good chance I am very mildly autistic, and it’s something I’ve considered getting a diagnosis for. If this kind of law was on the books here in the States, I would definitely avoid diagnosis. I’m known as the “good driver” amongst friends and family and though I’ve had a couple accidents, only one was technically my fault and even then the other car was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing in the first place.
The key is driving tests that actually test driving competence. If you put a sensible driving test in place, and someone is able to pass it, that should be the end of the matter.
Not to be reminding folks of bull shit rules. But in the past there were a shit ton of folks with CP who were not allowed to have a license in the good old USA.
My PE teacher in high school had CP and was not allowed to drive.
Colorado 1971-1976
And he exhibited no obvious signs whatsoever.
It’s the threat of exactly this sort of crap that keeps me from seeing about a diagnosis for autism and/or ADHD. I almost definitely meet diagnostic criteria, but the risks outweigh the benefit. And I know I’m not alone in that.
Yep, I always struggled with depression and anxiety but I put off diagnosis of my bipolar disorder (because that one is seen as a Big Deal) until I made some poor life choices that basically forced me to get the diagnosis. That said I’m much happier and healthier for it, and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.
I’ve gotten treatment for my anxiety and depression, but autism seems like a bigger hurdle for lower reward (I’m already part of some ADHD and autism communities online and don’t believe I would seek accommodations). ADHD is the one I’m on the fence about. With that diagnosis, access to pharmaceutical options could be helpful.
I’m glad you’re doing better since your bipolar diagnosis. It’s important to get the help and information you need, and it’s difficult to seek it out.
Any time you exclude a group based on a classification it’s dangerous. Objective measures are available and should be consistent for everyone.
I believe we should ban people with anger issues from driving.
I see your thought process, but all that gets you is a lot of people avoiding help for their anger issues. Banning people from driving because they’ve demonstrated road rage would work, and requiring thorough treatment before they can reapply for a license would be perfect if we had a system where people could always afford psychological treatment and/or hold a job without driving.
This works for me.
And Yes – we have a group of people saying “it’s a mental health issue”, then cutting public funding for mental health coverage. It’s stupid.
You could create some pretty fun tests for this. Have the person take the regular driving test under a series of extremely irritating circumstances. Play the sound of a crying baby over the speakers. Have a trained driver pull out in front of them and drive really slowly.
Exactly. I don’t care what your diagnosis is, I care whether you are capable of driving on public roads. A lot of people never seek resources because this sort of shit is always a threat. Because shitty people make terrible systems that penalize people they don’t care to learn about.
I blame Dustin Hoffman.
Seriously, though, solid testing is the answer. A lot of neurotypicals are awful drivers, a lot of neurodivergent folks truly are excellent drivers. You want to get the terrible drivers off the road, not put unnecessary roadblocks in front of good people trying to navigate a screwed up system.
But he’s an excellent driver. What time is Wapner?
Came here for the Rain Man comment. Disappointed it took scrolling this far down to see it.
The newest comments are at the top. I suspect people just didn’t want to keep making the same joke.
I don’t give a shit. I’m still gonna wear K Mart underwear, and watch Wapner everyday at 3pm. And I’m an excellent driver, yes an excellent driver.
/s
Well, K-Mart underwear is actually still a feasible option in Australia, but I think you’re SOL on People’s Court reruns
VCR baby!
That’s why God invented VPN’s. 🙂
“K-Mart sucks” (One of the best lines)
Literally just watched it again on Sunday, have seen it multiple times