ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how possession of the driver’s license, and consequently the prerogative of driving, equips elderly people with an asphalt identikit that allows them to maintain a non-age-related hence nonstigmatized identity. In many respects, the asphalt identikit is beneficial to older adults as it allows them to continue to expect and insist on nonstigmatized treatment from others. In his discussion of stigma, spoiled identity, Goffman introduced the concept of disidentifiers. This concept is important to understanding how the old use the driver’s license to shore up a personal and social identity that belies chronological age. Keeping a license and continuing to drive may be the outcome of defining public transportation as undignified and of an unwillingness to depend on others to schedule daily and weekly activities that one enjoys. Retaining a license and driving were powerful ways to ward off an old age identity even if one limited driving to daytime, good weather, and short trips.
