Misconceptions of Dyspraxia

lazy, stupid and clumsy are probably the biggest misconceptions about people with dyspraxia especially prior to diagnosis and i would imagine that most people who have dyspraxia have been called at least one or all three of these at some point.
in terms of being called clumsy that probably has some truth to it for many people with dyspraxia as all dyspraxic people will have some level of difficulty with co-ordination however it is possible to improve your co-ordination to some degree or in most cases develop some form of coping strategy that may help to deal with anything that may be considered clumsy but having those difficulties should never be a problem to anyone.
however lazy and stupid are both very wrong descriptions of people with dyspraxia in term of laziness there is a piece of research that would only take a few minutes to find in a google which shows that people with dyspraxia (and most likely other neurodiverse conditions) have to work a lot harder and we use a different part of our brains to complete simple tasks compared to a neurotypical person and as dyspraxics we are often aware of that because we are trying are hardest to complete something but other people are not able to see that and it can then appear as laziness especially with the attention difficulties we can have alongside our dyspraxia.
the misconception that people who have dyspraxia are stupid often occurs prior to a diagnosis and normally in a school environment and more than likely stems from the other difficulties associated with dyspraxia such as thought processing, organisation and attention difficulties this does not mean that we are stupid or dumb or lazy it may just mean that the way in which we learn something takes longer and just like everyone else there will be some subject/topic that people are not particularly good at whereas due to the different process that occurs within a dyspraxic persons brain there may also be a range of tasks that we excel at.

i think ive covered some of the most common misconceptions about dyspraxia but im sure there will be many others that ive missed out so if you can think of any leave them in the comments below so anything that people seem to say about dyspraxia but you think is wrong.

and remember you are not defined by what other people call you and accept it if people do call you anything negative like lazy, clumsy stupid  you have a choice of whether to ignore or to prove them wrong.

Disability or Not?

whether to view dyspraxia as a disability or not

for me when i am trying to explain dyspraxia i often find myself calling it a learning disability or difficulty (which it is) similar to dyslexia but it has physical affects alongside the learning and organisational difficulties so for me in that sense it is a disability and i believe legally it is classified as a disability under a discrimination act (atleast in the UK) which means that it is illegal for anyone to discriminate against you based on your dyspraxia (so not giving you equal opportunities)
as a hidden disability like almost all neurodiverse conditions it is not instantly recognisable like that of wheelchair users this may make it harder for people to accept and immediately understand that you do actually have a disability

however whether you would describe your dyspraxia as a disability depends on your view of what a disability is as you often see notable people who have a disability find the word to be negative but whatever their 'disability' may be as a positive because that is what it is.
there may be some situations when it is potentially worth disclosing your dyspraxia as a disability for example when applying for jobs or possibly once in a job to your manager as they may be more understanding if you do have any problems whilst in your role and that should then help them with being able to provide any sport.
however it is up to you whether you want to be open about your dyspraxia and whether you wish to view it as a disability or not.
overall for me i would have to agree with what i've seen from other people and what people may remember from one of my previous blogs about dyspraxia being a positive and rather than it being a disability looking at it as an Ability