Tag Archives: Neurodiverse

Week Off

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Hello again, 

This last week has been my week off. I don’t get a week off at Christmas because I have to work. So from last year I decided I would book a week off in January. It has been nice to relax, get stuff done and recharge. I also took the time this week to book  a week off in August for my Birthday. 

So I don’t feel like I have wasted my week off I have written down in my diary what I have done everyday. Even if it meant just writing ‘relaxed’. One thing I need to do more of is write down in my diary when I have a a day to just relax. Other things I have done this week have been to steam mop my floor, exciting I know. But it was on the to do list and now it has been done. Today I vacuumed the rugs….so clean and tidy. Gosh my life is exciting. Then there’s that pile of clothes which needed to be put away… it’s been put away. 

What else have I done? I joined two work meetings, which were very interesting. I know, dedicated. Even on my holiday. 

This week I have just taken it easy. I have taken some time away from my fundraising challenge as well. This is something I need to start up again. 

The nice thing about all of this has been I have had the chance to just listen to my audiobooks. I finished Steve Silberman’s NeuroTribes. This was a brilliant book, for anyone interested in Neurodiveristy I would recommend it. Something I will be looking to do in future is write more around Neurodiveristy.

After finishing this book I have started Face It by Debbie Harry. I love Blondie and it has been great to just sit and listen to her book. I remember once we had an own clothes day at school, I think I was in year 9 or 10 and I wore a Blondie t-shirt. None of the kids knew who Blondie were. I was quite offended by this to be honest. How can you not know? I am still disgusted even to this day… I loved that shirt it was brilliant. Makes mental note to buy new Blondie T-shirt. 

Another tick box for this week has been sending out some emails to just introduce myself to a newly published magazine- if you’re interested in learning more about Dyspraxia please sign up to Dyspraxia Mag. It’s important for us as Dyspraxics to talk about our Neurodiveristy and where we fit in amongst our Neurodiverse Cousins. 

The final tick box was emailing a journalist who wrote an article about their experience having a heart attack. I wanted to thank them for opening up about such an important topic which is very personal to myself. I don’t normally reach out and contact people, but this time I really felt the urge to contact them. 

Anyway, thats me. Until next time.

Dyspraxia

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Hello All, 

This week is Dyspraxia Awareness Week. When I started blogging, over ten years ago now, I started because I wanted to talk about Dyspraxia. Twitter allowed me to meet some people who were also Dyspraxic, which was brilliant. As time went on I started to blog more about Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia and then onto my visual impairment. 

For those of you who do not know Dyspraxia is a Developmental Co Ordination Disorder. It means I find movement and co ordination of movement very hard. I also find it difficult to co ordinate my thoughts so I can appear uncomfortable or not very confident. But I am. 

It took me until I was about nine years old to learn to ride a bike, I still struggle to tie my shoe laces. Buttons are a real difficulty. When shopping for clothes I have to make sure the buttons are doable. Doing everyday tasks when you have Dyspraxia is very hard. 

The best way I can describe it to you is this: imagine you’re just doing a normal thing, like making a list. 

Now say someone comes in and starts talking to you.

Then they start tapping you on the shoulder as well. 

Now someone else has come in and is also talking to you. 

They decide to start tapping away on the table. 

Then you get a phone call. 

Now one of those other two people has asked you to read them something. No reason. 

You have just remembered you are cold and want to put a jumper on so you start to do that. 

You’re on the phone, writing your list, trying to put your jumper on and those people are still talking and trying to get your attention while tapping away.  

It’s very hard to multitask. Being Dyspraxic is like multitasking all the time. You never get a break because everything takes so much effort and it is exhausting. 

Some things that can help those of us who are Dyspraxic are: 

Making a lists. 

Visual Reminders. 

Breaking information down into small chunks. 

Allow us extra time. 

When thinking about how you can help a person with Dyspraxia remember to be kind to them. Don’t over whelm them. When we get overwhelmed we become very stressed out. Help us to become better at organising our time. This can really make  difference to us. When we feel we are on top of things we are a lot more confident and can succeed. 

We may take a little longer at doing something, but thats OK because we have a very different mindset to everyone else. We are quite creative and you will see that is evident in our work. 

Don’t dismiss us because we appear to be all over the place. W jesuit struggle with organisation at times. But when we do get organised and sort out what needs doing and we plan. We are very efficient because we know what we’re doing when. 

Dyspraxia Awareness Week is every year 5-11th October. Celebrate our Differences and lets work to build a Dyspraxia Friendly World.