PTSD on drivers license.

alleyie88 · 13-05-2010, 11:16 PM

I saw in the news that there was a state that is passing a law about putting PTSD on your driver's license to explain one's mental illness in case they need help in court disputing a ticket or something another thing they said it would help a police officer if they pulled someone over with PTSD to use caution. I thought this was interesting. I wanted to know what other people thought. I think putting your mental illness out for the world to see on your driver's license is a bad idea just because it's not everyone's business.

shadow-light · 13-05-2010, 11:52 PM

kind of wonder why PTSD has been sort of "singled out" (for want of a better term) for this... surely other disorders can effect the same things that this is aimed at

alleyie88 · 13-05-2010, 11:54 PM

I'm not sure why it's signaled out.. I guess they think it's more severe.. I'm not sure.

14-05-2010, 08:16 PM

yeah i think if that happened it should be totally optional. my mental illness doesn't make me drive any differently though if you read the textbook diagnosis for some of what i've been diagnosed with it would say that it is a risk. thing is, not everyone follows a textbook diagnosis so i think it's unfair to be forced to put it on a drivers lisence when you may never even have your illness and it affect your driving. i just think it's an easy way to get stigmatized. it's also an easy way for authorities to try and blame a mentally ill person for an accident and to take away their license, blaming it on their illness when it may have just been a mistake anyone could have made. plus what if your diagnosis is wrong? i've had many diagnoses some of which are wrong so if a doctor stuck certain ones on my license they would be completely inaccurate and only lead to treating me in a way that had nothing to do with my problems. so yeah i think if it happens it should never be forced. i also don't see why PTSD is singled out.

offlineforever · 14-05-2010, 08:31 PM

Is this in the US?

I know in the UK that they put numbers on the back of licenses instead of what they actually are (Mine has one that says i'm an organ donar.)

random.swirls · 15-05-2010, 07:31 PM

In England you have to let the DVLA know if you have an illness that may affect your ability to drive and this includes psychiatric problems I don't think it is on your license though and it isn't limited to PTSD.

Porcelain Child · 16-05-2010, 05:24 PM

Thats odd, why is it only for PTSD..

But i know on my driving licence i have little numbers which show what you can and can't drive and stuff like that.. I have no idea what the letters mean though.. :P

offlineforever · 16-05-2010, 08:50 PM

The letters on the UK license stand for what you can drive... K means tractor!

I can kind of see where they are coming from with wanting to PTSD on licenses, its so the cops can avoid doing anything that triggers you if you get stopped or something, because I know they can get quite noisey and stuff.

(Sorry my language has gone)

Putain · 16-05-2010, 09:07 PM

If someone needs help in court due to a medical condition, whether physical or mental, then a diagnosis from a doctor or other health professional should be sufficient.

Police officers should be aware that one in three people will suffer from a mental illness at some time in their lives, and act accordingly.

Can't see any reason to put something like this on a driving licence.

shadow-light · 16-05-2010, 09:15 PM

to be honest... sometimes I kind of wish I had a card or something official with my diagnosis sort of as "proof" or as an explaination when I act "acting oddly" but am not in a frame of mind/physical condition to explain it... currently I have a leter from my doctor with her contact details and an explaination of my diagnosis etc on it, but it being in card form would be far more convenient (and would rip a lot less)

also for means of the cods on UK driving licences there is alist here - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...ns/DG_10022623

offlineforever · 17-05-2010, 12:30 AM

I stand corrected K is a mower

f is a tractor

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...ons/DG_4022547

Nine · 17-05-2010, 07:23 PM

I can see a few benefits, but at least in the US you have to use your drivers license for EVERYTHING and I wouldn't want that information to be there. Pretty much anytime anyone wants you to prove you're who you say you are you need to show your drivers license. At a bar to prove you're over drinking age. On the train. Signing up for a membership card at a store. We needed one to validate our tickets to a concert I went to last summer.

So yeah, it's one thing that the cops will see it, but another that dozens of other people will see it while checking ID.

If they absolutely have to put information like this on drivers licenses I think they should be stored as data inside a card - just the way the magnetic strip in credit cards contains information. You can store millions of characters in those little strips these days.