This is one of the most difficult things Parkinson’s CarePartner’s have to face. Whether your Person with Parkinson’s faces cognitive or physical challenges, they are going to have to stop driving at some point in their journey. How do we tell our loved ones that thanks to Parkinson’s they shouldn’t, or even can’t, drive a car anymore? How do we enforce that decision? What does it mean for us and our independence?

The decision not to drive wasn’t a difficult one for my husband thanks to another situation that arose. He had shoulder replacement surgery and wasn’t physically able to steer a car for several months. He hadn’t been driving much before that and we were having conversations about how his tremors and his slowness were impacting his abilities. Grounding the conversation in safety and placing the blame strictly on the progression of his disease helped him accept this new reality. That, and the fact that I was there ready to take him wherever he might want to go. We became a driving team and it works for us.

I was watching a program the other evening where an elderly gentleman ran his car into a crowd of people. His wife, who was in the car with him, admitted that their daughter had taken away his keys but that she had given them back because she felt it was cruel to take away his independence. I know it was a television program, but I would encourage you to take the message to heart. Is it crueler to help your Person with PD know that driving is a responsibility and that they are no longer safe, or to let them drive until something awful happens?