How to get a learners’ permit

“I would love to be able to drive,” says Justine Blevins. “It would be nice to just go to the ocean. It would be nice not to have my life stop at 7:00 p.m. just because the bus stops running. I would just like to be more independent.”

On February 28, 2005, Justine Blevins applied for a learner’s permit at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). As required, Blevins listed on her application the medications she was taking. She passed the written exam.

Before issuing a learner’s permit, however, the examiner called DMV’s Driver Safety Office in Oxnard to be sure it was OK. The answer was “Yes,” and DMV gave Blevins a learner’s permit on the spot.

Paperwork

Then Blevins got a Notice of Re-examination. It required that she contact her doctor and submit a lot of paperwork about her disability by March 20. She sent the requested information, and DMV set a hearing on her physical ability to drive. Blevins has cerebral palsy.

More paperwork

On April 28, Blevins had to go back to the DMV for a tape recorded interview. During the interview, the examiner asked Blevins about the medication she took for depression, and asked for her to get documentation from her psychiatrist about her depression and medication. Her psychiatrist’s report, submitted to DMV on May 10, said the medication would not interfere with Blevins’ ability to drive.

DMV revokes permit

Then DMV revoked Blevins’s learner’s permit. The revocation letter said that her ability to operate a motor vehicle safely was impaired because of a mental disability. Blevins called PAI. She talked to Katherine Mottarella, a Clients’ Rights Advocate (CRA).

Hearing, and more paperwork

After talking to Blevins and reading her DMV file, Mottarella asked for a hearing. Then she got work gathering all the paperwork. She also worked with Blevins’ psychiatrist to prepare another letter for the DMV. In his letter, the psychiatrist said that most people taking the medications he prescribed for Blevins had no problem driving.

“It was so important, and I was so scared”

At Blevins’ June 20 hearing, Mottarella was there. Jacqueline Phan, the Assistant CRA, was there, too. Blevins admits that “I was so intimidated. I’m not normally a retiring person, but it was so important, and I was so scared. Katherine was great; she did an excellent job. I was tired and frustrated. DMV stopped bugging me, and I didn’t have to deal with them for a while.”

On July 12, 2005, DMV reinstated her learners’ permit.

Burnout

After three sets of paperwork, plus trips to DMV for interviews and a hearing, Blevins was burned out. “The DMV likes to bury you in paperwork,” she says. “The most irritating thing was that I kept getting letters saying that if I didn’t do something by X date, my permit would be suspended.”

Aside from the stress of asking her doctors to send information and reports, and making sure it got to DMV before a specific date, just figuring out how to get to the DMV was a challenge. It took Blevins three weeks to arrange for special transportation. The ride to the DMV hearing office took two hours – each way.

“I had to take a whole day off work, and the interviews only lasted 10 minutes,” says Blevins. “They just gave me some more paperwork to complete.”

Public transportation is better than no transportation

While she finds public transportation less than convenient, Blevins uses it when she has to – to get to school or doctor appointments or the DMV office. Fortunately, she can walk (motor) to work and to church. Nancy Rocha, her United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) independent living counselor, comes to Blevins’ home for their twice-a-week sessions.

“Nancy was a great support during my struggle with DMV,” Blevins says. “She is also a friend, and went with me to the first DMV interview.”

DMV issues special permit

To their credit, DMV did issue Blevins a special learner’s permit during the interview and hearing process so that she could:

  • Take driver training through Department of Rehabilitation (DOR); and
  • Get a DOR mobility evaluation to see what kind of transportation she needed.

She took the training in July and August 2005, driving a minivan with adaptive controls and a ramp to get her wheelchair in and out. It took two tries to complete the required six hours. In the end, DOR found that Blevins was not a safe and independent driver. But the trainer said she should try back in a couple of years – maybe the equipment will have improved. So she’s going to try again.

An independent life

Thanks in part to Rocha, Blevins has a Plan to Achieve Self Support (PASS). With a PASS, Blevins can work and receive full Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits because she sets aside part of her monthly paycheck to save for a van. The money goes into a separate account. Others who work and receive SSI save the same way for other needs.

Blevins works full time at Goleta Valley Junior High, as a special education instructional assistant. She lives by herself in a UCP apartment in Goleta. An attendant helps her in the mornings.

In Goleta, Blevins also leads an active social life. “With better transportation,” she says, “it could be busier.” Church is very important to her, and she helps with the church youth program. She often goes places with friends, and she has a lot of friends. Some of them drive.