Dyspraxic Adults

HI

I see the post is a bit old but I want to add my voice! I'm currently a PhD student and I was diagnosed with dyspraxia 6 years ago. I'm in my first year of studying my PhD in Psychology in the UK, at 21 years old I'm one of the youngest people in my department - and honestly I reckon I owe this to my dyspraxia to an extent. I am praised for my 'free thinking' and operating outside the box - however this same free thinking is a nightmare to try and get down on paper (note this took me ages to draft!). Whilst I can talk in an envisaging way and when I lecture I do well, when it comes to writing a serious piece of work, a manuscript, a grant application or an ethics review, I really struggle. In fact recently some of my work came back labelled as lazy and 'dash-handed' - not because it didn't take me long to do it, I spent ages on it - but there were just bits I missed in my proof reading or just didn't type right (some sentences I missed the end of for example).

Overall my experience (only 5 months in!) has been ups and downs - I have great fun discussing ideas and trying to come up with novel solutions to theoretical and practical issues (although this has alot to do with the fact that I am quite bad at remembering other people's work) but I also struggle with trying to explain how I have reached ideas (other than well I thought of this and it worked, what more do you want?) and trying to write large pieces of work. But to be honest there isn't anything I would rather be doing at this stage!

Hope this helps!

Hi. I am 28 and doing a PhD. Things fell apart when I failed my second year review due largely to language and organisational problems. I went to find out why I was struggling and was diagnosed with dyspraxia. Now I am dealing with a new diagnosis which I find out has impacted on my studies for years, whilst trying to pass my new review and trying to explain to my department who are being ... well, lets just say my supervisor has not been the most helpful in the past and I still have not seen him since diagnosis over a month ago. The side effect of much of this is that I have depression, so I have been trying to deal with that too. Basically, I was hoping to get some encouragement from you guys.
Sorry this post is a bit of a downer. Here is a random happy emoticon

see im 28 doing an honors and my uni has been amazing with my condition it was them who suggested I get it and they supported me through my issues in getting the diagnosis and now that I have it they are getting mechanisms in place for my thesis and I am only in second year

Hi, I'm 26, french and I'm also in Ph.D. (in Astrophysics, last year).
I always was very slow, unorganised, clumpsy when I'm not focusing, had difficulties with sociabilisation and was tired very easily. Somehow I managed keeping good marks even if my work wasn't finished (which happend all the time since high school) so I kept on studying. In my current studies, I'm spending a lot of time in front of a computer writing programs (yes, that's what a astrophysicist do most of time else they're dinking coffee, tea and beer ). Last year, I reached at 2 conclusions: 1°) I really don't like programming (I've got a very poor typing which don't improve, I stopped chating because people were always waiting and COMPLAINING); 2°) I noticed that I started to see life in double and bluring with one eye! So I went to the ophthalmologist then orthoptist who found out, when my vision got better, that I had a visual dyspraxic troubles. As I'm having a very difficult time writing my thesis, I asked her if it was a kind of dyslexia cause I never heard of this word before. So finally I went to a neurospy 3 weeks ago, I had the test and I'm waiting for the results... but before leaving, the neuropsy said "Well, you're counterbalancing."!.
About my work and from my experience, I like reading novels but publications are very hard to read because the writing is too small, too dense, too much informations and lines are short so you need to go back the line a lot ("wait, at which line was I?" "S***, I already read it twice", ...) so I need a lot of time to go through them. About computing, what happend a lot are things like this: -"for(i=1..." wait, is it "," or ";" after??? Come on I wrote at least 5 loops today!!! Why can't I remember it!- (well, I'm programming with 4 differents languages so it doesn't help). Fortunately, there is SCIENCE to cheer me up, I also could organized my time like I wanted and nice Ph.D collegues! I guess that maybe my directors wondered I was lazy (and I always thought I was too!). But as I wrote before, now I'm suffering writing my thesis until now I spent 1h typing and I need 2-3h to write a page even if I know what I want to write! I can't focus, I push the key close to the one I need or I don't find it, letters are not in good order.... So I'm kind of depressed which doesn't help.
I don't want to scare people, I enjoyed my thesis (until writing it), it's a good accomplishment and I would like to continue after but for the moment I'm not really sure if it's the better choice... Maybe I found my limits at the end but I don't feel it's dramatic.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” John Lennon.

Hi all,

This is a very strange page for me to find. I"m 31 and completed my phd in Physics 2 years ago, I also have a masters in confocal microscopy, and a degrees in physics. I was never diagnosed with dyspraxia, mostly because it was only discovered/became a known disorder when I was a kid. Rather I was diagnosed as someone who's neurological paths between the brain and muscles had not fully developed which was why i had huge difficulty talking and and coordinating motion.

Reason I am reseaching this now is to try and pinpoint things I need to work on. I did have a difficult time doing my phd, but that said, I don't know anyone who had an easy time doing a phd! and I know plenty of people with phds. I don't know if that makes anyone feel any better, but phds are darn difficult to get, which is why a very small percentage of people have them. I'm not sure if it was more difficult for me to get a phd then anybody else because I only have my own experiences, and I've never really dwelled on the fact that I have a disability, in fact dyspraxia may have helped me in someways. Been dyspraxic meant I'm used to repeating things many times until I'm able to do it, and so I'm quite patient with myself. However I'm also blessed with great confidence, and I don't believe in feeling bad just because I'm clumsy/take a little longer to get something. Plenty of people take a while to get things and are clumsy so if someone gets annoyed with me not getting something its more a reflection on them then it is a reflection on me.I just try to be patient with people when its my turn to help/teach them.

When I was a child I had a lot of hobbies which would have helped my dyspraxia, playing an instrument, swimming, dancing etc. I think this helped me a lot, and as a result my coordination, when I'm not tired, is better then average. When I'm tired or emotionally exhausted I walk into things and will just drop things. I"ve also noticed my memory for small details is desperate. The only equations I can remember are from school and e=Mc2 because its nice and short! Thats quite a problem sometimes, but a phd is more about been able to think, analyze information and come up with new ideas then just listing off facts. We can always's look up the exact formula.

In short doing a phd takes a lot pf perseverance, and determination. All supervisors are crap! Ok, that is a huge generalization, so say 90% of supervisors are crap. the third year of a phd is known as the most difficult because most people get depressed. They feel most isolated and lost. 4th year people begin to focus on the writing, which is really difficult, drags on, and demands 100% of your time, energy and focus. Anyone who can work and get a phd is damn near superhuman. Its not impossible, but I have huge respect for anyone who can do that.


Anyone with specific questions let me know, but phds are definitely possible for dyspraxic possible. They are really difficult, but you have valuable skills and just need to preserver and be really stubborn!

Hi,

I'm 31 and am starting a masters part time. After dropping out of school once and Uni twice, it will be a challenge.

Great to hear that (some) Unis are being supportive.

I find it very moving to read people's thoughts and experiences on here. I guess we all know on some level that the emotional component of dyspraxia is integral.

What I love recently is hearing positive comments about the benefits (ha ha !) of dyspraxia (seriously!). It's not something I'd considered before.

I'm at a crossroads where I've got a beautiful wife and gorgeous nine month old daughter, somewhere nice to live in London (a lifelong dream) but my career is stalled at the wayside (the impetus for studying the masters - I wish my motives were more pure). Lost my job 5 months ago and have struggled to find something comparable (my industry has taken a spanking recently), large mortgage, debt growing and savings looking a bit fragile.

Being honest with myself about what the good is from dyspraxia as well as the challenging is making me think a bit differently about where I should go next in my career (into work hopefully ).

Good luck guys,

Rohan

Hi I have just started a PhD in education so any advice from you lot would be great thanks