Page 1 of 3 [ 35 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

swbluto
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization

12 May 2011, 12:03 am

Conspicuous and another member on another site said that they highly suspected my possession of autism from my language properties, but I was looking through the "What I can't do due to autism" thread and it seemed there were a few common actions that didn't apply to me.

And one of them was that I could definitely drive. Actually, I'm pretty sure my driving is better than 70% of America (In terms of quickness, precision and agility), if only I weren't so cautious.

Does this mean I don't have autism? Or could it be that I could have autism but my high Performance IQ enables me to drive?

Or is it possible that autistic "social communication deficits" and autistic "physical precision"/"gracefulness" are two separate domains of autism and there isn't a tight association between the two?

For now, as to understanding my language abnormalities (And the subsequent impact on social interaction), I'm leaning towards the possibility of a language disorder, maybe schizotypy in origin. I wonder what the similarities and differences between autism and language disorders are?



Last edited by swbluto on 12 May 2011, 12:29 am, edited 2 times in total.

ocdgirl123
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,809
Location: Canada

12 May 2011, 12:07 am

Yep, that would make sense.

My motor skills are must worse than my social skills. I've never tried driving, but I don't think I'd be very good at it. I crashed a car into the curve many times on a Disney ride when I was 9. (almost 10) I also didn't put the breaks on fast enough and crashed into some other people's cars at the end of the ride.

That is why I stick to bumper cars. :lol:



Cubits
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 8 May 2011
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 32

12 May 2011, 12:14 am

I'm a fantastic driver (i have a track car), and i used to play many (solo) sports, but my handwriting is atrocious despite intense tuition. Cars/driving has been my most sturdy obession, lasting nearly my entire life, so i have come along way since fumbling around as a learner (scared the hell out of my mum!). :)



yellow-eyeballs
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 22 Apr 2011
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 30
Location: Rochester, NY

12 May 2011, 12:49 am

I got my learner's permit at 16 and my full license at 18. I would say my driving is no better or worse than most people's.



Descartes
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Apr 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,288
Location: Texas, unfortunately

12 May 2011, 12:55 am

I took Driver's Ed. when I was seventeen and quit after about a month because I had a bad experience in it.

To this day, I don't drive. I rely on either my parents, cabs, or the generosity of friends to drive me someplace.


_________________
What fresh hell is this?


chessxcore
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 27 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 16

12 May 2011, 12:58 am

I'm 26 I 'tried' to learn to drive, i have had a permit 3 different times. Too stressful for me.



dyingofpoetry
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Apr 2010
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,202
Location: Fairmont, WV

12 May 2011, 1:43 am

I have a high IQ, but can't drive worth crap... no license.


_________________
"If you can't call someone else an idiot, then you are obviously not very good at what you do."


Apple_in_my_Eye
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,420
Location: in my brain

12 May 2011, 2:09 am

Jerry Newport worked as a cab driver for some years, so it's not some absolute rule-out for AS. IIRC, Jim Sinclair also drives (but I think is diagnosed with "autistic disorder").



Verdandi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,275
Location: University of California Sunnydale (fictional location - Real location Olympia, WA)

12 May 2011, 2:10 am

I don't drive. I hate driving. I can't pay attention to the road and the objects on the road at the same time, or at least I couldn't when I tried to learn last.

One of my best friends, who is autistic, does drive.

There's no one trait that can rule out or confirm autism. There is no single acid test. If there were, diagnosis would be a simple matter. As it stands, it's not quite that simple. Nothing you can ask here will tell you yes or no.



hale_bopp
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2004
Gender: Female
Posts: 17,054
Location: None

12 May 2011, 2:22 am

I can but don't at the moment as it's cheaper, and I have no real need for a car here.



John_Browning
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,456
Location: The shooting range

12 May 2011, 2:30 am

I drive. I wasn't able to get a car and license until I was 23 due to physical reasons. It's expensive as hell but it's worth it because it's the only relistic way to get anywhere around here.


_________________
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown

"A fear of weapons is a sign of ret*d sexual and emotional maturity."
-Sigmund Freud


SirLogiC
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 350

12 May 2011, 2:31 am

I can drive, I am probably better than average, though because I am too cautious. Never got any sort of traffic fine in 10+ years of driving. That said I still hate it. If I know where I am going there isn't a problem. Finding my way to new places stresses me out insanely bad. In the few times I've had passengers that like to tell me how to drive, it goes bad. I am stressed and when they give an instruction I just follow it, which can lead to *very* dangerous situations, so at least I am aware of that.



izzeme
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Apr 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,665

12 May 2011, 3:34 am

i can drive as well, pretty good too if i may say so.
i did fail my final licence test a few times, but that was becouse i "didn't look into the mirrors", which i didn't need to becouse i knew what was happening around me; often better then my instructor, but the examiner didn't know that :S

admittedly, i have trouble judging distance and speed, so especially with crossing busy roads i'm quite careful, but other then that my driving is just fine.



Trencher93
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jun 2008
Age: 124
Gender: Male
Posts: 464

12 May 2011, 6:02 am

I drive - I don't necessarily like it, but I can do it. When you learn to drive, you get the advice to always be aware of what's going on and try to anticipate what other people will do. I've never been able to translate this into the real world. People do such unexpected and erratic things that I never feel safe when I'm driving. The actual driving is not as bad as trying to figure out what to do in any given situation when people act in such erratic ways.

Driving does seem to hit almost every autistic weakness, from spacial perception to formal vs unwritten rules to focus to motor control.

Believe it or not, I have an acutely good sense of direction. I guess that's why it's a spectrum.



syrella
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 942
Location: SoCal

12 May 2011, 6:06 am

I can drive, but I didn't get my license til I was 18. I didn't have any motivation to do so earlier and actually let my permit expire. My parents finally convinced me that it'd be a good thing and I learned.


_________________
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.


glider18
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 8 Nov 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,062
Location: USA

12 May 2011, 6:11 am

I have been driving since 1980 when I turned 16.


_________________
"My journey has just begun."