Daniel Radcliffe is Dyspraxic!

[Creative]

What does everyone think about this? I am going to properly read the articles and hope that the information the press are printing about dyspraxia is accurate! Imagine if he turned up on the forum!

[The Lurker]

Er, em who is Daniel Radcliffe?

[littlemadangel]

Er, em who is Daniel Radcliffe?

the guy who plays harry potter

[The Lurker]

Ah right, thanks

[Lady Fluff]

that's interesting - any links to any articles?!

[Creative]

I have forgotten how to post a link. Just type his name and dyspraxia into google and you will find them

[Darbin]

What does everyone think about this? I am going to properly read the articles and hope that the information the press are printing about dyspraxia is accurate! Imagine if he turned up on the forum!

I've read several articles about it now. What really bothers me is Dr. David Younger of New York University Medical School saying that it must be mild because it isn't obvious. How the heck does he know if it is mild or not? You can't tell just from scenes in very rehearsed movies and short blips in news items. While Radcliffe does show many obvious large motor symptoms, we don't know how severely it has impacted his ability to navigate the world, write (as in written expression, not just handwriting), walk down staircases, cross streets.

What bothers me most about Younger's flippant remark is the impact it will have at schools across the nation for children who are dyspraxic. Can't you just hear teachers proclaiming it isn't severe because they don't see the kids bumping into things? He just set parent advocates back light years. I think we should all email or call him and tell him he needs to retract that statement and let him know just how bad an impact he is going to have on people's lives.

It isn't obvious for me, but it has had a horrid impact on my social life, my homemaking, my ability to maintain a job. No one can tell I have a disability from looking at me, but it is severe.

expert indeed!

[gomababe]

I think these so-called 'experts' foorget that Dyspraxia isn't a general thing. It avaries from person to person. Yes Danile doens't really exhibit some of the more 'common' problems like bad short term memory {only because he spends weeks or months rehearsing and learning lines} and poor gross moto skills {those can be generally improved if you do a lot of acting I find, it's easier to know how to avoid things if you practise the same thing over and over all day, I'll bet half the outtakes would be Daniel bumping into stuff or forgetting lines {just like every other actor/actress ever known} if Warner thought it was funny to put onto DVD}.

I'm not really bothered because my Dyspraxia's always been termed 'mild' because I don't have very many gross motor problems and the coping strategies I learned when I was young masks pretty much everything else {aside form the stairs and escaltor stuff, that can get pretty embarassing after a while}. I'm failry suure the same thing's happening here, Daniel is using coping strategies that mask most of the problems we all face and, therefore, he can't have a serious problem. It happens all the time, sadly {half my old teachers refuse to believe I actually do have a learning difficulty because it was never a problem academically}. Unfortuntately all we can do is hope that we can shout louder than the 'experts' and get it into the public's head that Dyspraxia is a very real and problematic problem to have.

[Creative]

Don't botter writng to him anyone. I wanted to so I looked up his fanclub and if you write all you get is a signed photo. He doesn't have time to read the letters personally.

[david456]

Yes indeed. I read that in the newspaper today. It's good to know that famous people like Daniel will highlight the condition.

[Liz944]

Is that because you wrote to the fan club? Might be better if he was contacted via his agent or direct to theatre in NY where he is working....

[Creative]

Not sure how I would do that.

[michele]

It does make it easier for me to explain to people...instead of a long explanation now we can just say "yeah like the guy who plays Harry Potter". I'm jealous though wanted to be put in acting so bad as a kid, I do community theater now but its hard even to find time what with two jobs and all.

If nothing else it will get more people familar with the condition.

On the slightly humerous side it was because of this story on my local news that i remembered the British term for DCD and stumbled over here...that and I have been trying to polish my writing for an eventual attempt at publication (wish me luck without a beta reader <sigh>) by I'm slightly embarassed to say...writing Marauders era Harry Potter fanfiction. And the story is kinda the one I always promised myself I'd write...you know the uh hidden differences experiance in disguise. Wow lets just say i'm keeping half an eye on how the hp fanfiction writing community as well as the general population takes this news.

Who knows maybe it will be "trendy" to be dyspraxic soon...of course will they believe any of us then?

[gomababe]

[quote]Who knows maybe it will be "trendy" to be dyspraxic soon...of course will they believe any of us then?[/quote]

Um... no, we want to avoid this at all costs. Having Dyspraxia/DCD is not fun, it's not supposed to be. If to many people try to say they have it and don't, the whole thing will go the way of Asperger's Syndrome and AD{H}D to the general public {i.e. there are so many people using to to seek attention that the severity of the condition is severely compromised and noone will believe you when you tell them}.
Yes we want the public to be more aware of the condition, but we don't want them to think that it's just an excuse for laziness or anything. Some of us have had to put up with people saying that for far too long by now and to be honest, we're getting rather fed up of it .

Unfortunately, like all non-verbal learning difficultiies, finding out if someone does have Dyspraxia or not is not easy and the condition varies widely between people so even if a person shows poor gross motor skills, their short term memory might be phenomenal, or they might have difficulty with their handwriting, but are able to pass the block design test with ease. This is where the difficulty in finding the middle ground with the general public lies.

I'm glad that people are becoming more aware of Dyspraxia/DCd now, mainly thanks to the Celebrities who actually have the condition speaking about it, but we want to make sure that everyone knows that it's a genuine disability, not some sort of 'trend'' or 'fad' that's going to go away in the next two/three years.

[Charlotte]

I was really pleased to hear about this as it's not often dyspraxia receives much media attention, it is not as well known as conditions like dyslexia, ADHD and autism, all of which are mentioned quite frequently in the press. It's positive recognition as well as Harry Potter is such a well known and loved series.