When you turn 16, the one thing you can't wait to do is get your license so you can finally have your first taste of freedom and no longer need your parents to drive you around anywhere.
When I was 16, I had no intentions of getting my license because I had no interest in driving.
I'm 22 now and I still don't have my license. Although sometimes it's inconvenient not to have one, it's not a major concern to me.
Before you ask yourself why I still don't have it, you should know that me not having my license is not entirely a personal decision.
It's part me not trusting myself and part having a disability.
I have cerebral palsy, and if you don't know what that is, it's a disorder of the cerebellum that affects things such as balance, coordination, muscle movements and reaction times.
Having a fast reaction time and strong leg muscles are something that you need in order to drive a car. You've always got to watch for that one crazy driver who blows through the red light and constantly press down on the pedal, because how else would the car move?
Don't get me wrong. I do have my permit. I got it shortly after my eighteenth birthday and taking the test four, yes, four, times. I've been behind the wheel a few times on residential streets in my town, so I know the basics of driving a car, but it's hard for me.
I use my left foot to control both the gas and the break because the cerebral palsy is in the right half of my body. This is unfortunate for me because you need your right foot to drive. I'm not sure how I learned, but I found that using my left foot is a lot easier for me.
But, I learned pretty quickly that you can't do that when taking the actual driving test.
I haven't been behind the wheel of a car in quite a while because, truthfully, I've been busy. When I'm not at work, I'm at school, when I'm not at school, I'm at work.
I'm at school sometimes more than 12 hours a day because of homework and my internship and I work on the weekends at the same place my dad works at, so we ride together.
My mom drops me off at school in the morning before she goes to work and picks me up in the evening and my friends drive to all the concerts we attend.
I don't make that much at work, and my internship is paid but I don't get a lot from there, and I have student loans, a credit card and medical bills and my credit isn't that great yet, so I don't really have any money to buy a car.
Why have a license if I don't have the funds to purchase a car at the moment?
Sure, if I absolutely need a ride somewhere and my parents aren't home, it's a little difficult finding one if all my friends are busy, but that's about the only trouble it gives me.
I'm pretty much a homebody and I only have a few close friends that I enjoy hanging out with, and during the school year, I'm hardly ever home during the day anyway.
It gets a little annoying when my friends, family, co-workers and sometimes professors ask me when I'm going to get my license, but I try to explain it in the nicest way possible.
Without using my disability as the primary excuse, I let them know that I'm just not ready to drive nor do I have any way to purchase a car.
Maybe in the future, when I'm out of school and I have my finances under control, I will work on getting a car AND THEN my license.
I am aware and fully understand that the day will come when my parents won't be here to give me a ride anymore, but everyone else needs to understand that driving is a personal decision and not everyone is ready to do so at the age of 16.
And that's perfectly okay.
