Lemme tell you; getting a driver's license as an autistic person is a barrel of laughs. I'm being taught by a driving instructor who specializes in people like me. It really does help, I'm not sure if I'd get anywhere without him, but naturally he also charges... a considerable fee for his services. And they say college is what will put you in debt.
On top of that, the government bureau requires me to have a little chat with a psychiatrist to determine whether or not I'm capable of driving in spite of my condition. Fair enough. I'll also need to fill in this online form, print it out, and take it with me. Yeah, okay, I can do that. But before we let you print out the form, that'll be 34 euros. Wait, what, why?! The entire process was automated! There's literally no reason to charge me for this, especially since they're the ones who made this process mandatory in the first place! Cheeky bastards.
Oh, and I'll be paying for the psychiatrist myself, too, of course. And I thought the driving instructor was expensive. Do you know how many games I could buy from this money?
In total, this joke cost me more than my dad earns in a full day of work, all for what amounts to a piece of paper I filled in myself and half an hour of playing Twenty Questions with the good doctor. And the thought that at the end of all this, some desk monkey will take a cursory glance at the report (after
six whole weeks of doing nothing, of course, because efficiency is only ever expected from my end), mumble "Eh, okay" and slap the "approve" button after which this whole thing will be meaningless makes me sick. I get why this needs to happen, but how it happens, now that's another story entirely. Even the most obstructive bureaucrats would blush at this nonsense.
And after all that there'll be a test where someone from the bureau will sit in the backseat and have a look-see at how well I drive. At least this time it has practical relevance.
"Have you ever had a dream that you thought was impossible to achieve? Well, some people say nothing is impossible. But I do nothing every day! So you can definitely do it."
--Tofu the dog's infinite wisdom
"British English is easy! Just use an 's' instead of a 'z' and replace 'or' with 'our' and you're dandy." "Do you want pissa our noodles for dinner?" "u better not piss in r noodles m8"
--Classic exchange between Popeychops and John the Late