British Autistics must disclose to driving agency

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And according to the official website of the government body that sets the regulations, has the power to enforce them, and has the power to revoke people's licenses, the regulations were that all autistic people must disclose their diagnosis regardless of circumstances or face a hefty fine and risk having their license revoked. Further, the DVLA claimed that this had always been the case and that any information to the contrary had in fact been wrong.

I really can't see why you don't understand how this could be extremely stressful and anxiety provoking for some people. If an autistic person, or anybody else, needs information about this stuff the DVLA website is the place to get it because they are in fact the official regulatory and licensing body. Where else would you look for such information?

If that official regulatory and licensing body says this is what the regulations are, people are likely to believe it, and they are also likely to believe the threats of facing a hefty fine and having their license revoked if they fail to comply with the instructions on the website.

It appears that in this case a very powerful government body has got things wrong and in the process has caused a great deal of stress and anxiety for a lot of people. It is quite right that it has caused a "stir".

As you aren't grasping my point, I don't know what else there is to say...???

Likewise.

Glad they've cleared that up. I passed my driving test 27 years before diagnosis after 5 lessons.
Never had penalty points, a speeding ticket or even a parking ticket.

Not everyone that is autistic has a diagnosis

Nobody is required to get autism screening

Who knows if autism affects your driving? No controlled experiment.

You could be a better, the same or worse at driving, without autism

"Affects" sounds like a bad thing, but it could be good or bad




Insurance company could charge more for autistics

It is perhaps worth bearing in mind that the issue of licensing for people with ADHD/ASD is still on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting of the Medical Advisory Panel on 20th March, so it might be prudent to keep an eye open for any news or any further changes on the DVLA website, although hopefully they have at least learnt their lesson with regard to making changes without actually telling anybody about them.

Here is the agenda for the next meeting.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... agenda.pdf

It's absolutely discrimination. The rewording on the weekend was effectively saying that everyone who is autistic must prove that they aren't a danger to the public. If this was only aimed at learner drivers then it would be more understandable, but the DVLA's rewording was targeted at every autistic person including police officers, professional racers and other people with a proven safe driving record. As Laura James from the National Autistic Society said- "We were all autistic when we passed our tests, which are obviously designed to test people’s skills and ensure they are safe to drive, so this change seems nonsensical.”

In short, they were treating us differently based purely on our neurotype rather than our ability to drive.



During the weekend the DVLA clearly said that all autistics must notify them of their condition with no exceptions, and that the weekend's rewording was only a clarification of that. On 4th March, the DVLA backtracked by saying that the whole thing was a mistake and autism is no longer a compulsory notifiable condition.

Or in other words; some administrator made a change, then the DVLA management claimed it wasn't a change at all but a 'clarification', then once the protests had came to a head the DVLA admitted that it was a mistake and that they're reverting back to the original wording.



Indeed that is concerning, but like you said they've hopfully learned their lesson and no negative changes will come from it.

The most recent counselor put "motor retardation" on the insurance forms

And previous psychologists diagnosed me with depression and anxiety

Some articles claim that the DVLA revokes driver's license for depression. In some cases

So I was paranoid the counselor could tell the Department of motor vehicles to revoke my driver's license


"Motor retardation". "Motor vehicle". "Motor".


Paranoid the car insurance company communicates with the health insurance company


(California)