Helen and Rannoch I'm Different: Let Me Drive

This car is in neutral, it's secured and what about my eyes and ears -

are they in the middle of the head restraint?

There are now, yes.

Every year in Britain,

over 1,500,000 young people learn to drive.

You don't have to get on a bus or a train.

Around 50,000 of them have a disability.

To the toilet, going to the toilet...

They would think, honestly,

what's he doing slowing down when he doesn't need to?

But this isn't stopping them.

There will be people out there who go like,

"Oh, you can't do this because you're autistic."

If they don't like it, they should stay off the road, then!

But it does make things a little more challenging.

Now would be a good time to twitch.

Potentially, if I twitch, I could kill someone.

I feel like I want to stop now.

-You want to stop?

-Yeah.

Passing their test will change their lives.

I can drive to the music concert

and I can see Boy George and Dale Winton.

Visit every single Scottish wind turbine!

From first lessons...

Wheeeee!

-HORN HONKS

-Did he just beep at me?

-Stop!

-Oh, my God!

-Oh, my God.

-Sorry!

That was very efficient.

..to the day they take their test.

You have got your driving licence with you, haven't you?

-I haven't.

-No, no!

No, no!

The road to success is no easy ride.

I just need to pass.

I hate walking!

This is a ladder, which is so...

which is so rare, it's not found in that many houses.

What's at the top?

Um, wait and see.

21-year-old horticultural student Rannoch lives with his parents.

My bedroom!

So what's that, Rannoch?

It's a practical driving test certificate.

After two years and over 280 hours of lessons,

Rannoch recently passed his driving test.

I feel so amazed with myself.

I'm so impressed.

I've now passed first time, even though my mum and dad hadn't.

When Rannoch was 11, he was diagnosed with autism,

but he's tried not to let it hold him back in life.

Just because I'm autistic and have difficulty talking and listening,

it doesn't mean I'm not that popular.

I'm really popular!

Very popular indeed because of my humour and how friendly I am

and how sociable I am.

He may have passed his test,

but he's still got some way to go

to achieve his ambition of driving alone.

That I've never done before, no.

He's going to have some more lessons doing Pass Plus before he sets off

on the road on his own.

His parents want him to gain an additional qualification.

On particular things like motorway driving, urban driving,

rural roads, night driving...

Yep, still got a lot to do. Yep.

-Yes!

-Rannoch...

Good luck!

-Bye.

-Try not to prang it.

Don't worry, I won't.

The Pass Plus scheme is a series of six modules

decided to reduce accidents for new drivers.

Today, Rannoch is taking the first module, which is urban driving,

with instructor John.

He's driving his dad's car - the first time without dual controls.

-Nervous?

-Yes.

-Yup.

I'm sure he's going to turn left

and go straight through those railings down the slope!

OK, so... First of all, this car is in neutral, it's secure,

my knees are slightly bent.

I'll just adjust this forward a bit.

And also adjust this forward a bit.

My eyes and ears are in the middle of the head restraints,

-what a good thing.

-Mm-hm.

I've got slight bend in my arms for the steering wheel.

-All looks fine.

-The seat belt's flat against me.

What about yours?

-Well spotted.

-It's flat against you?

-All done.

-Very good.

'Although I'm autistic, I'm very safe'

and I haven't had a single accident,

I haven't crashed into...

anybody else's car

or fallen into any ditch or anything like that so far.

So I'm more or less a very safe driver indeed.

Keep it nice and slow for...

-The road conditions.

-Yeah.

Today's Pass Plus lesson is measuring Rannoch's awareness

of hazards in the city.

-OK.

-What's on your right at the moment?

Oh, yeah - a motorcyclist, about to overtake.

As long as you're aware of him.

-Was he holding back?

-Yeah, he was.

OK, so what kind of hazards might you come across

-down on the road here?

-Bus stop. There's somebody waiting for a bus.

That car's just gone that way.

Well, I'm autistic, I've got additional needs,

so it can be hard for me to focus sometimes.

To keep his mind on the road,

John has taught Rannoch to say aloud any potential hazard he sees.

The light's been green for some time

and there's somebody waiting at the bus stop opposite.

'If I didn't talk, then...

'then my mind would just go...'

up in the clouds,

it would... I'd end up daydreaming.

That car, on the edge, is causing a temporary obstruction.

Yes.

Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah...

There we go.

OK.

So that's the end of module one.

-Yeah?

-Four things...

-Yeah.

-..we're assessing you on - observation, judgment and awareness,

the consideration for vulnerable road users.

So that's two exceeded, two achieved.

So, well done. OK?

Rannoch has to complete another five modules of Pass Plus

before his parents will allow him to drive on his own.

Soon, you'll be able to take your mum and dad out.

Yes. If they have any alcohol and therefore can't drive,

then I'd remain sober and drive the family instead.

All right, love. Let's go get the cushion.

20-year-old Helen has been learning to drive with instructor Sarah

for three months.

I have cushions because I'm small

and small people need cushions and little steps!

That's so I can actually see over the steering wheel.

Get yourself sorted, then.

Is your seat all OK?

Do I look OK? Yeah, you look fine.

Helen's main challenge whilst driving...

-Am I too close to the kerb?

-No, you're fine.

..is keeping both hands on the wheel.

I think it's always been connected to my autism.

'I have, like, little twitches and little tics.'

I get excited, I twitch.

If I'm anxious, I twitch.

If I'm upset, I twitch.

I just twitch!

Now, you're just swerving out to the middle of the road a little bit.

-Yeah.

-That's it, good.

How have your tics been today?

-All over the place.

-All over the place?

-All right.

-SHE MOANS QUIETLY

I do twitch, but I try not to twitch.

Because I could kill someone!

Helen has to limit the amount of times she tics when driving.

Helen will need to keep her tics to an absolute minimum

and that's with one hand still needing to be on the wheel

and a moderate degree of attention.

Three tics is a maximum.

If Helen took both hands off the wheel during a test,

she would fail instantly.

But not if the car is stationary.

Now would be a good time,

if you were going to have to twitch, to twitch.

I mean, obviously, I'm not encouraging you to do it.

But...

-You need to be able to keep a good eye on the...

-Yeah.

..the lights as well.

SHE GROANS

That's it. Wonderful.

I think Helen needs to develop a way of controlling them

when she's driving, which obviously she needs to do,

otherwise she's not going to get through her test,

-we wouldn't be able to present her for test.

-No.

SHE SIGHS

There you go, look.

So that's me...

And that's my sister and that was my incubator.

Helen was born with disadvantaged twin syndrome.

Her sister was born healthy and she was sickly and very underweight.

That's how small and fragile I was.

Helen struggled at school

and her twitching meant she was badly teased.

They'd just put me down,

saying "You'll never be able to do anything, you're too..."

Well, in their words, spastic, "You're too weird, you're just...

"You won't be able to do anything because you're too autistic."

Passing her theory test a few years ago gave her a huge boost.

Just thinking about it makes me smile!

I think it's just proving to myself, and to, like,

the people who have made fun of me and said,

"Oh, she can't do that. Will she be able to drive?

"Will she... Does she need help?" And it's like, no!

I passed!

You thought I can't live? Well, this is me living!

This is me being independent!

Now Helen wants to prove to the world she can pass her driving test.

You don't need to have a mind-set of, like,

"Oh, my God, I can't do it.

"I've got so many problems, I'm different, I can't do it."

Yeah, you CAN do it. You can do it.

Right, let's go.

I'm looking forward to the time when you drive.

Yes!

-What do you reckon?

-Yeah, very cool!

When you've done your Pass Plus.

-I love you, Papa.

-And I love you too, Rannoch.

I love you, too.

And it's getting a bit sunnier, as well!

-It's great.

-What a day!

Rannoch and his dad like to drive to remote locations

to indulge in their favourite hobby - wind farms.

So far, they've seen almost 2,000 turbines.

A very interesting way to describe me would be

an autistic wind farm-loving unicyclist and horticulturalist!

Right, off we go.

Rannoch's doing his Pass Plus scheme

so he can drive and see wind farms on his own.

'My parents also wanted me to be able to drive a car

'and I can go to wind farms whenever I want to,'

whilst my dad is too busy to spend time going to wind farms with me.

All right, Rannoch?

'Being underneath a wind turbine is very exciting'

in which, they're so big,

and high, high above you are these big, moving blades.

That's why wind farms are such a great passion of mine.

When I'm dead and gone,

he'll be able to come to wind farms by himself,

but I don't want him to go without me!

Will you miss not going to wind farms with your dad?

Not necessarily, no.

Um, because, also because wind farms are my favourite passion.

I'm thrilled that it means I can go to wind farms

even if my dad's unavailable.

It's been six months since Helen started learning with Sarah

and her twitches are still proving a problem during lessons.

Whenever my emotions get the better of me, I twitch.

It's an emotional thing.

-Sorry.

-Sh...

Sorry!

Did we panic then when we saw the lights changing? Leave it in gear.

'Normal people just go through their emotions normally.

'When I go through my emotions, I twitch.'

So, we're going to go up to a roundabout at the end of here,

we're going to do a right turn.

Sarah tests Helen with tricky situations like roundabouts

to give her practice in controlling her twitches.

Right, so it's the third exit up here.

Come into this right-hand lane.

But the twitches are still making her take her hand off the wheel.

Through her test, maybe two or three times she could do that,

but any more than that,

-then she's going to be...

-Endangering others.

Yeah, she's going to be at risk of putting other people in danger.

What would you say to someone who says

"I don't think you should be on the road?"

That's your opinion.

I can be safe.

I mean, I'm not dangerous, I can...

If I put my mind to something, I can do it.

I can't even see her head.

Where did you go. Helen!

Helen grew up in the shadow of her twin sister Carina,

who excelled at school and learned to drive in just eight weeks.

I look at the way my sister drives and think, "Ooh, that's fun."

I think of all the places she can go and the stuff she can do.

-Do you want to be like your sister?

-Yeah.

There you go - twins!

Wearing the same thing.

I actually hated that, that because we're twins,

we should be the same person.

I feel like it's unfair, because liking school, liking driving,

liking everything that I'm able to do, and Helen isn't,

you know, it's not the same, what we can achieve.

Why do you think Helen twitches?

She twitches when she gets excited.

It's like an express of energy.

Do you think she can control them, though?

You can't control a subconscious behaviour.

Unless you sought, um...

..help that went into the subconscious,

so like hypnotherapy or...

You know, my mum had hypnotherapy to stop her smoking and it worked.

You know? Maybe look at hypnotherapy to stop Helen twitching?

-Maybe, yeah.

-Worth looking at, though.

-Yeah.

OK, what do you need to be doing here?

Building up speed to similar on the motorway.

Rannoch is carrying on with Pass Plus

and it's his first time driving on a motorway.

What speed are you doing?

-70.

-That's fine.

What's coming up round the corner?

A lorry.

Because of the speed,

John gets Rannoch to spot dangers a long way ahead.

Oh, yeah, oh, er...a slip road.

Yeah, good.

Now, what about for the off slip?

Does it look OK? Yes, it does.

No, it doesn't.

-Keep back a bit.

-Right.

That's fine. And then back on the gas again.

So it looks as though that Royal Mail van will hold me up.

-Does it look OK?

-Yes, it does.

Oh, yeah. Can't see round the bend far down there.

I can see both its headlights.

That's good.

-The joining, leaving...

-Mm-hm.

I would now put that as an exceed.

-Really?

-Yeah. OK?

-OK.

-That's what we wanted to achieve on that lesson.

-Yes.

You've done it. Well done. OK?

I'm Debbie, nice to meet you. We're going to be going down there.

Helen's followed her sister's suggestion

and found a hypnotherapist.

Take a seat wherever you want.

-Oh, that one's got my name on it, that one!

-Lovely.

I feel relaxed already!

Debbie will try to help Helen control her twitches.

So...

When you're thinking about taking your test,

-how does that make you feel?

-Oh, God...

DEBBIE LAUGHS

Like, ugh!

Hypnotherapy works by entering the subconscious

and changing people's patterns of behaviour.

-SOFT, SINGSONG VOICE:

-Close your eyes now...

As you begin to feel very relaxed.

I would like you now

to imagine that you are driving a car

and every time you hear the sound of the engine...

..you become a confident...

..calm and very successful driver.

-BRIGHTLY:

-Eyes open now.

Wide awake.

Now just give yourself some time to adjust.

You did really, really well.

I could tell you were nice and relaxed

because your breathing changed, but also, do you know what stopped?

-What?

-The noises stopped.

-I didn't notice that.

-And the twitching stopped.

That shows us that if we can get you feeling nice and calm and relaxed

when you're in a car,

there's going to be less twitching

and less potentially dangerous movements.

I'd be amazed, actually.

From what I've seen today,

I am hopeful that we can either reduce it

or stop that behaviour.

For the first time in her life, for a few moments,

Helen stopped her twitches.

I might actually be able to drive without twitching.

Apparently, I can control it.

There you go, there's my revelation.

I didn't know I can control it. But I can control it!

Over the next few weeks, Rannoch and Helen hone their driving skills.

Hmph. Uh-oh, I'm straddling some of the lines.

Pop yourself in...

Debbie the hypnotherapist comes to observe Helen

to see how she is getting on.

Now go, squeeze - big squeeze.

Follow it all the way round...

-You're going to hit the kerb.

-Ooh!

-Keep on following round.

'It was really useful for me to see what was happening and when,'

so I just need to give her some new strategies to help her

stay nice and calm in those situations.

So, for example, if she is waiting somewhere,

rather than seeing it as a time to get nervous, actually,

it's time for her to have a breather

and focus and really see what she's going to do next.

-Are you in neutral, Rannoch?

-I'm in first.

I don't think you should be in first

when you're sitting in a traffic jam, should you?

-John, you're being a back-seat driver.

-The worst.

You're... Well, if I were you, I would not be.

No. We're just going to relax, Rannoch.

Rannoch's parents finally feel confident enough

to let him drive them around.

It couldn't be a nicer day.

I think the sun's come out because you're driving.

No, we have no control over the weather!

The weather controls itself naturally!

I know, that's true.

Just get belted up.

After three months,

Rannoch has reached the final module of his Pass Plus.

If he passes night driving,

his parents will finally allow him to drive on his own.

We're now looking at the...

Night-time driving.

The sky is getting darker and darker.

Now, that brings us to the question...

When should you put headlights on?

When it gets to about... this dark.

Wall of school kids, must be a school nearby.

Footlights not flashing, it's definitely not school time.

Anything happening in this road?

No. What about the road opposite? No.

Pass Plus students need to show an understanding

of how night-time driving can affect visibility.

Ooh, another thing occurred to me, John.

Because the lights,

you could easily recognise anybody coming from any side roads.

-Excellent.

-Oh, yes - a man out for a run.

I can see him because he's wearing a fluorescent T-shirt.

Good.

But driving at night tests Rannoch's skills to the limit.

-CRUNCH

-Ooh!

Sorry about that.

I was a bit too close.

Oh, no - I've ruined this.

Rannoch is going to meet his parents at a village pub

to find out if he's achieved his Pass Plus.

The friends and family have gathered to find out the result.

Right.

-Engine off.

-Engine off.

Right. We'll talk about it outside.

Hello, Rannoch!

-Hiya, Mama!

-How you doing?

-I'm good.

-Shall we go inside, Rannoch?

You bet!

Shall I go in first?

OK.

Hello, everyone.

Now, wait a minute - here's the formal...

-The formal results!

-The formal results, yes!

Rannoch has passed his Pass Plus...

CHEERING

Thank you so much for gathering here, everybody,

to celebrate this wonderful occasion.

And, er... Thanks to this...

..wonderful man over here, John,

who has taught me very well how to drive safely,

I've learnt a lot from him.

Thanks to him, who's been such a good driver,

I have developed wonderful driving skills!

Rannoch, can I buy you a drink?

-Yes, please!

-You're not doing any more driving tonight?

No! Not now! So I can just...have a drink.

Maybe something alcoholic, I can then walk home!

I can then walk home full of pleasure!

THEY LAUGH

-DIRECTOR:

-So, how are you feeling, Rannoch?

Oh, I'm feeling mega-proud of myself!

I'm now such a fully qualified driver...

Oh, I just can't believe it.

This Guinness beer is a worthy reward!

Is he ready now to go and drive on his own?

Absolutely. Yeah.

APPLAUSE

-DEBBIE ON TAPE:

-'Whenever you are going to brake

'or stop somewhere,

'you remember your mirror checks...'

It's the day of Helen's mock test.

She's listening to a recording by Debbie, her hypnotherapist.

'It calms me down, it just mellows me out.

'I don't twitch as much and I'm more focused.'

It's a case of making sure

she's making the right progress with the hypnotherapist

and reducing the amount of tics that she's doing.

-I'm going to shut the door, all right?

-Yeah.

For the mock test,

Sarah wants to see both hands on the wheel at all times

unless the car is stationary,

something Helen has never managed before.

I'm going to be making notes of when you...

when you actually tic,

because obviously one of the big concerns is we want to make sure...

I do it as less as possible.

Yeah, you really only want to be doing two tics like that.

OK. When the car is secured, and stopped. All right?

Right, then. Off we go, Helen.

Mm-hm.

Don't take any notice of what I'm writing.

Mm-hm.

Turn right at the end of the road.

That's left.

I knew that.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

Helen takes her hand off the wheel.

But it's just a cough.

Sarah takes Helen to a roundabout where she normally twitches.

This time, she controls them.

Helen even controls her twitches when the car is stationary.

After 45 minutes, the mock test is over.

So, how do you think it went?

I think I made one mistake.

Generally speaking, that was...

You did a good drive.

Tic-wise, I think I did really well.

You did do very well, actually. I was very impressed.

I had a few flinches, but I didn't take my hands off the wheel,

so I'm hoping that that was OK.

But you did really well, so it was a big improvement,

big, big improvement with that.

I was thinking, don't touch my face!

-My God, my face got so itchy at one point.

-I know!

Winner! Guess what?

-What?

-I didn't twitch!

Oh, Melly!

Oh!

Oh, my little melon.

-DIRECTOR:

-Does that mean you can take your test, Helen?

Yeah!

I didn't twitch!

I'm proud! I'm really proud!

I always knew she could do it, like...

I have no problem believing in her.

I believe that whatever she puts her mind to, she can do.

That's a massive achievement.

Yeah!

So why aren't you, like, so excited about it?

I'm having a mini-party inside!

-Dancing!

-Yeah! Cuddle up.

Are you going to go to wind farms on your own, now?

I think I probably will.

Because now I can drive,

and I'm insured and that way,

I can enjoy my best passion any time I want to, really.

Bye-bye, Rannoch. Can I have a hug before you go?

Yes, you may.

-Good luck. Good luck.

-Bye!

Oof!

I can see him doing

all his preliminary preparations, looking around.

An independent young man, 21 years old and...

..driving for the first time in his life. And...

Huh... What a moment.

What a moment for his mum and for me.

Bye!

Cheerio!

OK, so it's a 20 zone...

People waiting for a bus there.

People waiting at a bus stop opposite.

Cyclist, lady running.

I'll just allow those people to get across.

This road's nice and straight for a change.

I'm feeling very happy that I've now arrived here all by myself

and I'm right under my favourite things...

..for the first time, all by myself.

Just proud of myself now.

Eleni tries to overcome her nerves when she drives.

In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Sometimes I get very anxious and stressed out

when people aren't getting out of your way.

That's why my brain is on the go 24/7, like a set of bongo drums,

if I'm being honest with you.

While Alice puts her reflexes to the test...

-BRAKES SQUEAL

-Oh, my God.

..and tries to make her mother proud.

Then pass your test, Alice.

-All right, then.

-Right. Show us someone with autism,

Tourette's and ADHD can past their driving test.

-Show us.

-You're stressing me out, now.