Hey

Introduce yourself here, a bit about you and your interests.

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TCE
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Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:22 pm

Hey

Post by TCE »

Hey everyone, my names Trystan, I live in England, and I'm 25. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was in year 1. I've been able to deal with it okay though, but I'll tell you all some of the things that affects me through dyspraxia. Growing up, I was pretty clumsy, always bumping into people, dropping things, and falling over. But even now, I still suffer from a lot of the affects of dyspraxia. My sense of direction is terrible, when driving in new places, I get lost and find it extremely difficult to read a map. My short term memory obviously is really bad. My hand co-ordination isn't great either. I struggle just cutting food with a knife, or using scissors, but this could all come down to me being left handed as well, using right handed things. My hand writing is also terrible. I also get extremely bad panic attacks, I'm prone to them. Sometimes I get them everyday, and I don't have a clue why (panic attacks are awful, they always feel like heart attacks). Difficulty driving seems to be a common with dyspraxics, from what I've read, but I think I consider myself lucky because I passed my driving test when I was 17, first time as well. I had 10 minors, but I shouldn't have passed though because I was a terrible new driver. I almost had to teach myself when I passed from a lot of the things I was bad at (like changing gear), because I struggled on that in my lessons. Really surprised me I passed first time, and the theory before the test, I passed the second time. Also, my English is great but my Maths is terrible.

Anyway, just thought I'd introduce myself, and thanks for reading. Looking forward to chatting to more dyspraxics here.
Tom fod
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Re: Hey

Post by Tom fod »

Hi Trystan

Welcome to the forums.I hope you don't mind that I moved this post to the Introductions section for you.

The other thread has now been moved to Transport, though perhaps we should have moved that sooner. Still not a problem as we've all posted and thought Doh!

You're not alone in experiencing panic attacks and I hope you are able to narrow down why and develop some coping strategies so you can better deal with them in time.
Tom
Moderator/Administrator

With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
Willr0490
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Location: Shildon

Re: Hey

Post by Willr0490 »

Hello and welcome to the forums. I'm Will and I'm 23.
TCE wrote:Hey everyone, my names Trystan, I live in England, and I'm 25. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was in year 1. I've been able to deal with it okay though, but I'll tell you all some of the things that affects me through dyspraxia. Growing up, I was pretty clumsy, always bumping into people, dropping things, and falling over. But even now, I still suffer from a lot of the affects of dyspraxia. My sense of direction is terrible, when driving in new places, I get lost and find it extremely difficult to read a map. My short term memory obviously is really bad. My hand co-ordination isn't great either. I struggle just cutting food with a knife, or using scissors, but this could all come down to me being left handed as well, using right handed things. My hand writing is also terrible.

Also, my English is great but my Maths is terrible.
Similarly to you, I was diagnosed in primary school but in Year 3 not Year 1, and although I have found ways round a lot of the problems this condition presents, there are still areas in my case where it causes difficulty. I also have excellent English ability (in fact the educational psychologist who did my original diagnostic assessment commented on how high my verbal abilities were) though my Maths skills are only average (I'm currently having to re-take Maths at the minute to compensate for the fact that I got an F in GCSE Maths seven years ago)
Moot
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Location: England

Re: Hey

Post by Moot »

^ I got an F for Maths at GCSE, too. :p Wouldn't re-take it now and certainly wouldn't get higher than an F!


Welcome to the forum, Trystan! :D Fellow 25 year old - woo!
Hopefully not making too many moot points... heh... *ahem* :D
TCE
Getting settled in
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Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:22 pm

Re: Hey

Post by TCE »

Thanks for the welcome guys.

A few other things I forgot to say in the original post - I also have low muscle tone, and I get tired easily. I'm also a terrible cook, I'm not sure if anyone here are good cooks? I seem to undercook or burn everything, never get a meal spot on when I'm cooking lol.
Slinky Siren
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Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:50 am

Re: Hey

Post by Slinky Siren »

Hi Trystrum
:) Nice to hear from you and welcome to the forum.
GenuineAndJosh
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Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:08 pm
Location: Westbury, Wiltshire

Re: Hey

Post by GenuineAndJosh »

Hi Trystan, first of all I would like to say welcome to this forum, I'm positive you'll find it very interesting just as I did when I joined up a month or so ago and it has helped me a lot as I'm sure it will for you too, and it's very nice to hear your experiences with Dyspraxia and it was an absolute pleasure to hear all about your experiences :) Just like with everyone else, I can easily relate to your affects of Dyspraxia, how you grew up with it and how it affects your life now. Just like you, I did very well in English and was so rubbish at Maths, I could never understand it. A couple years ago, I had to take a Functional Skills Maths Level 1 and 2 course at college as I was hoping to get into uni but they wanted me to improve my Maths, and luckily I passed Level 1 and 2, of course Level 2 being the hardest level as it was equlivant to a grade C in GSCE. It's also good to hear about your experience with driving, as you already mentioned, a lot of dyspraxics have difficulty in driving which is very common indeed and I wanted to say massive congrats on managing to pass your practical the first time despite getting 10 minors, sounds like you and I were both very lucky there. I started driving lessons a couple years ago, and it took me almost that long to finally build up my coinfidence in driving. I just managed to pass both my exams, on the theroy I did very well on the multiple choice questions and just barely passed the hazard perception, I passed it back in April. I did my practical back in August and got three minors, a couple of them were on the same mistake which were to do with gears so if I got that mistake for a third time I would've failed. I hope you're getting better at driving now you can drive on your own in your own car, I totally believe its when you pass your practical and can drive your own car, is where the real learning comes into it. I still struggle in certain areas and still teaching myself but doing OK at the same time.
TCE
Getting settled in
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Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:22 pm

Re: Hey

Post by TCE »

Thanks everyone, and to Josh, thanks for the great reply. I have gotten a lot better at driving, I probably consider myself as an A+ driver now lol, I've never had a car crash since driving. I must have been driving nearly 8 years now. How old are you? Congrats on passing your test as well mate. It will gradually get easier and easier. What other ways does dyspraxia affect you, if you don't mind me asking?
GenuineAndJosh
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Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:08 pm
Location: Westbury, Wiltshire

Re: Hey

Post by GenuineAndJosh »

Your very welcome Trystan. I'm pleased to hear you're doing a lot better at driving these days, I guess you'll be after driving for 8 years so well done, and its also good you haven't had an accident or been in a car crash for the past 8 years of driving, keep up the good work! Thank you for your thoughtful words too, I really appreciate it and it does mean a lot to me. I'm 21 and will be 22 in early March, I've been driving my car for 8 months now, spent all my savings on it a couple weeks after my 21st. Despite I've been driving my car for almost a year now, I'm still learning and trying to get better but I know I'll get there at the right time. Of course I don't mind you asking me that question and I can honestly say almost the same things you mentioned about how Dyspraxia affects you. While growing up and before I found out myself what I had, only found out the word Dyspraxia when I was 18, just after I finished college, I was very clumsly (still am today but not as bad as I was before), bumping into people/things and tripping over. I had bad body posture and balance so I can't stand still in one position for long and at first, didn't have good hand-eye co-ordination which is why I was terrible at sports/PE and when I started driving, of course that has improved as I can drive now, but as you already know I'm still trying to get into the hang of certain areas with driving. My short term memory is very bad too, however I'm very organised, always think and plan things before I act. My hand co-ordination is very bad too and like you, I struggle big time cutting food with a knife or any other fod prep, and if I'm doing it a lot my hand really starts to ache, and even trying to open up tin cans I struggle with and don't always open them right. My speech also is affected, I can't always pronounce certain words, sometimes might repeat myself and talk too loudly without meaning to be. I could never do my shoelaces while growing up, I can do them but I do it in a different way than other people do. If there's too much bacground noise, I can't concentrate and can get easily distracted. I also had low self esteem when I was young but has improved now and so have my social skills, I was never good at socialising either and couldn't understand the teenager language, I would listen but never understand, and why I couldn't make friends until recently.
nickye
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Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:16 pm

Re: Hey

Post by nickye »

Hi Trystan and Josh, I'm really pleased you're finding this forum useful. I'm 45 now and only just discovered I have dyspraxia. My life is so much better now and I just wish that I had known about it when I was younger. It took me three years and three tests (not to mention a lot of stress for my mum!) to pass. I couldn't understand why I found it so hard to steer and judge distances! This year I had to drive home from France because my husband had a fit. It was scary as I had hardly driven on the other side of the road, but we all got home in one piece!! He is better now luckily but can't drive til February so am having to do lots of driving! I've always struggled with joining slip roads and changing lanes and have been known to drive miles out of my way to avoid them!

I've been very stressed about all this in the past but now I know it is a condition which other people have I feel much better about myself. Not that I would wish it on other people but it's nice to know we are not alone isn't it? I had a lot of trouble with things like tying shoelaces and riding a bike as a child. The worse thing to me is I find it so hard to be organised and lose things all the time!

However it makes me more understanding of other people and what they struggle with so that is good. I also think a lot of us are quite creative with words.

Anyway I wish you luck with everything you're doing.

Nicky
GenuineAndJosh
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Location: Westbury, Wiltshire

Re: Hey

Post by GenuineAndJosh »

Hi there Nicky, thank you for your very kind words, and I can say at the bottom of my heart this forum is very useful and interesting for me and I'm positive everyone else on here will honestly say the same things, also thank you for sharing your experiences with us too.

I can't believe that so many people these days don't even know they have Dyspraxia or a similar condition until they are well into their adulthood but on the bright side, at least you did find out in the end and that life is getting better and easier for you, now that you know, it's better than not finding out at all. Do you mind me asking if you've been diagnosed or do you know in yourself you are dyspraxic and found out from someone who has mentioned it or came across the word online or in some other way and you did your research and came to the conclusion that you are dyspraxic?

I'm sorry to hear how long and how many tests it took for you to pass your test but at least you passed it in the end and I've heard worse stories than yours, from people who don't share what we've got so no need to worry about it anymore. What a very scary experience that has been for you, having to drive home while you and your husband were in France because of having to drive on the other side of the road and because your husband had a fit, I'm really happy to hear that your husband is better now despite he cant drive for another few months, and that you both got back home in one piece. At least what you been through that day and now having to do more driving, will definately be good experiences for you and to improve on your driving skills and work on the areas you struggle with. Unfortunately I still dont get the chance at the moment to work on the areas of driving I struggle with but I'll make sure I do it in time, as I know if I keep avoiding them then it'll just get more worse for me.

I can totally understand where you're coming from there, as I didn't know about it while I was growing up and thought I was the only one because of how different I was and not coming across anyone who was similar, I felt so isolated but when I found out about it and was making a lot of sense to me and knew so many other people have it, I felt so relieved than ever and felt much better in myself too, knowing I wasn't alone. I know that other people who have dyspraxic, have different symptoms and might be milder than others and don't have all the symptoms.

Like you, I would never wish on anyone to have this condition or any other condition, but it does make us more understanding and accepting of other people, helping other people as we can understand in our own way how they're feeling as we've struggled with a lot of things, and we also have our special and unique traits that other people might not have. However I totally believe that there is no such thing as normal and everyone is special in their own way.

Thank you for wishing me luck with what I'm doing with my life and I would like to say the same back to you, will be keeping my fingers crossed that your husband gets back on his feet very soon and that everything goes out well for you including your driving.

Josh
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