Dyspraxia Activist: August 2015

Friday 28 August 2015

lets focus on the positives

this post has stemmed from something i saw on one of the Facebook dyspraxia support groups quite a while ago now which basically said that when we talk about dyspraxia we often say that we are bad at organisation, have bad co-ordination and we seem to focus on what we cant do or what we struggle to do if they're the right term to use

so i am going to focus on the positives for this blog
starting with something we know but don't really notice which is that we think in different ways to most other people and although it may not sound like a positive at first but it is because it means that we are more likely to come up with different ideas or different solutions to problems and these differing ways of doing things can give you an advantage over at lot of other people because it means that you could be an innovator, entrepreneur or even an inventor and you often see the creative fields of work being presented as an option for young people with dyspraxia which is because the traits i mentioned are suited more to creativity, not that you cant use any of them in any other fields especially the different ways of solving problems, also for the inventor type or creating new things you often see that inventor and entrepreneur have often failed first time round or at some point which sort of leads into my next positive/ advantage of dyspraxia

which is determination and it is something that is nearly always mentioned when talking about the positives of dyspraxia and rightly so as even when there are people or things that try and stop us we will always try our best at everything we do and personally i found especially during education that we still make sure we get things done even if we do not necessarily enjoy doing them and even better is that if we find something that we do enjoy and are passionate about it we never give up until we have completed it to the best of our abilities another thing that i personally find myself doing is always trying to prove people wrong when it comes to their expectations in such things like grades at school.

remember to always
-enjoy what you do
-work hard
-never give up
and it is ok to be different
DYSPRAXIA IS NOT A NEGATIVE ITS A POSITIVE
i am sure there are many more positive sides of dyspraxia (as ive only really talked about two) so please share them in the comments below and maybe in the future i will do a post including all of them
also if you would like to check out Rosie's blog on thinking differently here http://thinkoutsideofthecardboardbox.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/a-different-way-of-thinking.html

and as usual finishing with detail from the cycle challenge i did last month and the justgiving page will still be up for about another week https://www.justgiving.com/Eben-Fletcher/, and i should probably continue to mention all those companies that supported the challenge atleast for the next few posts

i hope i have not forgotten anyone

http://www.cyclesuk.com/ specifically there maidstone store providing me with disount on equipment etc and great customer service (also i believe the first company to support me)
Sheppey FM http://sheppeyfm.org.uk/ local radio station that helped publicise the ride
http://www.endurasport.com/ cycling clothing
http://www.jenwoods.co.uk/ a local printers in Swale,Kent
http://www.hlgraphics.co.uk/
and chek out these hotels, B&B's etc. if you are thinking of going on holiday in any of these area's
http://www.irondukebrighton.co.uk/ in brighton
http://www.swallowsrestselfcatering.co.uk/ in weymouth
http://www.torbaycourthotel.com/index.php in or very near Torquay
http://www.parkhotelpreston.co.uk/ in Preston
http://www.etruriatownhouse.com/ in Kilmarnock
http://www.thebridgehotelscunthorpe.co.uk/ in Scunthorpe
http://johnogroatsbnb.com/ in John O'Groats
http://www.the-beeches.co.uk/home in Bristol
http://www.dornochcastlehotel.com/contact/location/ in the Dornoch/ Bonar Bridge area
http://www.rezarefarmhouse.co.uk/ in Rezare, Launceston, Cornwall close to Tavistock
http://www.lionandpheasant.co.uk/ in Shrewsbury
http://www.thegeorgehotel.co.uk/ in Inverary, Scotland
http://www.scottishguesthouse.com/contact-pitlochry-guest-house.html in Pitlochry
http://www.albahillsguesthouseedinburgh.com/ in Edinburgh
http://www.trapinn.co.uk/newtrap/ in Alnwick
and finally in hitchin where the dyspraxia foundation are based http://chartridgevenues.com/hitchin-priory/
also thank you to the two universities that allowed and were going to allow me to use room in student accomodation http://www.solent.ac.uk/home.aspx (my old uni) and https://www.dur.ac.uk/ and i also forgot to mention ther place where we had our emergency stop which was the ivydene guesthouse http://www.bedbreakfastcornwall.com/west-cornwall/helston/ivydene-guest-house/ which was very nice

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Organisation

first off i'm sorry for not blogging as much as i said i was going to which also in a weird way makes it a good time for me to write about organisation and dyspraxia.

organisation seems to be one of the lesser known parts of dyspraxia amongst many others yet i feel can also be very frustrating as it is probably the most difficult part of dyspraxia to see but can cover a really large part of everyday life as even the simple tasks can be difficult such as making sure you have all of your equipment for school, college, university or even work which is something i forgot recently when i went to visit the dyspraxia foundation to discuss some future projects and had forgotten quite a few pieces of paper with information about these projects on them, some other really simple tasks where organisation can be important can be something like keeping where you live tidy (which is quite a big one for me) as i normally just let piles of rubbish or clothes build up and then will eventually clear it up.
for me that type of method seems to work with other things as well such as if i am ever re-organising some clothes, games, CD's or work i will normally do it all in one go such as when i was i started university i used to do all of my cleaning stuff on a Sunday and even things like notes from lectures i used to sort into different folders which probably makes it sound quite well organised yet i would still forget to do certain things or would lose something.
also as i am sure a lot of people will have seen and tried is to set out routine or plans similar to what I've just mentioned but sticking to those plans is alot harder than they first seem.

a very short post today as it was alot harder to write than i thought it was going to be as i seem to have forgotten everything about organisation so if you have any tips on keeping yourself organised leave them in the comments at the bottom of this post.

and before i forget to mention i have now reached the target of £1500 raised for the dyspraxia foundation from the cycle challenge i did last month and the justgiving page will still be up for about another week https://www.justgiving.com/Eben-Fletcher/, and i should probably continue to mention all those companies that supported the challenge atleast for the next few posts

i hope i have not forgotten anyone