Awareness

Through reading Caged in Chaos (I'm about a quarter of the way through at present), it's really brought home to me the benefits of being aware of Dyspraxia and what it entails at an early age. I can't recall when I was told about my diagnosis. If I was told during my school years I certainly didn't understand exactly what parts of my often awkward life were due to Dyspraxia and what weren't. Dyspraxia is something I've only really been getting to grips with recently, now I'm in my 20s.

As far as I know my Secondary School teachers weren't aware of my Dyspraxia. If they were, they certainly didn't appear to take into account any of the limitation or differences that Dyspraxia does inflict. PE classes, as with so many Dypraxics were a weekly dose of hell and torment. I couldn't lob a javalin more than about 3 feet in front of me. If I was able to throw, kick or hit anything capably, it was more out of sheer chance than any co-ordinated attempt. There's a great frustration in trying repeatly to achieve something in sports, but no matter how many times you practice, you just don't have the control to consistently pull it off.

Reading about other Dyspraxics' experiences at school is also making me realise - now - some 8 years after leaving school, that many of what I'd look back upon as my introvertedness, idiosyncracies or shortfalls are actually very typical Dyspraxic traits. In particular, being given instructions on how to complete some task or assignment, and being unable to fathom exactly what's needed. I can recall on numerous occasions asking the person I was sat next to what we need to do, or how the teacher wanted it doing. I thought it was it due to me not paying enough attention, or being daft, but now I realise it wasn't something peculiar to me, but part of that strange world of Dyspraxia. It's a learning process, and page by page I'm learning, albeit rather belatedly.