Dypraxia

As much as I try there are somethings I will just always be bad at, ice skating, short term memory, spatial awareness and reading out loud. For other people these are innate skills that take little or no thinking, but not me.

My name's Lois and I have dyspraxia.

I have always felt different and for most of my life I have had my diagnosis, however it's only been in recent years that I have fully accepted it. Dypraxia, also known as developmental co-ordination disorder, is a neurological disorder and specific learning difficulty affecting motor co-ordination. However, this is not all. Dyspraxia affects every aspect of my life.

They say that everyone's case of dyspraxia is different and I could not agree more. For me, I am an athlete and a straight A student, so from the outside people may not see how much I struggle on a daily basis, but here are my symptoms.

Firstly, spatial awareness. For me, I can play football with no problem, I can do handstands over and over again, but if you put a chair in front of me, the chances are i'll fall over it. It's not that I don't see it, I try to avoid it, but it just always ends up being in the way and somehow one of my limbs just bumps into it. The bruises and bumps are remains of all the door frames, table corners and people that I bump into everyday.

Hand-eye co-ordination is also a big thing for me, I love sport, I love using up all the left over energy. But if you give me a racket or make me use my hands i'm useless. To watch people do sports you know you'd love but just can't do it heartbreaking.

An overlooked symptom of dyspraxia is fatigue. The extra effort and energy needed to process the information we are given is forever making me tired. Can you imagine if you had to think over every little action, walking, writing or even just standing still? At the end of the day my brain crashes, often making me feel ill and disorientated,

For me one of the biggest difficulties associated with dyspraxia is sensory perception. I can't eat certain foods because they are cooked in a way that makes their texture weird, I cant wear certain clothes because they make my skin feel weird, and I like sitting in the dark. However, this also means I have an unusually high pain threshold!!

In the classroom I have many issues with short-term memory, concentration and organisation. Making exams a nightmare as i'm constantly distracted by other people's pen clicking and tapping. As well as the pressure of having to remember facts and vocab short term and having to recall on the spot in class. Although I've always been a good student the struggles of the class room always knocked my self esteem.

These are the main symptoms of my dyspraxia, however there are many more small things that are constantly challenging me. Such as, indecisiveness, low self esteem, anxiety and emotional outbursts.

Dyspraxia is often forgotten about in the world of specific learning disabilities, however we must raise awareness. I hope to write more about dyspraxia in the future as I become more open about it, in hope that soon i will live in a world where people don't say "don't you mean dyslexia?"