A Personal Story by Lisa
I have lifelong dyspraxia and a Masters Degree too. I think I was born to be an extrovert, but finally became an introvert due to all the hostility I have suffered from others due to my Dyspraxia and my ADHD traits. I don’t like people to watch me doing anything, so I stay away from them. I could never learn to ride a bike, to sew, to knit. I still confuse my left and right at age 41.
Funny thing: I went to a writers’ conference and pitched my novel to a publisher and an agent who happened to be there. They said I could send them the work (easier to say that than reject me to my face, right?) so I sent it to them. What is funny to me is that I also sent the work to four other publishers. Well, three out of those four publishers offered me a contract on my novel! But the people I actually met and pitched to rejected it. I can’t help but feel meeting them in person actually influenced them to reject me, when three out of four publishers who hadn’t met me wanted my book!
It seems that my dyspraxia is always that obvious and annoying to people I meet. That’s why I now just stay home with my family and write, instead of knocking my head against a brick wall trying to be accepted. I’m 41, so it’s taken me a long time to face this. The fact that others can hold down a job at all is amazing to me. I found that employers rarely accepted my disabilities and were always “letting me go”, despite me being capable in so many other ways.
Brittany Fichter says:
Thank you so much for this post. It makes me want to learn all about Dyspraxia. Do you know how common it is in the US, I mean percentage-wise? I love to study neurological disorders (I have TS, OCD tendencies, and generalized anxiety.), so I’m wondering why I don’t hear about this more. What’s your book called? I’m working on my own memoir right now about my disorders, so I’m devouring every book I can find of its kind.
My TS got worse in college, and after people started to give me funny looks and make comments about one of my more obvious tics (I’m not sure why, but it seems to annoy people.), I began to tell people up front if I was going to be spending much time with them that I have TS. One way I’m blessed, however, is that I work in the education comunity, so people there generally have a higher understanding of what I’m going through because they’ve had to study child psychology. I’m not sure it would be as easy if I worked in a different environment.
Thanks again for sharing!
Vrinda Pendred says:
Hi 🙂 that all sounds really interesting. And yes, these things are far more common than people realise.