A friend of mines son wants to get his driver's license.

Allowing him to have his driver’s license will give him a sense of normalcy. Living with the stigma of autism can leave a person feeling less than accepted sometimes. Maybe the parents should sit down with him and set parameters regarding his freedoms permitted with his license. He doesn’t have to be alone when driving and maybe short trips until he is able to learn the ins and outs of everything driving entails.

No I absolutely would not. At the very least he would be taking classes if i had to pay for them. That’s the reason my daughter didn’t get her license and she resented me deeply for it. I took her to a church parking lot during a weekday in the summer to teach her basic driving. She got behind the wheel, I told her what to do and as she was driving slowly she was giggling like she was riding in a carnival bumper car ride. I told her to put it in park and get out. And that she would have to take lessons and they cost $300 and I would pay. She stubbornly refused and hounded me to go buy her a car & put it in her name. She refused the driving school and I refused to help her with a car. I believe she was high-functioning autistic, very smart with math, art, and music but things like this were terrible for me to deal with her. I hid my own car keys under my mattress till she graduated and moved out to college because my nephew snuck his mother’s car keys out while she was sleeping, took her car with another 14 year old kid out to a rural area over 10 miles away and ran into an electric company truck on a rural road. Knew 3 other kids who did similar things, one didn’t have a wreck but his parent caught him driving around the corner in his wife’s car when they were coming back to the house. I cannot imagine how it would have ended had I went and bought her a car and let her have at it. Probably bad because she was also easily distracted and easy to fly off the handle about minor things. My parental instincts said NO! for her safety and the safety of anyone else on the road.

Yes of course. The younger a person is, when learning ANYthing, the more natural it will become. If she is that scared, she can go to a local golf course and explain the situation and left him get some driving instincts and practices in using a golf cart. I have done everything to expose my daughter to driving… from an early age. Skateboards, bicycles, small carts, toy cars, bigger toy cars. I also explain traffic rules while I drive. She practices turning car on and off, driving forward and backward in the driveway. Parking in an empty parking lot. I have seen how teens drive after 16, and without any proper reflexes. It’s scary. Only to have them wreck multiple times!!!!! When the get a license. These are non autistic. If a child has a handicap the sooner they are exposed to learning… the better. Yep. I’m sure you can tell I feel strongly about that.

I find it kinda fucked up that the liability is the main concern. If he's unfit to drive and is granted a license, he may die. If he's not granted a license, he may as well already be dead because he's never going to have any independence or opportunity anyway. The fact that this whole situation happened to begin with is unconscionable, and yet another example of why American suburbs are a fucking disaster.

As for the question of whether to give him one, only his doctor can answer that, obviously.

No. If he either zones in on something, or loses interest that quickly, he’ll be distracted and not paying attention to his driving. It sounds dangerous to me.

I’d discuss with his doctors / therapists and my son. Answer depends on level of function, coordination, etc. Many people live and accomplish great things being autistic.

No, I wouldn't recommend it. If he gets into an accident, whoever gets injured or has their car smashed is not going to care that the driver was disabled and shouldn't have been behind the wheel.

So many variables…

Where I live if I put a secondary driver on my insurance and they have a crash it is their insurance rate that goes up not mine. If I had full comprehensive my car would be fixed and if they could afford the deductible then they would have to pay it if they crashed my car… if my car wasn’t something special or new I’d also be ok with someone smashing it knowing it would be repaired. I also wouldn’t loan my car to a driver whom I felt wouldn’t be a good and reasonable steward

With all these considerations I would consider loaning my vehicle.

Probably not safe tbh

Think of the lives of those in the road.

@Stereoguy I have no idea if she’s had an accident. She has two kids. Doesn’t have to work because he’s an engineer and makes good money.

16 year olds dont need licenses

There is No Catch All for All cases
In case of the one now 42 with licence
Hopefully she Truly Progressed Safely

Generally speaking
I would Say NO
saftey trumps but daddddddddy

Yet
So too there Must find a balence..
So to Not Shune one with that or any dis-order

Though Safety is First and Foremost

To be fair there are many holders of drivers licences who are a danger to everyone on the road. If his autism swings in the direction that he is super observant as can be the case with autism, and he can pass the necessary tests, I don’t see why not.

maybe for rural driving /w little to no traffic; probably not if driving with any congestion and/or a lot of distraction.

The insurance carrier will have the statistical data on whether or not it's a good idea backed by hard data. I'd contact the auto insurance agent and outline everything in detail. In writing. See what they come back with.

he should get it for emergency's sake. i might not let him drive the family car. it would depend on how good of a driver he was

I'll just take him off road someplace and let him drive there and have a ball

never on the road

a car is a dangerous weapon

My son got his at 18. He can get to his college classes and back home . That’s all he wants to do for now.

That wouldn't be fair to the son. If he hurt anyone, he would have to live with that the rest of his life.

This may not work. I think you have to let him try, by doing lots and Lots of behind the wheel times with others.

Thats a tough one not knowing the kid, but oh my the insurance🤦‍♂️

I’d have to let him drive and see if it’s safe.

Sorry but no😕

If he takes drivers' lessons and can pass the road test then I would assume driving is something he can do.

Well, my nephew is high functioning austistic and he got his license. I guess it depends on the severity of the case