2024 was the first year that Fitness to Drive received grant funding for outreach on the topic of neurodivergence and novice drivers. These funds are distributed through the Highway Safety Office of the Colorado Department of Transportation. The funding reflects a desire at the state level to support programs that address equity and diversity in this way. As we wrap up the first year of the grant, I would like to highlight what we have accomplished and where we would like to grow.
We started with a survey for parents of neurodivergent youth to help us understand needs in the Colorado community. One hundred and thirty five people responded. 79% of the respondents were answering in regard to a young adult between the ages of 15 and 21. 20% of the respondents’ children were currently driving and the rest were not. We found that nearly all of the parents (97%) had concerns that their child’s neurodivergence would affect their ability to drive and nearly all of the parents (85%) wanted their child to learn to drive if it was safe to do so. When we asked about the resources that the families had found to assess or develop driving readiness for their neurodivergent child, over 40% said that they did not know of any. We listed potential topics (such as physical skills for driving, emotional skills for driving, visual skills for driving) and asked about which ones they would like more information. The answer was all of them! Our takeaway from the survey was that there is a desire among parents for resources and information to help them determine if their child is a good candidate for learning to drive at this time.
Our initial grant proposal included a “Neurodivergence and Driving Boot Camp” which we envisioned as a multi-day course to practice driving skills. As we received feedback from the survey and spoke with parents and professionals, we decided to deconstruct the “boot camp” idea into shorter topical workshops that could be offered on a regular basis at various locations throughout the state.
In our first year, we created:
· The Intro to Driving and Neurodivergence On Demand Webinar
· The in-person Driving Skills Workshop
· The in-person CarFit Workshop
Our goal with these offerings was to give families some context for readiness to drive decisions as well as provide them with further information and resources. 71 people have requested the link to the webinar. We have offered 5 Driving Skills Workshops so far and 36 new drivers and their family members have attended. We have held 2 CarFit workshops with 4 attendees and two more are scheduled for 2024. Overall, the feedback has been extremely positive. 98% of attendees said the workshop was valuable. They particularly appreciated getting a better sense of what driving skills are needed and the opportunity to practice some of them outside of a vehicle.
This first year has allowed us to interact with some amazing participants and get an idea of what families are looking for. We will continue to offer the Intro Webinar and the Driving Skills Workshops in their current format. CarFit will shift to 30-minute individualized sessions for more specificity. Currently, we are developing a Driving and Anxiety Workshop that will be presented on a live Zoom call starting in early 2025. In addition, we are partnering with local law enforcement to create Mock Traffic Stops, which will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2025. More info to come!
What would you like to see? Please use our CONTACT FORM to give us feedback about our programs for neurodiverse drivers and let us know what else would be helpful to you!
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