Bioptic Driving

Posted by Andrew Leibs Nov 18, 2008

I’ve taken driving lessons but never got my license. The inability to drive is my single biggest barrier to leading a fully independent life. The lessons took me over busy highways, even I-95; no mishaps, my vision impairment inconsequential, as it is for so many people who use special telescopic lenses called bioptics.

Yet, after each lesson, I’d come in, peel off a soaked undershirt, questioning my enthusiasm and that of friends, weighing my father’s dismissive doubt as a recurring dream—leaping into the front seat of a speeding car, my break-slamming only grinding the car into slow-motion uncertainty—offered its commentary.

Bottom line: it’s a personal decision. I had two drive lessons a decade earlier with a state trooper and helicopter pilot, one who had taught bioptic drivers. I thought he’d be the ultimate judge of my right to drive, applying a pilot’s precision and unwavering adherence to the law as he watched my agonized maneuvers between cyclists and the centerline.

When I told him this, he just laughed. “You’re driving this car,” he said. “Whether or not you get your license is a decision you make on your own.”

Equality and access was never so daunting.

It sill is, and I will get my license in 2009. I don’t know how much I’ll drive, but I need to pass the test and take responsibility for the restrictions I suffer and the outcomes I create.