Good Afternoon

[Moot]

... Which I realise only works if you're from UK lands. But hey - it's a little different.

I'm from England, 23 and was only diagnosed with dyspraxia in late 2007 when I got to uni. I had been diagnosed with poor short term memory back at secondary school but nothing more; I knew there must be more. Finally getting an explanation for so many of my developmental problems was all well and good, but has it really benefited me? No. despite diagnosis warnings of where I might struggle at uni, I did not get extra help and therefore mucked up quite badly in the final year due to its critical needs of good organisation, etc. (only person in a similar position just didn't do any work for ages - dammit). I worked so damn hard but ended up with poor grades and I have to admit I am pretty bitter about it still. Since uni, my confidence has gone down again and I don't feel I really learnt enough to go for jobs in that blasted field and so I'm stuck, unsure what's best to do as if uni never happened. I don't know if it's purely dyspraxia or other things as well, but I'm not really very skilled in anything, even what I studied, so no job seems like one I can do. When I apply for jobs, I never know whether to put that I have dys because it seems to only ask for disabilities rather than difficulties and so when I'm in the job they must be thinking I'm a complete slow idiot. Which is hurtful, because I can't help it. Even my mum gets annoyed at me if I'm slow at understanding things which is very hurtful because it seems like my dyspraxia thing really counts for nothing.

I'm stuck in a rut. (Is that the saying?) And so I felt I needed to join a dyspraxia site to hopefully get answers to some of my questions; relate to others and see how I can help myself, and so on.

Okay, I really didn't intend that to become a big, frustrated post! Despite up and down inner feelings, I am friendly and hope to find some other nice people on here.

[AlleyCat]

Hi Moo. It's such a shame that you didn't get any support in your final year, despite having a diagnosis of dyspraxia. Of course it's too late now, but I'm surprised that Disability Services at your University didn't arrange for some adjustments to be made (such as extra time during exams or the provision of software such as Inspiration, which can help with planning and organisation). Having problems with organisation can definitely lead to underachievement- I had terrible organisational skills when I was doing A levels and, although I did well, I often think I would have done even better (and would have had time for other things, such as a social life), if I'd had better organisational skills.

When it comes to employment, it's a tricky one deciding whether or not to disclose dyspraxia. If you wanted, you could actually include it in the Disability section of an application form, as conditions such as dyspraxia and dyslexia come under the Disability Discrimination Act. However, if you disclose it and get the job, in my experience it still doesn't mean you will receive the support you need. Like you say, people can be all to quick to label someone as slow and incompetent, but in my experience, when I disclosed dyspraxia to an employer I was treated differently from other employees (ie I was spoken to in a patronising way).

I agree that it's really frustrating having a parent (or parents) who just don't seem to understand how dyspraxia can affect someone, resulting in inappropriate comments being made. I've lost count of the number of times my mum has complained that I'm 'too slow', without thinking that she is making a particularly insensitive comment.

[Moot]

Thanks for responding!

Woops! I forgot to add that I did get a computer and a few programs out of the diagnosis, but thr programs I did get - plus the dictor phone - I didn't really need with thew nature of my course. And some lectures we had recorded anyway so there was no need to bring my own. I feel bad about that, but clearly there were other areas I needed more support. To be honest, I'm not even sure the learning difficulties section let my course know, or whether they had the wrong difficulty down (dyslexia - merely because I wrote I had poor short term memory in the original registration application). Not that they'd do anything regardless *shrug*.

As to the job thing... I suppose either way there's going to be some problem. Tell them: get patronised; don't tell them: be thought of as stupid!

Well it's nice to hear from you.

[Tom fod]

Hi Moo
Welcome

It's a massive pain that some people seem to think that all our problems can be solved with bits of technology, sadly not (or at least not mine. Other problem is people generally don't have a clue about how we feel and it's so difficult for us to make them understand and what is a problem one day is not another.

I generally found job centres are not good places and don't think the people who work in them are happy either given pressure and attacks on civil servants from politicians and the media. I went in to sign on and that was about it. couldn't easily see boards and in many cases details had expired and job had been filled. I relied instead on trawling local newspapers and firing off applications for jobs advertised there. I kept a spreadsheet of what I applied for and when which showed I was at least trying. Be willing to try stuff but if you find it is not working be honest and note details of your reasons for bailing.

Not sure if they still have Disability Employment Advisors but worth finding out to see if he she can offer any real help. Other organisation I've seen others recommend on here is the Shaw Trust (www.shaw-trust.org.uk) never used them myself but worth a chat with someone from there just in case they can offer any advice.

Wishing you all the best. Happy to offer advice where I can as I'm sure are many others. Don't be afraid to ask and try not to be disheartened by setbacks. Feel free to rant on here as plenty of us can and will sympathise and offer alternative ideas.

Tom

[AlleyCat]

You make an excellent point about how it's not enough for University Disability Services to just assume that students with dyspraxia need special equipment and that's it. I agree that so many of our problems are caused by other people's attitudes and lack of understanding. When I was working towards my PGCE, I had huge problems on placement caused by other people's ignorance, even after I'd been diagnosed with dyspraxia. I strongly feel that it was part of the University tutors' job to ensure that school mentors understood what the condition was and how it might affect me in the classroom. They made no effort to find out about it and acted awkwardly when I tried to explain it to them myself, so I think Disability Services could have done a lot more to educate them. Lack of education about dyspraxia is also a major hurdle for us in employment- it's so important that people understand that dyspraxia is a neurological condition which has an impact on all areas of someone's life, but all too often people think it just means that someone is a bit clumsy and no good at sports.

I'm not really in a position to comment about the Shaw Trust. The only misgiving I have about them at the moment is that they are said to be taking part in Workfare schemes which are exploiting unemployed people with disabilities (this is according to organisations such as Boycott Workfare).

[Tom fod]

Fair point while a bit or work experience can be good, In the current climate employers and the government must never be allowed to exploit people especially given the feeling it creates.

Worst work experience I had was saving a load of manual pages into ASCII format, at least I got paid for my temp position inputting car parking survey responses for a month and also the time I spent a couple of days sorting out the lids on bottles of perm lotion, the bottle lids had split because the machine had screwed them down too tightly and we needed to make up good sets with undamaged lids.(it was slave labour though £40 was £40 in the mid 90s)

[Shadwell]

Sorry Moo,

Welcome to the forum, sorry I was busy reading a spammer yesterday, I was meaning to reply to this post, but must have slipped my mind.

hope you like it here.

[ChristyK]

Hello Moo,

I have a son and paternal aunt with dyspraxia. Careerwise--what are your interests? Do you enjoy working with computers? Animals? See where your interests are, and there's a good chance there's a career you could study up on and find work in. My aunt worked successfully at a nursing home caring for the elderly. Because of her dyspraxia and deeper empathy, she was so caring with the residents and must have been so loving to them during her work there.

Christy in the States

[Kimiann]

Hi Moo,
Welcome to the forum. I agree with ChristyK - find something you,like to do and then see if there is work in that area, it's also true we have lots of empathy, I work with 0-3 yr old and have also worked with additional needs children. It's great working with kids - they don't judge you and there's less adults to deal with - LOL!!!
This forum wonderful - it saves my sanity all the time!

[Moot]

Thanks for the further hello's!

My interests lie in the art/creative industry which of course is doing fabulously over here right now...... Jobs want skills I don't have and in things I don't have so much interest in and there's only so much can try and learn at a time. Well recently I have been to some agencies for temp work, so although it's not ideal in some respects, I hope I can get along with some of the jobs I might get. If they're awful, at least I won't be in them too long and I'll have more flexibility to do other things to hopefully better myself for other jobs that might bear some resemblance to what I studied...

Wheeee!

[lauraECFan]

Welcome to the forum Moo

I am in college and hoping to get on the second year of my course (level 3 extended diploma in animal management) and if I don't get on it then I hope to get a job with animals (or if not plants as I love gardening too)

Hope that you are well

[Tim G]

Hi Moo welcome to the forum -it seams like you have a good introduction, I hope the infomation has helped so far.

I compleatly understand where your comming from regarding unie. - I was working verry hard at unie but was still messing everything up, dis organised, not aware, not with it and basickly had dyspraxicia written all over me. I dident realise it untill I had a compleate brakedown and had to leave - I am still in the process of getting back on my feet 1/2 years later.

It was really depresing when my tutor said that yes you work hard but working hard dosent allways get you the results - i guess i needed the things that dyspraxicia takes away from me

Also what are you studding - what does the course involve etc?