Hàidh a h-uile duine / Hello everybody

[otis_b_flywheel]

My name is Tim and I've just been diagnosed with dyspraxia at the age of 56. This is a massive relief after knowing for decades that something wasn't right with me, but getting shown to the door by various medics. I'm probably not too far along the spectrum in that I can drive, have developed reasonable gross motor co-ordination ( with a lot of hard work) and my handwriting is fairly neat and legible although my dyspraxia assessor noted that the whole table was rattling during my speed writing assessment! I do have considerable problems with memory, leaving things behind and personal organisation and these often result in embarrassing and humiliating incidents.
I live in the Scottish Highlands and like many people here I have several jobs:
- ecological consultant
- relief driver of a mobile library
- paid and unpaid work for a local charity that promotes traditional music and Gaelic culture
- I play bass guitar in a Scottish dance band
I have far too many interests and am good at a few of them. The first part of my subject line is Scots Gaelic, in which I am nearly fluent. Like many dyspraxics I seem to have a good ear for languages and always enjoy trying out a new one when I visit a foreign country for the first time. Other interests include:
- Classical guitar - about the worst possible instrument for someone with poor fine motor co-ordination
- Gaelic singing
- Fretless bass guitar
- Singing popular songs to acoustic guitar - a recent one this
- Kayaking
- Cycling - on and off-road. The latter is pretty hard and I've had some nasty tumbles.
- Mountaineering
- Shinty (this is a speciality of the Highlands and is a bit like hockey, but faster and more exciting. I only took it up 3 years ago)
- Fitness stuff such as pilates, circuit training and visits to the gym
I don't want to make this post too long and also would like to keep my powder dry as I'm planning to start a blog about my dyspraxia. I'll let you know about that in a future post. Meanwhile if you're interested you can visit my website www.fearna.net that is partly commercial but also has info about some of my hobbies, though nothing about dyspraxia yet. If you have been, thanks for reading.

[Tom fod]

Hi Tim

Glad you've found us. Welcome to the Forum (or fora) and it's good to read that you've been able to pursue a wide range of interesting activities.

All the best

[Ram]

I apologize for bring up an old thread. Just noticed you like kayaking. Do you find it affected by your dyspraxia much?

The reason I'm asking is that I did a BCU 1 star award a while back and I was certainly the dunce of the group even though the instructor was wonderful! Learning all these subtle movements was a bit much in such a short time.

[otis_b_flywheel]

No apology needed to me Ram ;-)
I could probably write a book in response to your query about kayaking, having been doing it for 30+ years! No doubt it'll feature in my blog if I ever get that off the ground.
It's good to know that you got your 1-star. I don't know how long you've been paddling, but like other skills it takes a while to master and is worth persevering with if you enjoy it. I suppose the degree to which dyspraxia affects kayaking ability depends on gross motor co-ordination, and perhaps processing can be a problem when you're bouncing down a big rapid, you have little control over the speed of events (versus e g rock climbing) and the fact that confused white water can be quite disorientating. I think I've coped OK with the personal skills required over the years - beside the occasional episodes of clumsiness - but when it came to gaining instructor qualifications and looking after others in what can be quite hazardous situations, I didn't really cut the mustard as there was definitely too much to process. I did actually gain my Senior Instructor (inland kayak) qualification at the third attempt, but eventually realised that it was more of a personal crusade than anything else.
Good luck with your paddling if you carry on with it!

[Ram]

Thank you for your reply about kayaking. I have moved our kayaking chat to its own post if you don't mind. There may be other members who might be interested in this subject.