I don't want to sound ableist by saying that I can drive a car, but this is one reason why I tend to prefer my own company when I travel. I sit in the driver's seat of my car for a two-hour drive to see my gastroenterologist and I don't need to see or converse with a soul.

Sometimes, I might make conversation with a taxi-driver, but then I'm conscious of the fact that they're you'll see for ten minutes and may never see again. And sometimes, you can open your mouth, or they open theirs, and you don't like what they say. I remember getting a ride with a taxi driver, and there was a young Asian woman crossing the road at a set of lights. Before that, I asked the driver if he'd been overseas, and he said that he went to India regularly (he wasn't Indian, he was white), and then he said, when I told him I'd been to Japan, "You see lots of girls like that (pointing to her) over there." I thought, "Okay, but why did he have to say that? It was unnecessary, in my eyes."

One reason why I could never be a taxi driver is that I find it difficult not to speak up if someone offends my values. One day, I remember, I went to see my rheumatologist and a woman was there who lived in the electorate of a politician I detest. I thought to myself, "Okay, you're here to see a doctor, not to discuss politics. She hasn't mentioned it, and she might detest him as much as you do, or she might like him." I instead talked about why I was wearing a yellow shirt and a gold watch (autism pride symbols).