Hello everyone- back again! Toddy I’m here to share with you, the thoughts of my friend, Charis, about the closure of the Dyspraxia Foundation. I hope you enjoy reading. “I was late to the Dyspraxia community as I was not diagnosed with Dyspraxia until I was 18, studying history at Nottingham Trent University in 2016. I had a difficulty in gaining my diagnosis originally but I was persistent. After gaining my diagnosis, nobody made me aware of the fact there were other people like myself and that I could be part of a larger community. It would take me until 2021 to discover that community and ..read more

First thoughts Image alt-text: There is a man pictured, with a blue collared shirt, with a caption in white capital letters, reading: “FIRST THING THAT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.” I write this with mixed emotions. There’s not one word or one sentence that would do the situation justice. The first feeling that springs to mind, is sadness. The Dyspraxia Foundation ceasing operations means that the local groups where people could connect with one another, are no longer an official thing. There are also many people who I know have been impacted hugely by the opportunities available throughout the organ ..read more

Psyching yourself up for it Every year it happens- the dreaded decluttering day! Usually the first weekend after the festive period, once you’ve ruthlessly decided which useless stocking fillers can be discarded. Of course amongst other things. Decluttering is not so easy though, beyond that. Even getting rid of stocking fillers, it just makes the purchaser look bad. And I care enough about people to not let them know of their lack of expertise in this area. It takes a certain amount of energy to prepare to be the boss and lose the dross. Image alt-text: A man is pictured, wearing a light grey ..read more

What a journey it has been up to this point. And excitement is still firmly there. Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It is also Disability History Month. So I wanted to share with you some things I would say to my younger self, since the theme is about children and young people. My first thing to say is with regards to my difficulty with social connectivity at a young age. It’s ok to be distant from your peers. As long as it is on your terms and not a matter of being excluded, it is all about feeling the right amount of stimulation. And if this comes more from playi ..read more

Have you ever thought “how can I provide a black and white answer here?” If you have, there’s possibly a chance you’ll share my thinking that the process of diagnosing someone with a neurodivergent condition is completely flawed. As a child, I was pretty much described as a young Victor Meldrew. For anyone who doesn’t know who Victor Meldrew is, he was the epitome of the archetypal grumpy old man in One Foot in the Grave. And that’s not to say I’m a grumpy YOUNG man, but just like the character, I make another object or another person’s bad qualities more noticeable, perhaps more than their g ..read more

This week has been eventful for all the right reasons. I did something I never envisioned myself doing once upon a time. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had and for the future opportunities I have in place to open up new possibilities for myself. The opportunity I’m talking about, is delivering a presentation on the topic of neurodiversity in the workplace, and how we can create the best environments for neurodivergent talent to thrive. I’m just one of many neurodivergent individuals who have an array of skills to offer. But one of those things that isn’t part of the job descri ..read more

Last Thursday, I was honoured to be invited to be a guest speaker on the Squiggly Careers PodPlus community on Zoom. This was a particularly special moment, as it was a follow-up to their podcast about how to make careers more accessible for neurodivergent individuals. Firstly, I was asked how helpful or unhelpful the terminology or labels used are when it comes to neurodivergent individuals. This answer is one of the broader ones. Certain labels restrict people and place them very much in a box. This box may well fit one day, but another day it could look totally different. However, there is ..read more

Jenga. A game that ends in the inevitability that a structure (the tower) comes tumbling to the ground. Not only that, but also something that has the ability to illustrate what life through a Dyspraxic/Autistic lens is like. Allow me to explain So, I’m sure everyone (unless you’ve been living under a rock) knows the concept of Jenga. You have to try and build a tower with cuboid wooden bricks. The loser is the person who makes the tower fall, which is quite apt for the explanation of what it means to me. To begin with, each day does take a certain amount of energy to get through. Getting up ..read more

There is a reason why I am writing this towards the end of this special week in the awareness days calendar. I am extending this conversation to celebrate those who are keen on pursuing an assessment of a neurodivergent condition, but are unsure of how to go about it. I mean it’s like, tell me the system is restrictive without telling me it’s restrictive. There are more people than you will realise who are neurodivergent in some way. And this will be identified by the individual in their own means. But I feel it’s really important to not discount these people from the equation. You have to as ..read more

It’s Monday- yippee… Said no one ever. In fact that’s a slight lie. I have no challenging social interactions by default on this day. And I make my favourite meal for my tea. But besides that, yes Monday has been it’s usual dose of despair. I can’t actually believe this is my first post of the year- but here it is. OK, so I’m currently going through the process of an Autism assessment. I’ve completed the questionnaire, but have had no further communication as of yet from about 3 weeks ago! See there’s a classic example of masking. Of course what I truly meant to say was something a lot more e ..read more