On a more general note, rather than the specific example of driving, I do tend to get offered more help than I need. Sometimes people withhold information, but then sometimes they overload me with it when I've already got things covered. They'll tell me something basic that any five-year-old knows, such as that milk goes bad when it's left out of the refrigerator, which leaves me wondering why they didn't think I'd know that.

If I'm slow and hesitant because I'm trying to learn something new, or if I make the slightest mistake, I've actually had people grab it out of my hands and do it for me. They don't allow me to make mistakes and learn from them as most people do. Instead, they assume I'm going to keep making that same mistake again and again. If I'm supposed to be so smart, don't they think I'm capable of learning? And how am I going to learn if they don't let me struggle with it?

Or they'll do something for me before I've had a chance to do it myself, just assuming I can't. This has come up when dealing with social workers. They'll give me some bit of information, such as where some office is located. First, they repeat themselves half a dozen times. Then they write it down for me. By this they are insinuating that not only can I not remember what they told me, but I'm not even capable of writing it down for myself if I need to.

Does anyone else get this kind of treatment? Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that I walk with a cane? There are people in the world who think having any mobility limitation at all means you can't drive. That might explain that part. And some people also have a tendency to equate physical with mental, that is if something is wrong with your body that makes you move slowly, then something must be slow about your brain too.