Dyspraxic Adults

Hiya, I've just seen the new episode of Doctor Who, There is someone with dyspraxia on it!!!

So happy, i think its going to be great to have more awareness

Yes cricketman123 - please see this post - we might be able to help the awareness spreading!


http://www.dyspraxicadults.org.uk/forum ... f=6&t=6353

Just watched it now on iplayer. It’s the first time I’ve Watched Doctor Who in a while as I stopped watching after they killed off Clara Oswald. I don’t know why but I simply got bored with Capradi’s doctor.

I quite enjoyed the new one, she may be first female Doctor, but she was instantly recognisable as the charismatically manic, slightly chaotic but ultimately brilliant doctor we all known throughout its generations.

It’s kind of neat that they’ve chosen to portray a companion as dyspraxic. I hope they develop his character into something more than a chap who basically falls off a bike though. But at least they got the dogged frustrated, never give up determination of a dyspraxic well portrayed.

It's been really interesting how there's been a spate of articles relating to dyspraxia in the mainstream media this week; all because of Doctor Who. Interestingly, I recently applied for transport assistance from access to work and was given a rather flat (and frankly unsympathetic) 'no'. Yet, yesterday, without prompting the DWP got back to me and sent me a form to give to my GP to sign (if approved I can get transport assistance), First dyspraxic TV character, sudden unexpected reversal of a DWP decision, all in the same week; coincidence?

Absolutely amazing, thanks for telling us , please chive Dyspraxia Foundation a ring, they are collecting such reports.

saw the posting and followed Dr. Kirby however was unable to view any part of the episode. curious to know how the character had been portrayed.

I cannot help sorry, there are many references in various dyspraxia related Facebook Websites from the UK.

I think it was really great that the show went as far as they had to promote an introduction to dyspraxia, especially considering the nature of the show which is for entertainment, not education.

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but I've been a bit steamed about this for a while. I love the fact that they have a Dyspraxic person on the show, but I was pretty frustrated at how much they called attention to it. Unless my memory serves me wrong, they brought it up at least once (very obviously) in every episode of the season, which was totally unnecessary.


It might be because I am working so hard to become a recognised writer, but I found it to be bad writing, as well as mildly offensive. Yes, we do have a form of disability. Yes, we do need to inform people about it at times. We absolutely do not bring it up at every opportunity, nor does anyone else living with a disability of any kind.

I mean, they may as well have put a pin on his chest that said "I have Dyspraxia" to save time. They managed to be quite insensitive, while attempting to raise awareness and be sensitive - they basically tried way too hard, it it showed.

I sincerely hope that next year they do better.

Now, complaints out of the road - I'm actually very stoked that a show bothered to bring up Dyspraxia at all. So it's not all bad, I just wish they hadn't pointed it out so much.

Hi

If you have something to add, it's absolutely ok to resurrect an old thread. Thank you for doing so. In fact seeing as this week is Dyspraxia Awareness Week as well as the anniversary of that series beginning it is completely pertinent. From what I understand, the BBC contacted the Dyspraxia Foundation (DF) as someone in the production crew had a young relative and wanted to try to raise awareness by featuring a Dyspraxic character. I know little about script writing and agree it is not natural, but guess to raise awareness in a script you have to be explicit to ram it home to the public and I guess it is a drama. The risk of course is that some people then form the dangerous assumption that we're all like that. That is v much NOT the case. I think a lot of the trolls were more enraged that they now have a female Doctor (Heaven Forbid!)

I'm not an avid watcher and recall just a couple of scenes in as many episodes that I saw that featured Ryan. The one where he threw his bike off a cliff in frustration (I swear if I tried that, I'd probably end up throwing myself off too, so I just would not attempt that). The other scene I saw involved him climbing a ladder to get away from some monster? or something and it seemed v laboured. I hope they keep the character and develop him to show the positives we can bring, like out of the box thinking and empathy.

I mean, I understand the bike throwing a bit - I learned to ride with only minor hiccups, but I've been that frustrated tons of times, and I'd certainly have thrown a bike, consequences be damned. I think the scene was a bit poorly thought out though - the whole issue he had with ladders was that he didn't like heights and thought he'd fall... So why was he biking on a hill? I had some issues with high places, and I certainly wouldn't have been riding a bike by a hill, and I am fairly decent on a bike.

Still, the standout moments for me were:

1) That he was almost constantly afraid (I understand that, but come on, there's a limit.)
2) He was confronted with at least two (possibly more) ladders, which he had a significant problem with. I know older episodes must have had ladders, but it felt like they added more just to add tension.
3) He made some comment about videogames? I thought he said he was bad at them, then somehow was a crack shot with some alien gun (also, the Doctor haaaates guns, how was this a scene), and I feel like his transformation was a little too extreme, but I kinda let that slide because we all experience it differently.


I swear there are dozens more than this, but those ones really stuck with me. It's not inaccurate, not really, but it's not true to life either. A mixed bag, so to speak. I do hope the upcoming season addresses the issues well and smooths it all out.

I like the fact that this is a start with regard to awareness. It's just a show, so you can't expect too much with regard to detail, but it's a start

Well, yes and no. Its early days, so yes, my expectations are probably way too high. But awareness raising and inclusive scriptwriting isn't new, and a bit of solid research could have smoothed out some of the issues.

So I'm hoping that Doctor Who does a better job going forward so that the bar is raised if another show happens to portray Dyspraxia. But I do definitely understand the issues that caused them to write it the way they did.