The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

In recent months, I've seen this blog bleed into the real world. Real life people have come up to me and commented on something I've written. I find it more than a little perplexing that people have any interest in my witterings. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to be given a compliment. Indeed, in the last week or so I've been complimented on all sorts of things. This is of course lovely but I never know how to respond to a compliment. I mean, obviously I should just say "thank you" yet somehow that rarely ends up happening and I end up just saying "yes". I worry this makes me come across as big-headed as if I think that said compliment is a given, when in actual fact I'm not saying thank you mainly because I'm so baffled by the concept of anyone thinking something that I'm doing is any good. If you are one of the complimenters, I apologise for my awkwardness and am profoundly grateful. It's not the first time my online l...

It's the final day of Dyspraxia Awareness Week and today I thought I'd talk about dyspraxia in a different way. It's very easy to consider the many ways dyspraxia negatively affects my life from clumsiness to awkwardness and manifold other ways. But dyspraxia doesn't just help to define the worst parts of who I am, it also contributes to the best bits. One recognised trait of dyspraxia is empathy, the ability to interpret and understand other people's emotions. I'm not always the best at actually dealing with them because I often lack the confidence to do so but I can sympathize and adapt my approach to people in a way many people struggle to do. I always think it's a really important quality to have when working in education too because understanding how pupils are feeling can have such a huge impact on student's learning. Working with children with autism adds another layer to this- many students struggle to communicate how they are feeling and so be...

Today marks the beginning of Dyspraxia Awareness Week and in honour of that I thought the best way I can spread awareness of dyspraxia is to share my own experience. To that end I've been noting down dyspraxia moments I've had over the last week, moments which people without dyspraxia don't generally have... Monday, 7AM I'm in the midst of a nasty cold, an occupational hazard when you work in a school. This causes issues for me because I've never really learnt how to effectively blow my nose. It's one of those things that you are told to do from a young age but no-one ever explains how  to do it. Obviously I understand the principle and I can manage to eject some phlegm from my nose but it's never very effective. It's really unpleasant when you're not feeling well and try as you might you can't blow your nose and have at least a few minutes relief. Monday, 2:30PM I'm in the school's swimming pool attempting to support the stud...