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...

I've had a tough few weeks. Just when I thought I had finally got my shit together a new wave of self-doubt flooded over me like a tsunami. I wonder if I will ever reach a stage where I feel like I actually work like something resembling a normal human being. This week I saw Ad Astra , an excellent sci-fi film starring Brad Pitt. In it his character says "I've been trained to compartmentalize. It seems to me that's how I approach my life." For some reason this quote stuck with me. I'm about a million miles away from his astronaut whose heart rate never goes above 80 beats per minute and I certainly haven't been trained to compartmentalise but I have begun to realise that when I'm working at my best that's exactly what I do. To compartmentalise means to divide your life into discrete sections. With practically no thinking I can neatly divide myself into three categories. This is the perfect opportunity to use an image from 'The Numskulls...

It's well recognized by psychologists that the older you become, the faster you perceive time passing. There are various explanations to why this is with the knowledge that from the age of 20 dopamine levels begin to drop being one. All I know is that I find it incredible to think that I began my time at university nine years ago. Like most other new students, I found the prospect of leaving home to go to uni both exciting and daunting. I think a lot of people put that down to the idea of having to look after yourself and do your own cooking, washing and cleaning. I think thought that the vast majority of people are more than ready by 18 to do that stuff. The thing that was most daunting for me was to be forced into a situation where you must make friends or face complete solitude for several years of your life. One weekend in September 2010 I was dropped off at my uni halls. My stuff was unloaded, goodbyes were said and my parents drove off leaving me along in an empty buil...

With no obvious topic coming to mind this week I thought I'd attempt something different: go for a walk and record my stream of thought. Right now I'm walking across the field near my house and realising it's quite chilly despite it being sunny. It's about 11 degrees which is really a sign that Autumn has arrived. The weather might be reasonable during the day but temperatures are dipping at night- the heating actually came on in my house last night and woke me up. Artist's Impression of the walk (OK, it wasn't that cold) I'm not sleeping very well since going back to work. It's due to my dyspraxic mind. My brain processes information slowly and come bedtime it's analyzing the day that's ending and planning for the one ahead. This is not conducive to falling asleep. I had started to develop the ability to reign it in but with my new job role starting this week I've suddenly got a lot to think about and my sleep is the first victim of th...

Shy: adjective- nervous or timid in the company of other people. It's a part of my personality that I really hate. I can write endless monologues online yet few people I know in real life have experienced me talking for any length of time. Shy Guy from Super Mario Dyspraxia can make conversations more difficult because my brain takes longer than most people to process what has been said. This means there can be awkwardly long gaps as my brain processes and then formulates a response. Regularly someone will say something to me and I'll laugh or say "yeah" and it takes me a good five minutes to realise what they were referring to and then realise my response was inadequate. Ultimately though, dyspraxia is not the cause of my shyness. I don't think anything is really the cause, it's just part of who I am. It takes me a while to become comfortable around new people and to come out of my shell. It's different with every person and for no tangible reason...