Dupree Driving and Community Mobility

The key takeaway points for me from this lecture were the functional implications of a person’s diagnosis when it comes to driving. Driving takes many different skills whether they be physical or cognitive. I enjoyed how we went through different diagnoses that are seen regularly by the driving specialist, and the implications of their disease on their function. This lecture really resonated with me because in March my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS, and her top priority was to continue driving. It was very difficult to help her realize that driving just wasn’t feasible for her anymore due to fatigue, muscle weakness, reaction time, etc. She was having difficulty coming to terms with this. She had already lost so much of her independence, so handing in her keys was the hardest thing for her to do, because this meant her independence was officially gone in her mind.

Intervention ideas: For a client who has had a CVA and has left neglect, before taking their skills to the road, an activity they could do would be a simulated driving activity, whether it be on a video game or some other method, but adding stimuli on the left side which would help the client bring more attention to the left side while driving. This is a low stakes activity in which the client can test their attention skills in an environment without potential harm.
A second intervention could be done as a group. A group of low vision clients could be educated about different AE they could use to enhance their visual fields and safety when driving. After educating the clients one different AE and their functions you could help the clients problem solve and select the appropriate AE for their specific needs and diagnosis.