Learning to drive.
Taking driving lessons was a challenge which was always likely to prove particularly problematic, and so after I had turned seventeen as I looked ahead to my first lesson my emotions were a mixture of optimism and uncertainty. As it happened the first lesson was fairly positive admittedly not getting out of second gear meant progress was slow but all in all I considered the lesson a success. It was to prove a rare high however as the lessons progressed in difficulty so my struggle intensified. I struggled with the gear changes and clutch control, the clutch would regularly produce some particularly interesting smells and noises! Learning manoeuvres proved especially challenging. It took me a long time to get close to learning to reverse correctly, three point turns would often turn into six point turns and even uphill starts often accidently became uphill reverses! Eventually however after a lot of hard work I was told to book my driving test, and with again an element of optimism I did. The test was a complete disaster, nerves got the better of me and my uphill start again went south. Needless to say I failed and then failed again. Eventually after an unnamed number of unsuccessful attempts I'd had enough and took a long and for now indefinite break from driving. In the future the plan is learn to drive an automatic. I'm told it will be much easier to drive but for now, the thought of attempting to reverse round corners again is not an appealing one.
Howzat
I had first taken up cricket at the age of 14 and had had some success representing my local village side but it wasn't until my college days that I really benefited from the sport not just through improving my cricket skills but also self confidence. I had joined the cricket academy at Truro College. Here I found that playing cricket in some of the lower divisions meant that the majority of other cricketers had played to a much higher standard than I had. This was a little difficult to begin with as I really struggled with the technical aspects of some of the coaching and privately questioned whether I was good enough to be part of the set up. However I soon settled in and enjoyed two fantastic years. It had been clear pretty early on that I was prone to clumsy and chaotic moments, chasing a ball flat out in an indoor fielding drill resulted in me disappearing through a fire escape door as my momentum meant stopping was out of the question, upon my return however I promptly threw the ball back as if nothing had happened to much hilarity! During my time there, through huge amounts of encouragement from coaches and fellow players alike my confidence grew enormously and I have made some fantastic friendships and my cricketing skills also improved dramatically although some people who have played against me since may argue otherwise..... Presently I'm still loving cricket playing for my local side and am usually selected as the opening bowler, something I feel very proud of and enjoy playing for the village team. We have progressed brilliantly, moving through the divisions and the second team improved beyond recognition. My time in the academy proved once again that facing up to challenges is often incredibly rewarding.
Famous Dyspraxic: David Bailey
Famous photographer David Bailey suffers from dyspraxia and has proved an inspiration to many despite disparaging comments from teachers in his school days. Since then he has gone on to photograph numerous household names including music groups The Beatles, Razorlight and the Kaiser Chiefs to name a few. He has also spent time as the chairman of the Dyspraxia Foundation and is further evidence that a disability should cause no boundaries in peoples desire to achieve their dreams.
That's it for this time as usual I hope you enjoyed the issue all the best and have a great Christmas,
George
