Written By: Pavitra Sampath | Published : June 28, 2014 12:57 PM IST
Driving is a skill that most of us take for granted. Be it driving a two wheeler or a four wheeler, most of us find no real difficulty in mastering the skill. But, for an sutistic adult that might not be the case. According to a new study, people suffering from autism might be unable to drive due to special hinderances that impairs their driving abilities.
What is Autism?
Autism is a developmental disorder where a person's normal brain development is disrupted very early in life. Autistic spectrum disorder is an umbrella term to encompass all the neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Autism impacts communication, behaviour and social relationships and approximately 67 million people worldwide are estimated to be affected by it. It is the fastest growing global disorder, where one's cognition skills are hampered because of altered nerve cells. Although the causative factor is unknown, a combination of genetics and the environment have been found to contribute to the development of autism. Symptoms differ from one child to the other. Autistic children have varying degrees of impairment in communication and socialization, and have various behavioural problems in the form of repetitive behaviour, restricted play interests and sometimes very unusual interests.
What does the study say?
Since this condition permeates into impairments in adulthood, a study performed at the Drexel University found significant differences in self-reported driving behaviours and perceptions of driving ability in comparison to non-autistic adults. This was a part of the pilot study and indicated that this population of adults had several unmet needs when it came to educational support to empower safe driving a key element of independent functioning in many people's lives.
Study co-author Maria Schultheis, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Drexel, said, 'Previous research in my lab has included extensive research in driving capacity with people who have a variety of conditions such as multiple sclerosis or who had experienced traumatic brain injury.'
She said, 'When investigated whether and under what circumstances a condition or neurological difference might affect driving ability, as a standard starting point we want to go to individuals and find out from their perspective what problems they are having on the road, in their real-world experience. That question is pivotal to shape and inform the goals of long-term research and is especially important when we turn to look at a developmental difference like autism where there has been too little research to establish yet whether widespread driving difficulties exist.'
In this survey, adults with autism spectrum disorders reported earning their drivers' licenses at a later age, driving less frequently and putting more restrictions on their own driving behaviours (such as avoiding driving on highways or at night), on average compared to non-autistic adults. The respondents with autism spectrum disorders also reported more traffic violations.
But, there are some limitations in the study itself;
Because this pilot study was relatively small and based on self-reports of 78 ASD respondents and 94 non-ASD comparison participants, Schultheis and study's lead author Brian Daly, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, noted that the differences they found were open to several possible interpretations. Autistic adults may have reported driving less often and restricting their behaviours out of self-awareness of actual difficulties or deficiencies in their driving. These difficulties and/or reduced driving exposure could also explain the higher rate of reported violations.The new study has been published online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Source: ANI
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