Let me just say I am truly sorry if you have been labelled thick or dimwitted all of your life as I know your frustration.
I have worn the proverbial D cap ever since I can remember through both school and work although I never really knew why it was placed on my head until I understood the significance of dyspraxia. I mean, I had heard of dyspraxia but never guessed it applied to me as I could always ride a bike and had no problems catching a ball but then it seems to run deeper than physical co-ordination - in my case it was mental co-ordination which people immediately labelled "thick". I have always had this inability to listen, follow instructions, do maths, languages, practical tasks along with a marked impairment with common-sense and a sense of direction.
Only this evening I had a set-to with a self-service till at the Tesco's check out where I couldn't scan my shopping owing to not placing my scanned goods in the bag area! I could sense the annoyance of the shoppers muttering behind me and I was immediately back in the classroom where the teacher would garble something in French to me and I would just sit there silently confused.
Isn't it tragic how dyspraxia wasn't acknowledged the same way dyslexia has been in recent years. If you have been made to wear the (metaphorical) dunce's cap the way I have then I know exactly what you've been through. It is time to let people know the D stands for dyspraxia
Dyslexia is very much the poster learning difficulty, it's one of the most recongnised.
By stark contrast Dyspraxia has very little awareness. Society in general is stupid enough to simply not "get it" and coupled with the fact that it's extremely difficult to describe and explain to people also widely misunderstood, ignored and dismissed.
I happen to be both dyslexic and dyspraxic and can tell you that people aren't actually that clued up on Dyslexia either.
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore”
I was thinking of starting a thread myself, similar to this... I'm so fed up of people looking at me like I'm stupid all the time, because I don't quite understand them or something, or muddle my words. It's how I am and I don't need people's judgements! It is frustrating. Not to mention, yes, I'm one of those who had been labelled 'thick' before and am ever conscious that I am certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed. So this feeling comes from all angles. So in turn, I feel for you, OCD.
Yes, it's very frustrating and tragic that dyslexia gets all the attention. We have this problem, but what use is it knowing when others don't even know what it is. Some instances if I've mentioned dyspraxia, the person has put down 'dyslexia' instead and I say 'no', but it's hard to then explain dyspraxia.
Hopefully not making too many moot points... heh... *ahem*
I've always been very clever but often look like a complete idiot. I get words muddled up and I'm aware that I am doing it but I cannot prevent it from happening.
I say 'erm' a lot mid sentence which has been pointed out to me throughout my life and I have been told to 'think before I speak' so I don't get muddled up. People just don't understand. I know I'm clever but frequently feel stupid. The last thing I need is for people to laugh at me. I mean, family and friends understand that I am different and can't help it and when I get confused I laugh with them. Then there are the other times when I look stupid in front of work colleagues and I hate it. Not so long ago a load of them laughed at me when I said a wrong word which was the opposite of the word in my head which I had intended to use. I know these incidents stick in their minds and they look at me as if I'm not on their intellectual level when I know I am either on their level or beyond it.
I totally get where you are coming from. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was six, but did't know untill recent years when I looked up visual perception because I wanted to know if there was a reason as to why I feel strange or"spaced out" in a way when I'm out and about on my own. Dyspraxia came up and I told my mum & dad and they told me then I was diagnosed at six, but just presumed I knew and I would ask about it when I was ready. I never knew, but it explains a lot. My head was in the clouds half the time at school and stuff went in one ear straight out the other. I never seem to be on peoples wavelength eather. Anyway, yeah Im like that at tescos, and I don't like if I go anywhere and they have changed the set up. I went to go to the self serve at tesco's and they had railes all along where the self serve was and I got confused how to "get in". Also b and m completley changed their set up, it looked loads bigger and there were loads of the same items all in a line on long isles and its like wooooah, a bit much to take in and makes my eyes go funny (I can't really explain how) and I walk round probbly looking like I don't know where I'm going and Im looking all around, and it makes my eyes tired, and then when I get home I feel drained. Sorry if I've gone on.
a while ago i went on a tree climbing day and during the safty talk the instructor choose me (cruel twist of fate) to come up and follow a piece of written instruction , it was somthing very simple like "attach the green rope to the red link" but as soon as the instrcutor saw i was taking time to read it he started getting annoyed and hurried me at whihc point i couldnt read the sign at all the letters stated jumping around then he started to talk to me like an idiot much to everyones ammusment. made me feel like punching him in his face .
I have had many a times where I have been made to feel like a complete Muppet there are many stories, experiences etc but i wont go into it. (Some days it feels like it has been a large part of my life) others days I see it as being well **** happens I am not like a lot of other people so whatever.
I think its time to loose the dunce cap people have given you and accept being dyspraxic not stupid or anything else people have said.
I get stuck half way through a sentence and have to pause to get my brain in gear again. My boss will ask me a question and need an answer quickly and I just cant get there that quick. Last week, we had something to read on the projector and I was asked to be scroll the screen down. Knowing I would never read it in time, I didn't bother and instead spent the time watching peoples faces to try and work out when they had read it and were ready to move on.
As for Dyslexia, I think one of the reasons it is so well known is that it is easier to understand. You have problems with reading, writing but everything else is ok. Dyspraxia has so many more options and took me quite a while to get my head around all of the different things that it meant to me. People will only bother to understand it if they have a real interest in knowing. Someone says Dyslexia, people think 'They might find reading or writing hard' Its nice and easy to understand.
Even at work, where we have half the students with Autism and loads more with Dyslexia, hardly any of the staff understand Dyspraxia as more than being clumsy.
Sadly it not true that dyslexia is just problems with reading writing, in many ways its similiar to dyspraxia with organisiational and concentration difficulties .... its just that people focus on the reading and writing just as they focus on being clumsy for dyspraxia.....but I find both my dyslexia and dyspraxia frustrating although I am never sure which is which and even the psychologist who assessed me could not decide! plus I never know whether my mistakes are just because I am being a numpty or whether they are dyspraxic / dyslexic mistakes but this site is a great help as I read what others do and think yep I am just like that too!
Screengreen makes a good point, that it's ridiculously easy to get muddled up whether a particular symptom we might have is more Dyslexic or Dyspraxic, it all gets tangled in together.
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore”
The most frustrating part of dyspraxia is people correcting you or claiming you've misunderstood them. Frequently people tell me to do something, then ask me to repeat it. I say what they said word for word, yet they still say I've got the wrong end of the stick. It's infuriating!
It's meant that throughout my life I've been consistently labelled as unintelligent with a low attention span. When they find out that I am in fact reasonably bright, they're taken aback!
I think a lot of it is down to the fact it can be more difficult to appear confident and competent and the fact that some will try to exploit that to gain an advantage.
If they want to believe I'm not intelligent I might feel inclined to use that to my advantage and turn up the shock and awe when I prove them wrong!
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)
