Adjustments

[DJCC]

Dyspraxia never bothered me at school/uni but causing me a lot of problems at work. Nearly at the losing my job stage, anyone got any suggestions regarding adjustments? Finding the noise/pace of work absolutely unbearable and some tasks take me absolutely ages compared to others.

Anyone else had any experiences of office environments and how to cope?

[Tom fod]

Hi there

First of all, Welcome to the forums (or fora if you're a bit pedantic like me)

I can offer a few general points having worked in various offices over the past 15 years.

I think a key thing is knowing yourself though I must admit this is a challenge when you're dyspraxic.

Not sure what your office administers, whether it is a part of a big or small organisation or how long you've been there?

What if anything do you cope well with?

Are you clear on what you are responsible for and how this fits in with what your colleagues are doing?

What things do you struggle with and what factors do you believe are causing difficulty for both yourself/others?

Are there things that with a bit less pressure you could do reasonably well at?

How well do you get on with your managers/colleagues and has anyone offered/tried to help?

What if any help/support have you been offered and are your managers dyspraxia aware?

If you were the boss how would you run the office better. What could you do to help someone like yourself settle in?

I asked the last question because I tend to be a big picture thinker and having to do something where I don't really understand the bigger picture or have doubts about the point of what I'm being asked to contribute to can cause me stress.

If you can come up with some constructive ideas that will improve things for not just yourself, but your colleagues too you may be able to advance your position and your self esteem.

Hope there is something helpful here.

[DJCC]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your reply. Would be interested to hear you're general pointers.

Very very big organisation, one of the biggest in the world in fact! I tend to be very good at writing and creative things, struggling a lot with the organisation/pressure though, especially communicating well and following verbal instructions.

Trying to negotiate a move to a less pressured role at the moment, anyone got any experience of that?

Managers are aware, am trialing some adjustments but I wonder if I'm just fundamentally unsuited to the environment..

[Tom fod]

DJCC

Aaarrrghhh (and not necessarily in a west country piratical sense). Sorry have only just seen your reply to my reply from a month ago.

How are things going now? How did the adjustments you were trying work out? Did you negotiate a move or not?

What in your opinion could be done to improve the environment and would your colleagues agree with any of those views/ideas? Do you get chances to share such thoughts and are you able to contribute?)

I've found that having the freedom to create my own, or update the existing working aids works well for me and often for my colleagues too (thankfully). I find I need to see and understand the wider context of how the work I'm asked to do fits into/contributes to the bigger picture.

I seem to have moved to a more pressured role in my organisation (we rotate every three years or so) but fortunately the team structure is much better in many ways and my new colleagues and I all perform the same role, and help/support each other when there is a need to break down complex requests so it can be worked out what needs to be done.

Do let us know how things are going as your experiences may help others who might find themselves in a similar position and/or provide transferable strategies.