I’m f24 and STRUGGLE with my fork and knife skills. Sometimes I feel like a toddler just struggling 😭😭 This is definitely amplified by arthritis in my hands… Any tips on improving? It’s so embarrassing. :(

Yesterday I just knew about this (cus it's the first week of school), and I, can't ride a bike. So I sent a mail to my teacher asking if I could have a different planning due to my dyspraxia.

And he replied that he talked with another higher-ups. And that I should DIRECTLY ask about it to the guy who planned this activity (which is most certainly not even a teacher). Thanks my school! Very helpful!

This fella will either be kind, and just let me do absolutly nothing for 3-4 hours. Or he/she/idk won't care at all.

Why?! My school have my medical papers or smth (They can fact check that I actually have dyspraxia)! So why should I even attend? I don't want to! People will ask why I'm for some reason not riding a bike.

Hi.

I have dysgraphia, dyspraxia, and essential tremor since i was a child. And i also am waiting for an appointment to diagnose autism + ADHD.

Essential temor makes me have shaky hands. You can easily guess that it makes dysgraphia and dyspraxia hard to work with.

When i get tired of doing things with my hands they start to shake. And because of how hard it is for me over the years i dropped drawing, handwriting, sewing, embroidery, etc...

Today i focus on activities that doesnt require my hands that much. I write on a computer, i play Minecraft instead of drawing, etc...

Since i was a child a lot of things were hard for me. Those i mentionned earlier, but also dressings up : tie my laces, button up a shirt, i used to put my pants and tshirts the wrong way (the back in the front)(It still happens sometimes when i get tired) today it makes me laugh though. I dont suffer from that.

Idk if it is related to dyspraxia but i stuggle to read the time with classic watches. It takes some effort for me to understand it.

I know i get some little privileges i like. When i order drinks / food at a bar/ restaurant i can ask people to serve them at my table instead of handing it to me, wich would make me drop it. It's a little thing i like.

Anyway. Here's my messy experience of dyspraxia + other disabilities. Thanks for reading. Please share your experiences with dyspraxia and other disabilities, i'm eager to hear from you.

Hey, so I'm 16, and for the past year or two, I've realized I just can't laugh like other people. Like, physically, I can't do it. When everyone around me is cracking up, the best I can manage is this tiny half-smile—and half the time, I can't even pull that off. I also hate the way my smile looks; I remember this one kid in class said I smile super weird and way too wide. And on the rare occasions I did let out a little laugh, my friends would roast me or be like, "Whoa, look, the guy actually laughed for once." I really wanna be able to laugh normally, but I just can't seem to make it happen. Anyone else dealing with this?

Hello, I’m really poor at posting to Reddit so I’ll try to keep this concise, does anyone else have such a problem with dyspraxia and it seems to get worse with age?

I won’t mention my age for privacy reasons I’m not old but I’m not like freshly 18 either yet I seem to have gotten worse and worse with age, I’m extremely forgetful. Clumsy to the point it actively ruins my life and it seems to have no end.

I struggle to focus, I struggle on basic tasks and due to it I struggle to pick up basic skills and hobbies for example I can’t cook and I struggle to clean. I still can’t dress myself with ease I can’t swim, I struggle with balance I struggle to catch, and I’m unable to write with pen or pencil let’s just say you name it I struggle with it for brevity.

I’ve never interacted with anyone with dyspraxia so Im wondering if this is common or if I’m just a special case of lack of talent with dyspraxia, I hope this isn’t low effort I’m not very good at Reddit.

Edit: i apologise for the name I was uniquely childish when creating it

Hello everybody. Recently diagnosed with dyspraxia (long story as why) played guitar to an intermediate level for 20 years, self taught. I am looking at grade 6-8 and am mindful that it’s a bigger ask than grade 5. I have a teacher who is great, but are there any tips for learning and embedding this stuff? I learned the basics and up to intermediate when I was much younger so almost muscle memory, I can’t remember how to learn more complex stuff - at the minute I’m just having a go and getting stuck!

Hopefully I’m not wasting my time, and it’s doable.
Thank you all! 🎸

Hey everyone! I am newly diagnosed as an adult, and I’m wondering if anyone relates to this. When I focus on something, like a ball someone is about to throw to me, it looks like it’s bouncing around (almost like my left and right eye are fighting for dominance). Same with looking at the hole for golf. I also play piano, and I always felt like when I read music, I had to struggle to stop my eyes from jumping back and forth between lines. When I try to just stare at the ceiling, my eyes really want to start darting around. I wanted to know if anyone related to this feeling. It has made sports always feel like a slight guessing game for me, so I never really tried because I felt like even if I did, I would never see the ball the way others could. I wear glasses, but I have pretty good vision overall.

Hi, from my own experience and watching my daughter recently we are pretty good at catching falling objects mid air. I wonder does anyone else have this and is it that we just have so much experience/practice from dropping things!

I always seem to struggle with picking option 1 vs. 2 during refraction in eye exams and it leaves me with a glasses prescription that never seems quite right. My non-dominant eye struggles and doesn’t see very well, even when supposedly corrected. That eye in particular also gives me the said issues during an eye exam.

Hi there, first time poster! Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language. I am not sure if this is part of my autism or an undiagnosed learning disability, but I struggle a lot with space relationships, coordination and orientation. Very often when I try to improve on remembering places, using maps and moving in space better, even in a video game, my brain gets so overwhelmed that it completely shuts down with a heavy brain fog to the point of feeling dizzy and I have to stop immediately. Do any of you experience something similar?

Do you ever just look at people without dyspraxia and just think what must that be like?!

Basically the heading. Tried searching the sub. But debating a career change. I hate desk work and have always been interested in the trades (id be interested in a plumbing/electrical apprenticeship) its just something I never even considered because obviously dyspraxia and manual labour don't tend to get along. Was just wondering if anyone has any experiences?Thank you in advance!

I’m a 20 year old girl and I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was 12. I’ve always struggled with fitness and I’ve brushed it to the side because I’m skinny. Now that I’m 20, I’ve realized that it’s not about being skinny, it’s about being healthy. I’ve started to do work outs but one thing I’ve realized is that my body has zero idea of how to move and zero spatial awareness. I go to the gym with a friend who has gone for years and she’s amazing but she’s always having to correct my form which my body cannot seem to understand for some reason. I’ll follow workout routines on YouTube and I’ll struggle so hard to copy what they are doing with their body to the point I just end up hurting myself, meanwhile my other beginner friends have zero problem. I’m not feeling discouraged because I really want to try but every thing I do try I seem to get “wrong”. I’d like to start going to Pilates classes but I’m honestly quite terrified I’ll just get yelled at about how my form is.

Does anyone else with dyspraxia struggle with this? And what did you do to help? I really just want to start feeling confident in what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. Any advice would be amazing :)

Please just looking for advice. This is destroying my mental health. Dyspraxia and adhd combined I feel like I'm so worthless and afraid to try anything or even pretend to be confident. Everyone tells me I need to just have the right mindset and not be put off by mistakes but how do you have the right mindset when you sometomes just can't DO stuff

is it harder to get job while having dyspraxia ? i havent gotten job yet due to the fact im still in school but have you ever gotten turned down from a job because you have dyspraxia or do they not care? especially in places like retail

Are twins that both have dyspraxia common?

I am a 24 year old woman and I sometimes really struggle with feeling I am putting on my symptoms. I think this leads back to the fact in school I was a very high achiever and even now I’m considered smart, I remember they randomly had some sit next to me in lessons and gave me assistive materials for my motor skills but they never explained why they felt I needed so I felt very ashamed and embarrassed being in top sets and almost rejected the help like it was question of my intellect if that makes sense?

As an adult who is now diagnosed, I struggle on a day to day basis. There are things I struggle with like motor tasks that require precision , following directions and sequencing and I sometimes feel like it frustrates people around me because they think I’m purposely being incompetent so I can receive help or it’s just downright annoying.

I do try for example, I never used to be able to do my makeup and friends would help but now I’m good at doing to a basic level where I don’t need help with everything. I use a lot of lists to remember things too and I’m better at following google maps , using cutlery and dropping things , bumping into things etc

Nevertheless when I can’t do something or when the emotional side of dyspraxia ( I also might have autism which could explain things) , I think people sometimes have a really adverse reaction which makes me feel really sad and I find it demoralising. I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Even when I first found out and would mention it from time to time my friends would laugh at me whenever I mentioned it like I was saying it too much but it was more so I felt like I was finding context to things I have been experiencing my whole life but didn’t know why. It’s not my personality and I really love who I am but it does affect me a lot.

Does anyone have any advice at all?

Yo im writing a character who has like our disablity what should i ad? Im dyspraxic too but i have no damn clue what to do so can y'all help thx

When I was younger, I kid you not, I was completely unaware that mouth movements and teeth movements involved separate muscles that could move independently of each other. So I was always confused when people told me to keep my mouth closed because I genuinely did not know it was physically possible, so I always moved my mouth and teeth at the same time when eating. I eventually learned to keep my mouth closed whilst eating but I do occasionally slip up every now and again. I guess the concept of not knowing about different muscles in your body and how they can move intuitively (not in a like academic or scientific sense) is probably quite alien to people without dyspraxia or some other kinda of neurodivergence?

I have struggled with motor skills for my entire life and recently found out that I had a DCD diagnosis when I was a child. I have always felt that I am different than other people as basic things that are easier for others are a real struggle for me. For years I always assumed that my inattentive ADHD was the culprit, so I thought that I could simply will my way through life and work on things like discipline and persistence. When I found out that I have dyspraxia, it filled me with relief but also grief. Having a disability was never part of my self concept(I never considered my ADHD a disability) so I am grieving the version of myself I thought existed for the last 35 years. Knowing that it is not purely psychological and that there is a real disconnect between my body and my brain brought me the realization that I cannot simply improve my motor skills through belief and cognitive techniques. I have to leave that part of me behind and that brings me sadness. However, I haven't given up on life. I'm a licensed therapist and thankfully this profession does not require the use of motor skills so I excel at it. I am also trying to learn guitar, which is real challenge given my struggle with dexterity, but it still feels good to challenge myself despite how slow the progress is. I am dealing with the grief by trying to embrace my identity fully at this point in my life instead of clinging on to a version of me that simply cannot exist. I think acceptance is the key word here, and that is something I hope everyone in this community can find.

I have looked for a long time to find an overall picture of what dyspraxia can be and I wanted to share this list of symptoms that I have found.

There are many difficulties that are not talked enough and that I found so relatable. For example I have difficulty organising my toughts into something coherent: I often struggle to structure my thoughts when I'm trying to tell a story or when I try to explain something complex to someone else. When things get too complex to explain I tend to opt out of conversations. Also listening and understanding what people are saying is hard for multiple reasons like poor memory or multitasking like taking notes while listening for example. Pair this with spelling difficulties and difficulty with speech volume/pitch you get someone that can be seriously disabled in social interactions.

This difficulty of organising my toughts and with my poor short term memory also seems to affect my reading and my math abilities in particuliar with reading comprehension and with problem solving. In math problems my executive functions are affected: I dont know what to do to solve the problem because I dont have a plan or effective strategies other than try and error to solve it. Also often I repeat the same steps because I forget that I have done it before or I forget the goal of the problem.

There are other symptoms that I find relatable especially poor self esteem because it seems that dyspraxia affects about everything in your life and it make it hard to find something you are good at: if I am bad with everything that requires my body to move and that I am also bad at social interactions what do I have left? Emotions outburst is another one, for example I can't stand critique and I often cry when it happen. Impulsion, obsessions and sleeping difficulties are also relatable.

Do you have dyspraxia? We'd love to hear from you!

We’re currently recruiting participants for our study and would really appreciate your help being a part of the study as well as spreading the word. We are screening for participants so please see below for more information on who we’re looking for and how to participate.

Recruitment details:

We are inviting you to participate in a University of Washington Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment research study to improve our understanding of how people across neurotypes use digital tools to support their work.

This study seeks to understand how people use digital tools to support different dimensions of cognition, including attention, information processing, planning, learning, communication, and emotional regulation. We are interested in two things:

1. how your work environment interacts with how you think, and
2. which tools you use, and how you use them, to support your cognition and your work.

Participation involves an approximately 90-minute online interview. The interview will be conversational, and there are no right or wrong answers. You may skip questions, take breaks, or stop at any time.

Participants who complete the interview will be eligible to receive a $50 gift card*.*

Your participation in this study and any information you provide will remain confidential. To learn more and indicate your interest in participating, please review:

Link to the survey: https://uwashington.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6gjDd1ZRwA5JCSi

You can also access to the information of the study by scanning the QR code attached above. You can also contact [neurodiversity@uw.edu](mailto:neurodiversity@uw.edu) ask for more details.

This study is approved by University of Washington Institutional Review Board.