I’m not well enough to drive at the moment, but I would like to. Driving is expensive and dangerous so it’s a definite no no for me as I cannot work or control my movements that well.
Believe it or not the inability to drive is not considered a disability in the US.
I havent driven in a about four years so I dont think I can drive, worried if I relapse will cause an accident but I do work fulltime. I would say not being well enough to drive means you have a disability, whether its disabling enough to qualify for benefits is an entirely different thing though
I would say if you live in a city with a good public transportation system it would not be that big of an issue. Out in the rural areas it may be a different story though although I’ve met people who used the Greyhound bus for vocational purposes.
I suppose If I can hold down a fulfime job that at times requires fulfime concentration and my faculties are the same as before I got schizophrenia then id say I am not disabled enough to drive, just chose for safety not to as I live in the city and can use public transportation.
I’ve had my own car and been driving steadily since 1997. Social Security knows. Medicaid knows. Medicare knows. And I collect benefits from all three.
I can drive. I think one of the issues for future generations to discuss in regards to disability is this…with a decreasing need for labor due to automation, how disabled must one be to be considered disabled? For me the issue boils down to not being better than my neurotypical competition. Why HIRE a schizophrenic when one doesn’t have to? There just aren’t enough jobs. It’s the concept of not needing to be faster than the bear just faster than the other guy trying to outrun the bear. As a schizophrenic there are obvious risks undertaken by the employer when hiring us. We may not be disabled in so far as our inability to do the job but more so in that we are less hireable than non schizophrenic people. We still deserve to live and actually providing us with some income is good for the world and the economy. Disability is here to prevent homelessness, an eyesore for the average working person which discourages shopping (which is fundamentally the whole thing holding our society up). So to sum up, well, we need disability to prevent crime because there isn’t a great enough demand for labor.
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Yes You are entitled to benefits if you can drive. I’ve driven for years and been on benefits. The reason is I do not feel or function well enough to go work full time.
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I cannot and do not drive. I do not own a car either. The bus system in my city is just terrible. I have no buses that go by my apartment or down my street at all. I have no idea how I would supposedly get to a work site. And, the weather in my city is some of the worst in the country (U.S.).
@Wave, the only places I go are to the VA, my church, my friends house, my volunteer job, and rarely to other places. I take the VA van to the VA, which is free. My acquaintances drive me to church and to my volunteer job, my friend takes me to her house, and I either take Moby van or Uber to other places, which costs money.
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I had to get permission from my GP and tell the relevant agencies about it but it wasn’t that hard, I had shown that my disability didnt affect my ability to drive.
My driving is fine as long as I take my meds.
I did lose my license for two years, and the doctors have to sign it off every year with the Drivers license people (DVLA)
In my case I 'd use ‘competent enough’ in place of ‘well enough’ . I have never driven but some time ago,out of curiosity , paid for the Cognifit cognitive driving assessment to see how I stacked up . These were my weak areas- scores out of 800 .
Visual short term memory 35
Hand-eye coordination 8
Width of field of view 8
Below average
Shifting 345
Focused attention 351
If I had never been mentally ill but still had those results I would not have been a suitable person for driving a car .
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