Interesting, I knew about the motor aspects but wasn’t aware that it extended so far into self care
Yeah. I’m all for inclusion but this just describes my kids. None of which have Dyspaxia. They’re just kids who are idiots and messy and self involved
I’m an adult and have dyspraxia, all it means is I have bad handwriting, struggle to kick a ball straight and can only tie one type of knot. But I’m not clumsy or unkempt at all and me heart certainly isn’t “bursting with love and affection”.
A tip for any kids with dyspraxia, when your walking or jogging try to picture the race line and follow it while avoiding anyone who’s in it, it will focus your mind and keep it from wandering and prevent any awkward collisions with wet floor signs.
I’m glad to see a post promoting Dyspraxia awareness, it’s just a shame that this image really doesn’t explain very well to the casual person what exactly Dyspraxia is. I already see several comments along the lines of “Is this just all kids?”
Dyspraxia is a condition in the same realm as ADHD but different, and it affects people of all ages. Sufferers have issues with body control/body mechanics and mental performance.
Dyspraxia can range from mild to severe so the symptoms look different in different people, but typically suffers will have some of following problems:
* clumsiness (sufferers are more prone to bumping into things, knocking things over, dropping items out of their hands)
* not being good at team sports
* having issues with precision (like using small items that require accuracy and patience such as a needle).
* Poor working memory (you ask a dyspraxic person to go get you 10 items and they come back with 6 items because they’ve forgotten 4 items you mentioned. It’s not that the person didn’t care about your 10 items, it’s that their short-term memory is very bad. )
* Being overwhelmed by complex tasks (A dyspraxic adult might find themselves completely unable to start writing a long college essay because the moment they try to start writing, their brain cannot cope with breaking the task down into 50 smaller items that the dyspraxic person has to consider all at once simultaneously)
* Fatigue; A dyspraxic person could be as hard-working, if not more hard-working, than their peers. However, they’re like cars with smaller fuel tanks. They can go 90mph if they need to, but they’re going to hit empty much faster than other cars and need to refuel. Dyspraxic people who regularly suffer from fatigue are often labelled “lazy” growing up or even as adults because they’ll need more breaks than “normal” people in order to complete a task. Or, another example could be a Dyspraxic adult that worked all day without issue, but the moment they get home they’ll have to go straight to bed because they’ll be completely exhausted.
* hyper fixation; A dyspraxic person will often avoid tasks they know they won’t be good at, but on the flip side, they often LOVE to keep working as long as they can on tasks they know they excel at. Example: A Dyspraxic college student loves their course and knows their topic inside out, and doesn’t get anxious about writing essays; that student might write for 16 hours, without significant breaks, until they hit a wall and need to go to sleep immediately because their energy has depleted. They were happy as a lamb for that 16 hours.
* Not super interested in their personal appearance; Following on from the last point; Dyspraxic people tend to like to work on one task for long periods rather than several tasks over a short period of time (because it’s easier for them to mentally manage). Personal grooming tends to be something Dyspraxic people don’t excel at because grooming is typically several small tasks that happen to go together. Typically (but not always), Dyspraxic men will often have messy hair compared to their peers while Dyspraxic women will not gravitate towards complex makeup.
* “Frigidity” Compared to the average person, a person with Dyspraxic will seem to need to be more constantly active. Whistling to themselves, playing with their hands, tapping their foot, bouncing around…this is one area where Dyspraxic people overlap with people with ADHD.
Dyspraxia is not an obvious condition, to either the suffers or the people around them. People can go their entire lives without realising they have Dyspraxia and yet suffer from all the things listed above. This can seriously affect their lives, and people who have no idea what Dyspraxia will often come up with labels to explain Dyspraxic behaviours. Dyspraxic people are often called “Lazy”, “Feckless”, “Forgetful” “Head-in-the-clouds” “Header”, “Eejit”, “Chancer” and a slew of other things as people try to conceptualise why Dyspraxic people do the things they do.
ALL of things I’ve listed above can be worked around with certain techniques. Things like poor working memory can be overcome by note-taking, things like fatigue can be countered by better scheduling. Once a person knows they have Dyspraxia, they can get help and learn techniques to overcome each issue they have.
A few famous people who suffer from Dyspraxia include
* Daniel Radcliffe
* Cara Delevingne
* Florence Welch
* Jamie Oliver
* Jack Kerouac
I don’t know if I had dyspraxia but I definitely had terrible motor control as a young kid, I was always falling over into the ground or off of stairs or into furniture lol and my hand writing was pretty terrible (still is) perhaps mild? Idk.
this is not the greatest descriptor coming from someone who has it. there’s definitely layers of this, but they’re more extreme. i wore velcro until i was 13 because i physically *couldn’t* tie my laces. not just because it was easier like most kids. i didn’t possess the fine motor skills to do it. also couldn’t zip up my coat till about 10. i still trip up walking all the time and people i walk beside constantly give out about me bumping into them without noticing haha.
then on the mental side it also lead to anger issues and chronic anxiety as a teenager because my brain was constantly physically overwhelmed trying to process school/work/emotions/life. i was the “dope” who could never remember books or homework or lost them constantly. it caused friction with teachers and classmates that i didn’t know how to deal with.
fortunately i got diagnosed and received counselling and am doing good now but the point is a lot of symptoms of things like dyspraxia, adhd, autism etc. are things considered “normal” but at such a level that they become a major inconvenience/issue in the persons life. r/dyspraxia is a great place to learn more.
This is just a list of things describing pretty much all kids
Literally my 9yo
I have dyspraxia and I had no clue about this. Glad to see this being mentioned
Surly the worst part is not being able to spell and its not even mentioned.
Edit : Woosh!
I’m an adult who can’t tie their shoe laces no matter how hard I try. I’ve spent hours practicing and just can’t do it and am so ashamed and embarassed by it.
Just added 2 and 2 together after googling this and realised that combined with other symptoms and general clumsiness might be this. Always chalked it down to me being mentally retarded or something which got me down.
I should probably get this checked.
Im Sure I have it meself but undiagnosed. Its a common comorbidity with ASD Dyscalculia and dyslexia … just saying
When I was 3 the doctors called it clumsy child syndrome 😂 I’m 42 now and burn myself every time I cook, my legs look like I have played football on gravel and my my teeth look like Shaun ryders old set. I love it ❤️❤️❤️
>Heart as big as the moon and full of love and affection
I really dislike sappy shit this when talking about disability and neurodivergence issues. It always seems kind of belittling to treat people like some sort of sad puppy just wanting to be loved despite their difference.
I only recently got my ADHD diagnosis (with 40 oO) and only recently I head also about dyspraxia.
Eg I was a super smart kid. Like super smart. Straight As (until it got to the point where you actually have to sit down and learn stuff…or listen very closely ..hello ADHD 🤦♀️). However, my primary school back in GDR also graded us on “Good Handwriting” and “Organized desk”. Guess where I didn’t get straight As. And guess what it does to a kid to constantly hear “you’re the brightest kid in class BUT your handwriting is shit / your desk is cluttered, and this will make you fail in life” (yes, that’s how it was communicated).
I always joke that I’m good in throwing, just really bad in hitting the target. 🤦♀️
I hated team sports with a passion because see above 🤷♀️ I did horse riding outside of school and was good. Weirdly enough I even was good in fencing which I also did outside of school. But in school I was told I SUCK in sports. So much and so often I stopped doing the sports I like because I thought people only compliment me because they pity me. I didn’t do sports for a long time and still, while having discovered some stuff I like, every time I misstep or can’t keep the count or whatever, those voices are back.
While I can do make up and dressing up, I feel like I play pretend. I need longer because I fuck it up more often than not, and then I feel like I still don’t fit because I never did.
And so on and so forth. Dyspraxia was not a thing in my childhood. Like with ADHD, I grew up in times where it was in media (!) handled like “just needs a firm hand” / it’s the parents fault / the kid is shit. My mom also has ADHD (undiagnosed but wowza are we similar 😅), she’s in her 60s and only now starts to realize that she was not a morally bad person for not having had a bleached down house or not being and never have been able to focus on things. She is also super smart and kind and if she weren’t my mom I’m sure we would have met somehow and become best friends. But she, even longer than I, lived with the feeling of being a failure and a disappointment.
Now one would think a diagnosis would help the environment understand.
However, from my experience (currently) people somehow expect that the diagnosis FIXES the issue. “So you do have ADHD? Good to know, then you know what you have to do to function normally”. That is not how it works. If you have a limp and get the diagnosis that your hip is fucked since birth, the limp will not disappear over night. “Oh, it’s the hip. Lemme quickly walk differently. Ah yeah”. If you have diabetes type 1, you will have diabetes type 1. No matter if you are perfect with your insulin regiment or not. It will always be there. 🤷♀️
So yeah, (typical ADHD 🤦♀️) long story short: feck 🤷♀️
I read it as dysphoria and was so confused
Wow, nice to see that we have an awareness week now.
It’s a fucking struggle, especially when your favourite hobbies tend to be the ones your dyspraxia inhibits you on.
Why can’t I just like something non-motor co-ordinated like reading, I have to like running, rugby and lifting iron.
It was so hard as a kid trying your best at rugby and going nowhere. My coach never supported me even though I tried so hard, much harder than the other kids. He just ignored me and left me on the bench or even worse, started me and took me off after 5 minutes, barely getting a chance to have a go..
He was the first person I sought out when I made the squad for a semi professional team in my last year playing rugby. All I wanted was to give him the biggest ” FUCK YOU”
I need therapy lol
It’s comforting to see that am not in the minority with it.
Dyspraxia is an incredibly difficult condition to have given it’s invisibility.
I’ve lost partners, friends and jobs over it and it sucks to lose good things over circumstances you have absolutely no control over.
It took 15 years to get a diagnosis such was the absolute sham of affairs that there was for learning disabilities in Ireland and am 30 now feeling like am playing catch up with all of my peers.
Learning to drive is a nightmare and still haven’t found the right instructor that gets it.
When it was mentioned to my previous instructor his response was: “Ah yeah sure look I’ve had folks in wheelchairs before”
There’s still a disgusting amount of ignorance and disrespect towards neurodivergence and learning disabilities out there in Ireland and it’s time to change the narrative.
anyone remember seeing cartoons where the main character couldn’t tie their shoes, but when they did learn how to do it, they never showed the viewer how to tie them? that really pissed me off as a kid. only learned how to tie them when i was about 11 or 12
Jesus this brings me back, except for the big heart part, I learned very early on that people are generally awful. I got diagnosed as being dyspraxic and dyslexic when I was about 8 and I was seen as useless and inferior all through school and I guess into later life. I’ve been fired from jobs, struggled with relationships, and just doing general day-to-day things my whole life
This is after bringing up a memory I had completely forgotten about, I started playing football in primary school, not because I was particularly interested in it but because all the other lads were playing it and I wanted to be included. I went to a few practices and eventually got told not to come anymore because I was so bad and I was getting in the way and annoying people by being there. Pretty much the story of my life of constantly being excluded
I had a cousin the same age as me with this growing up. I know people have already pointed out the annoying cutesy language used here (incredibly infantilising) but I’d like to give my two cents..
I honestly didn’t really like my cousin growing up he was unnecessarily rough, messy, clumsy and quick to get angry or upset. Kids in his school used to make fun of him and even make fun of me for being related to him when our paths would cross. My mom told me when he got diagnosed with dyspraxia but mom just explained it as “the thing that makes him clumsy and the reason he can only take the stairs one step at a time”. It kinda made it easier to get along (that and the fact that we were growing up anyway) as I knew he wasn’t doing any of these annoying habits on purpose and it wasn’t really his fault. By the time we were 12 we were quite close and I was his biggest defender. When people would complain about him or make comments about me being his cousin I would quickly shut them down by focusing on his caring nature. I’d never disclose his diagnosis but just try to get people to question what their issue was with him at the end of the day it was just the fact he was a little different and it was easily observed and easy to make fun of.
I didn’t fully understand the impacts his condition had until I was in college studying occupational therapy. Learning about developmental coordination disorder and the related issues made me fully understand my cousin’s struggles growing up (and made me feel like a dick for being so annoyed with him growing up). Children with DCD are often picked on as it’s easy to spot their shortcomings, this along with frustrations caused by failing to complete “simple” tasks can lead to a lot of emotional regulation issues which can come out in bursts of anger or sadness. There are things you can do to improve their day to day, modifying tasks that require complex sequencing or movements, using modified tools or clothing items or (the trickier one) changing their environment physically setting them up for success OR socially by instilling their peers with understanding and acceptance (AGAIN very difficult to do).
My cousin is still absolutely horrendous at sports to this day but he dutifully follows anything that involves a ball and he’s the first one at Junior B training even if he wouldn’t make the starting team. He has built a close friendship group from the GAA and even if they teased him when he was younger it’s nice to see that they, like me, eventually grew up and learned to appreciate him for what he is good at: always seeing the best in people and commitment to things he is passionate about 🙂
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of awareness campaigns with no action.
I have adhd, there’s a waiting list of multiple years before you can be assessed in the public system. In the private one, it costs €650+ and it also has a months long waiting list. Any further appointments to adjust meds is another 180.
For autistim assessment, it’s near 2000 euros, also only available privately with months to wait.
I literally have adhd friends who I suggested to just buy the drugs of the black market instead of going through the process I did. It’s just easier and cheaper.
So fuck awareness.
This image is fucking atrocious, it literally reads like there is supposed to be some punchline
Have it myself had to use a laptop in school because of my terrible handwriting
I have dyspraxia and didn’t know it had an awareness week lol. The only thing it doesn’t include is the absolute depression that comes with it. The whole “brilliant mind” and stuff like that are things you are told growing up but literally, nothing you do actually reflects that so it just makes you feel worse. Also to add is not all of these effects leave in adulthood.
Seems very loaded w assumptions instead of actual, medical info.
This is some real “inspiration porn” disabilities shit. I get the intentions might be good, but this does a disservice to the actual people that have this condition. Of course a bunch of people who know nothing bc about it will upvote because a post like this is only meant to serve the poster. Enjoy your fake internet points, mate!
Thankfully understanding is growing the whole time about all of these things.
So grim that kids with stuff going on were routinely treated like crap before.
31 comments
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Sounds like me when I was a kid.
Almost to the letter.
Scary.
Oh, so it’s my son… Good to know!
Interesting, I knew about the motor aspects but wasn’t aware that it extended so far into self care
Yeah. I’m all for inclusion but this just describes my kids. None of which have Dyspaxia. They’re just kids who are idiots and messy and self involved
I’m an adult and have dyspraxia, all it means is I have bad handwriting, struggle to kick a ball straight and can only tie one type of knot. But I’m not clumsy or unkempt at all and me heart certainly isn’t “bursting with love and affection”.
A tip for any kids with dyspraxia, when your walking or jogging try to picture the race line and follow it while avoiding anyone who’s in it, it will focus your mind and keep it from wandering and prevent any awkward collisions with wet floor signs.
I’m glad to see a post promoting Dyspraxia awareness, it’s just a shame that this image really doesn’t explain very well to the casual person what exactly Dyspraxia is. I already see several comments along the lines of “Is this just all kids?”
Dyspraxia is a condition in the same realm as ADHD but different, and it affects people of all ages. Sufferers have issues with body control/body mechanics and mental performance.
Dyspraxia can range from mild to severe so the symptoms look different in different people, but typically suffers will have some of following problems:
* clumsiness (sufferers are more prone to bumping into things, knocking things over, dropping items out of their hands)
* not being good at team sports
* having issues with precision (like using small items that require accuracy and patience such as a needle).
* Poor working memory (you ask a dyspraxic person to go get you 10 items and they come back with 6 items because they’ve forgotten 4 items you mentioned. It’s not that the person didn’t care about your 10 items, it’s that their short-term memory is very bad. )
* Being overwhelmed by complex tasks (A dyspraxic adult might find themselves completely unable to start writing a long college essay because the moment they try to start writing, their brain cannot cope with breaking the task down into 50 smaller items that the dyspraxic person has to consider all at once simultaneously)
* Fatigue; A dyspraxic person could be as hard-working, if not more hard-working, than their peers. However, they’re like cars with smaller fuel tanks. They can go 90mph if they need to, but they’re going to hit empty much faster than other cars and need to refuel. Dyspraxic people who regularly suffer from fatigue are often labelled “lazy” growing up or even as adults because they’ll need more breaks than “normal” people in order to complete a task. Or, another example could be a Dyspraxic adult that worked all day without issue, but the moment they get home they’ll have to go straight to bed because they’ll be completely exhausted.
* hyper fixation; A dyspraxic person will often avoid tasks they know they won’t be good at, but on the flip side, they often LOVE to keep working as long as they can on tasks they know they excel at. Example: A Dyspraxic college student loves their course and knows their topic inside out, and doesn’t get anxious about writing essays; that student might write for 16 hours, without significant breaks, until they hit a wall and need to go to sleep immediately because their energy has depleted. They were happy as a lamb for that 16 hours.
* Not super interested in their personal appearance; Following on from the last point; Dyspraxic people tend to like to work on one task for long periods rather than several tasks over a short period of time (because it’s easier for them to mentally manage). Personal grooming tends to be something Dyspraxic people don’t excel at because grooming is typically several small tasks that happen to go together. Typically (but not always), Dyspraxic men will often have messy hair compared to their peers while Dyspraxic women will not gravitate towards complex makeup.
* “Frigidity” Compared to the average person, a person with Dyspraxic will seem to need to be more constantly active. Whistling to themselves, playing with their hands, tapping their foot, bouncing around…this is one area where Dyspraxic people overlap with people with ADHD.
Dyspraxia is not an obvious condition, to either the suffers or the people around them. People can go their entire lives without realising they have Dyspraxia and yet suffer from all the things listed above. This can seriously affect their lives, and people who have no idea what Dyspraxia will often come up with labels to explain Dyspraxic behaviours. Dyspraxic people are often called “Lazy”, “Feckless”, “Forgetful” “Head-in-the-clouds” “Header”, “Eejit”, “Chancer” and a slew of other things as people try to conceptualise why Dyspraxic people do the things they do.
ALL of things I’ve listed above can be worked around with certain techniques. Things like poor working memory can be overcome by note-taking, things like fatigue can be countered by better scheduling. Once a person knows they have Dyspraxia, they can get help and learn techniques to overcome each issue they have.
A few famous people who suffer from Dyspraxia include
* Daniel Radcliffe
* Cara Delevingne
* Florence Welch
* Jamie Oliver
* Jack Kerouac
I don’t know if I had dyspraxia but I definitely had terrible motor control as a young kid, I was always falling over into the ground or off of stairs or into furniture lol and my hand writing was pretty terrible (still is) perhaps mild? Idk.
this is not the greatest descriptor coming from someone who has it. there’s definitely layers of this, but they’re more extreme. i wore velcro until i was 13 because i physically *couldn’t* tie my laces. not just because it was easier like most kids. i didn’t possess the fine motor skills to do it. also couldn’t zip up my coat till about 10. i still trip up walking all the time and people i walk beside constantly give out about me bumping into them without noticing haha.
then on the mental side it also lead to anger issues and chronic anxiety as a teenager because my brain was constantly physically overwhelmed trying to process school/work/emotions/life. i was the “dope” who could never remember books or homework or lost them constantly. it caused friction with teachers and classmates that i didn’t know how to deal with.
fortunately i got diagnosed and received counselling and am doing good now but the point is a lot of symptoms of things like dyspraxia, adhd, autism etc. are things considered “normal” but at such a level that they become a major inconvenience/issue in the persons life. r/dyspraxia is a great place to learn more.
This is just a list of things describing pretty much all kids
Literally my 9yo
I have dyspraxia and I had no clue about this. Glad to see this being mentioned
Surly the worst part is not being able to spell and its not even mentioned.
Edit : Woosh!
I’m an adult who can’t tie their shoe laces no matter how hard I try. I’ve spent hours practicing and just can’t do it and am so ashamed and embarassed by it.
Just added 2 and 2 together after googling this and realised that combined with other symptoms and general clumsiness might be this. Always chalked it down to me being mentally retarded or something which got me down.
I should probably get this checked.
Im Sure I have it meself but undiagnosed. Its a common comorbidity with ASD Dyscalculia and dyslexia … just saying
When I was 3 the doctors called it clumsy child syndrome 😂 I’m 42 now and burn myself every time I cook, my legs look like I have played football on gravel and my my teeth look like Shaun ryders old set. I love it ❤️❤️❤️
>Heart as big as the moon and full of love and affection
I really dislike sappy shit this when talking about disability and neurodivergence issues. It always seems kind of belittling to treat people like some sort of sad puppy just wanting to be loved despite their difference.
I only recently got my ADHD diagnosis (with 40 oO) and only recently I head also about dyspraxia.
Eg I was a super smart kid. Like super smart. Straight As (until it got to the point where you actually have to sit down and learn stuff…or listen very closely ..hello ADHD 🤦♀️). However, my primary school back in GDR also graded us on “Good Handwriting” and “Organized desk”. Guess where I didn’t get straight As. And guess what it does to a kid to constantly hear “you’re the brightest kid in class BUT your handwriting is shit / your desk is cluttered, and this will make you fail in life” (yes, that’s how it was communicated).
I always joke that I’m good in throwing, just really bad in hitting the target. 🤦♀️
I hated team sports with a passion because see above 🤷♀️ I did horse riding outside of school and was good. Weirdly enough I even was good in fencing which I also did outside of school. But in school I was told I SUCK in sports. So much and so often I stopped doing the sports I like because I thought people only compliment me because they pity me. I didn’t do sports for a long time and still, while having discovered some stuff I like, every time I misstep or can’t keep the count or whatever, those voices are back.
While I can do make up and dressing up, I feel like I play pretend. I need longer because I fuck it up more often than not, and then I feel like I still don’t fit because I never did.
And so on and so forth. Dyspraxia was not a thing in my childhood. Like with ADHD, I grew up in times where it was in media (!) handled like “just needs a firm hand” / it’s the parents fault / the kid is shit. My mom also has ADHD (undiagnosed but wowza are we similar 😅), she’s in her 60s and only now starts to realize that she was not a morally bad person for not having had a bleached down house or not being and never have been able to focus on things. She is also super smart and kind and if she weren’t my mom I’m sure we would have met somehow and become best friends. But she, even longer than I, lived with the feeling of being a failure and a disappointment.
Now one would think a diagnosis would help the environment understand.
However, from my experience (currently) people somehow expect that the diagnosis FIXES the issue. “So you do have ADHD? Good to know, then you know what you have to do to function normally”. That is not how it works. If you have a limp and get the diagnosis that your hip is fucked since birth, the limp will not disappear over night. “Oh, it’s the hip. Lemme quickly walk differently. Ah yeah”. If you have diabetes type 1, you will have diabetes type 1. No matter if you are perfect with your insulin regiment or not. It will always be there. 🤷♀️
So yeah, (typical ADHD 🤦♀️) long story short: feck 🤷♀️
I read it as dysphoria and was so confused
Wow, nice to see that we have an awareness week now.
It’s a fucking struggle, especially when your favourite hobbies tend to be the ones your dyspraxia inhibits you on.
Why can’t I just like something non-motor co-ordinated like reading, I have to like running, rugby and lifting iron.
It was so hard as a kid trying your best at rugby and going nowhere. My coach never supported me even though I tried so hard, much harder than the other kids. He just ignored me and left me on the bench or even worse, started me and took me off after 5 minutes, barely getting a chance to have a go..
He was the first person I sought out when I made the squad for a semi professional team in my last year playing rugby. All I wanted was to give him the biggest ” FUCK YOU”
I need therapy lol
It’s comforting to see that am not in the minority with it.
Dyspraxia is an incredibly difficult condition to have given it’s invisibility.
I’ve lost partners, friends and jobs over it and it sucks to lose good things over circumstances you have absolutely no control over.
It took 15 years to get a diagnosis such was the absolute sham of affairs that there was for learning disabilities in Ireland and am 30 now feeling like am playing catch up with all of my peers.
Learning to drive is a nightmare and still haven’t found the right instructor that gets it.
When it was mentioned to my previous instructor his response was: “Ah yeah sure look I’ve had folks in wheelchairs before”
There’s still a disgusting amount of ignorance and disrespect towards neurodivergence and learning disabilities out there in Ireland and it’s time to change the narrative.
anyone remember seeing cartoons where the main character couldn’t tie their shoes, but when they did learn how to do it, they never showed the viewer how to tie them? that really pissed me off as a kid. only learned how to tie them when i was about 11 or 12
Jesus this brings me back, except for the big heart part, I learned very early on that people are generally awful. I got diagnosed as being dyspraxic and dyslexic when I was about 8 and I was seen as useless and inferior all through school and I guess into later life. I’ve been fired from jobs, struggled with relationships, and just doing general day-to-day things my whole life
This is after bringing up a memory I had completely forgotten about, I started playing football in primary school, not because I was particularly interested in it but because all the other lads were playing it and I wanted to be included. I went to a few practices and eventually got told not to come anymore because I was so bad and I was getting in the way and annoying people by being there. Pretty much the story of my life of constantly being excluded
I had a cousin the same age as me with this growing up. I know people have already pointed out the annoying cutesy language used here (incredibly infantilising) but I’d like to give my two cents..
I honestly didn’t really like my cousin growing up he was unnecessarily rough, messy, clumsy and quick to get angry or upset. Kids in his school used to make fun of him and even make fun of me for being related to him when our paths would cross. My mom told me when he got diagnosed with dyspraxia but mom just explained it as “the thing that makes him clumsy and the reason he can only take the stairs one step at a time”. It kinda made it easier to get along (that and the fact that we were growing up anyway) as I knew he wasn’t doing any of these annoying habits on purpose and it wasn’t really his fault. By the time we were 12 we were quite close and I was his biggest defender. When people would complain about him or make comments about me being his cousin I would quickly shut them down by focusing on his caring nature. I’d never disclose his diagnosis but just try to get people to question what their issue was with him at the end of the day it was just the fact he was a little different and it was easily observed and easy to make fun of.
I didn’t fully understand the impacts his condition had until I was in college studying occupational therapy. Learning about developmental coordination disorder and the related issues made me fully understand my cousin’s struggles growing up (and made me feel like a dick for being so annoyed with him growing up). Children with DCD are often picked on as it’s easy to spot their shortcomings, this along with frustrations caused by failing to complete “simple” tasks can lead to a lot of emotional regulation issues which can come out in bursts of anger or sadness. There are things you can do to improve their day to day, modifying tasks that require complex sequencing or movements, using modified tools or clothing items or (the trickier one) changing their environment physically setting them up for success OR socially by instilling their peers with understanding and acceptance (AGAIN very difficult to do).
My cousin is still absolutely horrendous at sports to this day but he dutifully follows anything that involves a ball and he’s the first one at Junior B training even if he wouldn’t make the starting team. He has built a close friendship group from the GAA and even if they teased him when he was younger it’s nice to see that they, like me, eventually grew up and learned to appreciate him for what he is good at: always seeing the best in people and commitment to things he is passionate about 🙂
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of awareness campaigns with no action.
I have adhd, there’s a waiting list of multiple years before you can be assessed in the public system. In the private one, it costs €650+ and it also has a months long waiting list. Any further appointments to adjust meds is another 180.
For autistim assessment, it’s near 2000 euros, also only available privately with months to wait.
I literally have adhd friends who I suggested to just buy the drugs of the black market instead of going through the process I did. It’s just easier and cheaper.
So fuck awareness.
This image is fucking atrocious, it literally reads like there is supposed to be some punchline
Have it myself had to use a laptop in school because of my terrible handwriting
I have dyspraxia and didn’t know it had an awareness week lol. The only thing it doesn’t include is the absolute depression that comes with it. The whole “brilliant mind” and stuff like that are things you are told growing up but literally, nothing you do actually reflects that so it just makes you feel worse. Also to add is not all of these effects leave in adulthood.
Seems very loaded w assumptions instead of actual, medical info.
This is some real “inspiration porn” disabilities shit. I get the intentions might be good, but this does a disservice to the actual people that have this condition. Of course a bunch of people who know nothing bc about it will upvote because a post like this is only meant to serve the poster. Enjoy your fake internet points, mate!
Thankfully understanding is growing the whole time about all of these things.
So grim that kids with stuff going on were routinely treated like crap before.