Dyspraxia/DCD It ain't rocket science.

Dyspraxia/DCD.....It ain't rocket science.

Having lived in a house governed by the different needs of those with dyspraxia/DCD for the past 30 years it seems to me that a lot of words, research and work goes into trying to unpick the differences displayed by this exceptional group of people.

Yet to me as someone who lives with and loves three different people with different degrees of the condition it seems that really all is needed is some desire to understand, and empathy.

Empathy = The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Dyspraxia, also known as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), is a common, lifelong disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults.

Motor co ordination = is the combination of body movements created with the kinematic (such as spatial direction) and kinetic (force) parameters that result in intended actions.

So the condition is all about movement and when we consider that term we think of the very obvious large movements we make that can be easily seen and monitored.

Movement  though is a very complex and necessary activity. Nash- Wortham describes it as

‘…a fundamental activity of life. It is perceived in liveliness of thinking, in fluctuations of feeling and human interaction and most obviously in the physical body.’

(Take Time, 1979, p.3)

So movement is not just about taking physical steps, moving our arms and legs, it is about breathing, speaking, doing, being. We are movement, and when something happens which affects movement it affects our very being, and sets us apart from others. That can be seen obviously in the case of a devastating accident resulting in paralysis, or conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, or Cerebral Palsy but it is also evident in a more subtle form in a condition such as dyspraxia/DCD…..it is about doing and being.

As Biggs says

It is the fight to produce readable handwriting and a good essay at the same time. It is the frustration that you feel when you’re trying to cross the road, but don’t dare to move because you can’t judge the speed of oncoming traffic. It is the chaos that whirls through your head when someone asks you to plan ahead. It colours every area of living.

(Biggs, V. 2005, p.16)

So dyspraxia may affect an individual's physical movement (the poorly co-ordinated, accident prone person with handwriting difficulties), his speech and language (difficulties in articulation, processing, volume control, listening and understanding), his thoughts (difficulty in planning, sequencing, and organising), his perception (the sense he makes of the world) and his vision (visual related learning difficulties).

When we begin to understand this, and explore it we learn that our bodies are extremely finely tuned organisms, each minutiae of which is dependent on the effortless fluidity of all other processes. When we are even a little ‘out of step’ it can have devastating consequences because all those details simply do not react as a fluid whole in a wonderful display of efficiency. We seem awkward, a little behind what has been said, a little confused by the mass of instruction and expectation in the very social world in which we live. We don’t keep pace, the world is less stable, and our reactions and responses are not ‘usual’.

Add to this the fact that many people with dyspraxia/DCD live with other coexisting conditions (such as dyslexia or ADHD) and it becomes so very evident that the world is harder to interpret and therefore anxiety provoking.

If people took the time to empathise, to consider life as lived by those with dyspraxia/DCD the world would be a kinder place all round.

To me it isn’t rocket science. It is about embracing the fact that people with dyspraxia/DCD (and other invisible disabilities) are in fact exceptional. They function day in and day out swimming against the tide of expectations.

As a result, they think more creatively, approach things with more tenacity, look at others with more forgiveness, and laugh at the very things that would make many of us cry.

Cut them some slack.

Dyspraxia/DCD is here to stay, embrace it, celebrate it, accept it and support those with it.

Ref

Biggs, V (2005) Caged in Chaos. A Dyspraxic Guide to Breaking Free. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Nash- Wortham, M (1979) Take Time The Robinson Press: England.

Dixon, G.  Dyspraxia the Foundations.  Available as an Amazon e book at https://www.amazon.co.uk/DYSPRAXIA-Foundations-Gill-Dixon-ebook/dp/B00TA4ZYUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485701918&sr=8-1&keywords=dyspraxia+The+foundations