administration jobs and dyspraxia

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ALADDIN
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administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by ALADDIN »

If a person's main weakness is coordination, would administration jobs be difficult and stressful, especially if a person has to work at speed.

I have heard that people with dyspraxia who have lost jobs or left administration jobs because of their dyspraxia.
Catwoman42
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by Catwoman42 »

Part of my job is admin based. I do sometimes misfile, or can't find someting. But it turns up eventually and everyone understands because they know. Hope this helps.
bookish
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by bookish »

I’ve had a few admin jobs over the years and have coped but found them stressful. In my experience I was just too slow and clumsy and although no one said anything I felt a bit of a hindrance.

I had a publishing internship a while ago which went pretty well until I had to do some basic filing for a meeting. It was literally just putting pages into a display folder but I struggled opening the little plastic wallets, kept putting things in the wrong order and was just too slow. In the end someone had to help me get it done in time and after that I couldn’t help but think everyone’s estimation of my intelligence and ability went down quite a bit. It was more frustrating and dispiriting than anything.

I also have a friend with dyspraxia far worse than my own who while working in a basic admin role was told by her boss that despite the fact she was a graduate with a first she’d never hold down a full time job because she struggled so much.

Saying that though, people do tend to be understanding once you explain dyspraxia to them and everyone’s coordination problems are different, I’m sure many dyspraxic people have had no problems in admin. No one can know how difficult a job will be until they give it a go. I found working in warehouses and supermarkets far more difficult.
AlleyCat
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by AlleyCat »

I also have a friend with dyspraxia far worse than my own who while working in a basic admin role was told by her boss that despite the fact she was a graduate with a first she’d never hold down a full time job because she struggled so much.
It makes me so mad when I hear about this kind of thing happening to people with dyspraxia :evil: How dare your friend's boss come out with such a judgemental statement- I bet the boss had made little or no effort to provide your friend with appropriate support. Your friend is probably far more intelligent than the boss! Unfortunately, I have had more than my fair share of judgemental comments made to me in employment (including in an admin post) and on courses- usually, the comments consist of sweeping generalisations about me, with very little evidence to back up the claims of the person who is making them. I think sometimes workplace bullies home in on people with dyspraxia because we can be slower to respond or appear not to be dominant types of people, perhaps due to having low muscle tone. As we are often good at empathising, we may inadvertently come across as 'too nice,' which could cause us to become the targets of vindictive people.

Where our suitability for admin posts is concerned, I think it depends very much on the nature of the work. In my experience, the worst kinds of admin tasks to give us are those which rely on speed and accuracy- for example being giving piles and piles of filing to do or lots of voting forms to sort. Even if we're quite fast typists, we can still end up making errors when given nothing but data inputting to do for hours on end- this is especially likely if there are problems with attention, as is the case with me. The admin tasks which we might be good at are probably the ones which we would only get to do in a better paid (probably permanent) role. I am thinking of things like being given claims to process (eg council tax/housing benefit forms or insurance forms), where the employee is given more time to do the task and actually gets to use his/her brain. From what I've found, the kinds of admin jobs which people tend to be given if they're temping (eg lots and lots of photocopying and filing), tend not to be particularly suitable for people with dyspraxia, as we might not be able to do them quickly enough and can have a tendency to make mistakes if we're doing the same kind of task for a long time.
Tom fod
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by Tom fod »

I work in admin and agree with Alleycat's posting. It's disgusting what that persons boss told them. Bosses like that should be shot so they don't pollute the workforce!

It's simply wrong to assign people like us with mind numbingly dull tasks likes stuffing envelopes. We're keen to help but we need to feel valued and need to be given opportunities and encouragement to help us develop additional skills outside our safe zone.

We're often very thorough and reliable people who can identify holes in work processes.

Tom
Tom
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Maximus
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by Maximus »

I was an administrative assistant for 18 months and I did struggle at times but overrall I did very well. I wanted to walk out a couple of times because I felt humiliated due to making stupid mistakes which I thought wouldn't have happened if I didn't have dyspraxia but I just stuck it out. With hard work and discipline you can do almost anything, dyspraxic or not.
Jim
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by Jim »

I think ultimately Dysbraxia shouldn't define our abilities at our workplaces. I for sure appreciate that it puts barriers and obstacles in our way, (there's enough stuff that gets me down at work) but I honestly feel that I have many colleagues without supposed difficulties who are no more capable than I am, and some who are at least far less reliable to the point that I actually get impatient with them!

In many ways I think I think I cope too well at work.. Because of your performance is good, your bosses will only pile more pressre on you. So coping too well sometimes becomes a double edged sword.
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore” :whistle:
Avarice
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by Avarice »

ALADDIN wrote:If a person's main weakness is coordination, would administration jobs be difficult and stressful, especially if a person has to work at speed.
Well speaking for myself If you want to turn me into a psycho of course it is.
EmmyC
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by EmmyC »

I've got a full time admin job - fast paced and a lot of filing involved.
It took me 3 hours to sort papers into number order that would have taken someone else 30 minutes! :lol: When they realised how difficult this was for me my colleagues said they'd be happy to do it for me instead. Now when they bring the big stacks of invoices to be sorted they offer it to me, see the look on my face, laugh and sort it themselves.

So basically, if you have understanding colleagues who understand what your weaknesses are then you'll be fine!
AlleyCat
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Re: administration jobs and dyspraxia

Post by AlleyCat »

Hi Emmy and welcome to the forum! I'm so glad that you found a job with such understanding colleagues, who make allowances for you having dyspraxia. In jobs I've had, I could only dream of having colleagues like that- unfortunately, I've had colleagues who've been quick to criticise. I know that there's no way they would have excused me from doing a task without slating me behind my back. The saddest thing is that my most recent colleagues have been in schools, where staff certainly ought to be understanding of people who struggle to do things. I often wondered how members of staff who were so quick to judge me could possibly be effective in supporting pupils who had special educational needs.
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