A Day in the Life with Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is a disorder that affects the messages to the brain, it also affects cognition, moment and communication. It can affect a young child or even an adult’s life.

I start my day by being rudely awakened by the morning light. For a “normal” person, they might just get slightly annoyed, but can easily get back to sleep or can happily go on with the day ahead. But for me, I can get very agitated and can get somewhat upset for a little while before settling for the day to come.

As my eyes still sting from the morning sun, I make my way through to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. As I put the teaspoon into the coffee, out of nowhere my hand begins to shake, it is as if my hand has a mind of its own, the granules go everywhere. This may sound totally minor, but for me, this happens almost all the time. My fine and gross motor skills are affected by my dyspraxia, or in simpler terms, I struggle with big and small movements. My hands continue to shake as I move my cup to the dining table where my breakfast sits waiting. My mum watches in amazement as for once, I don’t get my cereal almost everywhere apart from my mouth, I know that may sound bizarre, but most dyspraxic people are known for being very messy eaters.

It’s time for work, and I work in a care home, so movement and concentration are crucial, in dyspraxia, my balance, movement and coordination are affected. As I help a gentleman out of his chair, I manage to trip over my own feet, nearly falling on him in the process. As I go on later in my day, my nurse gave me some simple instructions for getting a fellow resident weighed. It took me a while to process the steps in my head. Even following instructions is difficult for me. In fact, my mother discovered I had dyspraxia when I was little when I couldn’t follow the teacher’s instructions, to the point where she just left me to do my own thing. Later on in the late afternoon/ early evening, a family member of a resident came in, asking me a lot of questions, of course when you’re nervous, you get all flustered but in my case the messages that are getting sent to my brain get all jumbled, it’s like all the person is saying, is total jargon and it doesn’t make any sense. As I try to speak to her through this situation, I begin to stutter, all of a sudden it’s like I have forgotten how to speak properly, it is common for dyspraxic people to have troubles with their speech and pronunciation. I genuinely love my work, it’s practically my life

As my shift finishes and my day comes to a close, I head back home. As I go up the stairs to get to my bedroom, my legs go to jelly again and I manage to trip up the stairs, luckily I managed to grab on to the bannister to save my fall. There was a time when I was in the town centre when I tripped at the top of the stone steps and once again managed to grab the bannister, but I was face down towards the bottom of the stairs. When I eventually got to my bedroom I had noticed that I had left the light on from the morning, again this is such a minor thing but for a dyspraxic person, this is a very regular and quite annoying thing to happen as often as it does. As I tuck myself away in bed, I begin to drift off, preparing myself for the next day ahead.

Having dyspraxia doesn’t make me any less of a "normal" person, yes I am clumsy, I can struggle with my speech and movement, but I wouldn’t change myself for the world. In fact, all these little quirks don’t make me different, it makes me unique. I am proud of who I am and the stories I can share.

Embrace your differences and your individuality, having this sort of thing makes you special (in a good way).