Driving and Turner Syndrome

Driving and Turner Syndrome

     I was excited to start Driver's Ed when I turned fifteen, but I quickly began to feel nervous whenever I drove. My nervousness was due to two factors relating to Turner's; my height and spatial difficulties. I got my permit when I was sixteen, and then did not get my license until I was eighteen and had graduated high school. I took the test once when I was eighteen and failed, and then took it again a few months later and passed. When I had my permit I was reluctant to drive; my parents always teased me and said I was the only teenager who had to be forced to drive.

Height and Driving

    A lot of people don't realize how much you're height effects your ability to drive. The height of the seats in my car can be adjusted, but I need to have the seat as high as it will go and be sitting on a pillow to drive comfortably. I also have to have the seat pulled as close to the break and gas pedals as I can. I had been told sitting on a pillow would help me see, but I refused to try it while I had my permit. I think I was embarrassed, and was afraid that when people found out I needed to sit on it they would either tease me, or be afraid that I wasn't a good driver because I had to sit on it. Now I realize that the fact that I recognized that I was having trouble seeing, and made changes to fix it, makes me a more responsible and safe driver, not a bad one. Also, that the only people whose opinion of me I cared about were the ones telling me to try a pillow, so I didn't care if anyone else teased me about it. 

Spatial Difficulties and Driving

   Spatial difficulties are very common in girls with Turner's, and my spatial difficulty was the biggest issue I had with driving. I could never tell if I had time to pull out into traffic or not, or if I had room to go by someone, or if I had room to pull forward when I was parking. I always erred on the side of caution, but it always annoyed my parents when I would sit waiting to turn left when they thought I clearly could have gone. After a lot of practice, I have gotten better at determining these things, and feel much more comfortable driving.