Dyspraxics with PhD degrees

[Euphena]

Hi Everyone

How many people on this forum hold a PhD. I'm just writing up an MPhil in a subject I didn't want to research and just want to complete and do a PhD in a subject that I'm interested in, however with my dyspraxia/dyscalculia and poor organisational skins, how have some coped with completing this type of degree

[Catwoman42]

I don't have a PhD, I do have an Honours degree, a postgrad am working full time and curently studying. Organisation and lots of study. That's how I did it.

[Euphena]

Thank you Catwomen

But how do you organise yourself to study things. Do you get stressed out when trying to comprehend things you've read. I really would like some feedback from other forum members PLEASE!!

[stmac]

Hi
I have Masters and a Post Grad Diploma. I'm from NZ I'm looking to do a doctorate, not a PhD.but a professional doctorate. The professional doctorate is set up to break the doctorate into chunks such as Proposal, then Lit Review etc. I am going to build a support team around me.

I have only recently self diagnosed myself as a dyspraxic. So most of my study has been done without that knowledge.

My experience of previous study has been very haphazard. Computers have helped a lot. I tend to print everything lots of times. Essays were the worst form of assessment for me. Planning and organizing were very tricky too.

I often ignored time deadlines. But these days I would talk to the Course Leaders.
I now work with other people on the course on assignments to get peer support.
I plan using Power point slides to set up paragraphs.
I have read heaps of stuff about Grammar and seem to understand a little bit more each time I do.

Most of my study has been work related, I trained as a teacher and as an Ed Psych. Its easier for me to do" real topics"

Hope that helps

[Euphena]

Thank you for your reply

I think like yourself I will have to build up a support network and a very sympathetic supervisor to help me, get through my PhD project. I've just about finished writing up my MPhil thesis, so I'm glad that is done. I had to change supervisors , as my Ex supervisor was very unsympathetic.

I have a mentor who is willing to stick with me if I carry on to do a PhD. I'm so angry with my ex supervisor, because as a dyspraxic I'm not stupid, my brain just thinks and organises things in a different way.

[AlleyCat]

What kind of things did your ex-supervisor say? I'm interested to know because I think all too often people with dyspraxia are held back in education and in the workplace because of the prejudices and crappy attitudes of others. I've said in other posts that, in my experience, ignorant prats make assumptions about the intelligence or competence of someone who has dyspraxia because they somehow seem 'different' (this might be connected to speech or the way people with dyspraxia move). I'm so glad that there was another supervisor at your university who was able to support you and allow you to progress with your course, but I am sure that there are many people who have dyspraxia (myself included), who have been forced out of jobs or courses because there is no one there who is willing to have an open mind.

[Euphena]

Hi Alleycat

I'm still very upset by the way my ex supervisor treated me. I had problems in my first year of my PhD. I had terrible problems with Maths. i couldn't even do basic maths calculations and was really struggling, at the time I didn't know what the condition was was for poor maths skills and looked it up on the internet and found it to be dyscalculia.

In hindsight if your supervisor thinks you have problems or difficulties in learning, he/she is obligated to refer you to the disability office, to be tested. So in my first year, my supervisor was very aware that I had difficulties with maths and very poor organisational skills, but he decided in his head that I was stupid and unintelligent. It takes me a while to "get things", but if I get the appropiate help I can do things very well. While doing my lab expriments. I found it difficult to organise experiments, but later i found out that i wasn't doing things wrong, I was just a little slow in understanding concepts but I did produce some excellent results.Things went wrong when my second supervisor left the university I was attending and he knew the training I required, so my first supervisor who was an organic chemist, couldn't help me with my microbiological experiments.

Things got really bad whereby I didn't have enough data to upgrade from an MPhil to a PhD and the Graduate committee were very concerned with my progress. I'm a microbiology graduate and my first supervisor made me conduct experiments which were chemistry based, I had no knowledge of chemistry concepts and he was being lazy, by not getting the appropriate training or help.

I made an official complaint to the University, which took 2 years to complete and was a total sham, at the same I was officially diagnosed by the an educational psychologist, after being referred by the disability office I was diagnosed with both dyscalculia and dyspraxia. It was only after this diagnosis that I got the educational help from my University, by then my studentship had finished and I had no choice , but to write up for an MPhil.

My ex supervisor and i do not speak, he totally abounded me, before after I decided to write up for my MPhil. I am very angry that I didn't get my PhD, I took a very big gamble and left a very promising career in order to be a full time student.

However I AM determined to get my PhD and I have to save very hard money wise to get one. as I said in my previous thread I'm currently searching for a sympathetic supervisor who understands my disability. I'm sorry about the time line of all of the events I think it's all in the right order, but I feel very bitter about my whole post graduate experience.

[AlleyCat]

The way students with dyspraxia often seem to get messed around by higher education institutions makes me so angry It is totally unacceptable that your University got away with taking 2 years to resolve your complaint- I suspect that someone hoped you would decide to give up and drop out. When I was trying to get my PGCE, it took my University 2 years to arrange a suitable school for me in which to (finally) complete my final teaching practice.

Towards the end of my original PGCE year, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia- instead of offering me the opportunity to temporarily withdraw, the University allowed me to carry on until the end of what should have been my final teaching practice and then be failed by an already highly judgemental mentor (there was no way she was ever going to agree that someone 'like me' could be a teacher). Although the University knew I had received a diagnosis of dyspraxia, they allowed me to return that September to do another placement, but made no adjustments for me. They didn't even appear to have informed the school about my dyspraxia- when things started going wrong, I was put in the rather awkward position of having to tell the mentor myself. However, the new mentor had no understanding of dyspraxia and told me that I mustn't let 'my problems' affect my teaching- she then proceeded to very inappropriately lecture me on how she didn't allow 'her problem' of her elderly mother being ill affect her teaching. I couldn't believe the ignorance of what I was hearing- since when is a neurological condition which affects how someone functions comparable to someone being upset because her mother is ill?!

I ended up leaving that placement, then (as I've said above), it took another two years for my University to finally find me a suitable placement (I think they may have deliberately done this in the hope that I would decide to drop out). The mentor at that placement tried his best to be understanding (although the University tutor didn't seem very interested in how dyspraxia affected me) and I passed the placement, but I am still very angry that it took me over 3 years to gain a qualification which most people gain after a year. What has happened to you and to me is totally unacceptable- perhaps the Dyspraxia Foundation should have a campaign specifically targeting higher education institutions.

[Euphena]

Hi AlleyCat

I feel your fustration with higher education. I think disabled students get a raw deal, especially with hidden diasbilities. I seriously think there should be a conference for Lecturers, pointing out areas how they can help individuals with dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dyslexia etc.

Luckily at my current University I have a fantastic disability manager, who himself is disabled (he is blind), He is militant about disabled student rights and goes out of his way to help disabled students. I will have to choose very carefully the next supervisor I choose and tell him/her about my needs.

I do not feel dyspraxia should hold me back from my goals and i sometimes feel fustrated reading on this forum about the things we can't do as dyspraxics. We have strengths that we can use to reach our goals. we need to play to our strengths. I believe my strength is that I never give up. i will always find people to get me where I need to go.

Yes I suffer from depression and anxiety, but I build up a support network to get through my trials.

Allycat NEVER EVER GIVE UP YOUR GOALS, if you want it enough and work hard for it, the thrill of succeeding makes it all worth it.

I'm going to contact RADAR for more info about Higher education and Disability.

[rowangerry]

It's really good news,we can do PhD degrees in Dyspraxics, thank for share this information. Now there are many student are want to Phd degree, for that all this is great opportunity. I have also do Phd in Dyspraxics.

[Euphena]

Hi Rowangerry

Welcome to the forum. I was seriously thinking of doing a PhD in dyscalculia or dyspraxia, but I changed my mind and want to do it something I feel very passionate about and that is natural products research. I'm still searching for a good disability friendly second supervisor. I will keep you all posted

[Euphena]

I had my MPhil viva last week and passed, I'm very grateful to my new supervisor who was very supportive,, throughout the writing up process. I'm now preparing a research proposal for the PhD that I want to do and I'm seeking Dyspraxic friendly individuals to help me in my journey to complete a PhD as I'm contemplating studying part time over a number of years. I definately will be contacting the Ed Psychologist who is an ex teacher to help me organise my proposal and reading research papers.

I also intend to start a blog about my PhD journey- What does every think about the blog?

[PhilB]

Hi Euphena.

I'm new to the board, but saw this and thought I would send a reply. I have dyspraxia and mild dyslexia but managed to work my way through a PhD. In some respects I think I had it fairly easy, as I think my dyspraxia is relatively mild and I was doing an engineering PhD where they had more interest in the technical work done than my report writing ability...

I was undiagnosed at the time I was doing my PhD. I was aware that there was some kind of issue, but as it wasn't stopping me from getting where I wanted I never really tried to get to the bottom of it. In hindsight I wish I had, though more for my undergrad degree than my PhD.

If there is anything that you'd like to know then I'm more than happy to help, though I'm not sure how relevant my experience will be.

Oh, and well done on getting through your viva!

Regards,
Phil

[JohanMidas]

It depends a lot on the supervisors and the area of study, but potentially, doing a PhD can be much more of an opportunity to shine than doing a taught degree, or standard employment.
Unless you have to work in a lab with set working hours, and a lot of fiddly processes and procedures to remember, you can do a PhD whenever, whereever, and however you want. Whatever works for you: do it. Work from home, with your own lighting, your own organisational system, your own software installed on your own computer, and whatever hours work best for you. Just learn what works best for you, and do it.
All of this is in contrast to taught degrees, where there are far more constraints on how things are taught and how knowledge must be demonstrated, and most forms of employment, where things like line management structures, set working hours, forms, multiple competing commitments, lighting and noise issues (sharing a brightly lit office with half a dozen other noisy minions), and daily logistical issues all get in the way.
Good luck.

[Elvis_6]

Thanks for the post!