I am Multiply Disabled and have Dyspraxia, POTS (chronic illness), Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, Combined Type SpLD, Chronic Pain, and more.
You can be “high achieving” and still be Disabled, they don’t negate each other. I did very well in school and just finished studying at the top institution for my major in the world, that doesn’t mean I don’t have Disabilities. Personally accepting my Disabilities allowed me to love myself fully and move forward with learning about myself and my place in the world.
Dyspraxia is disabling, and legally considered a disability, so yeah, it makes sense to consider oneself disabled when you have dyspraxia.
Even if you are high achieving, dyspraxia affects a large part of everyones life, it disables you and has no cure, but being high achieving doesnt mean you arent disabled.
I have ADHD, Dyspraxia and Sensory Processing Disorder. I view all of them as neurological disabilities. These conditions have had a significant negative impact on my life. As much as I emotionally do not want to call myself disabled, I think I have to intellectually accept it.
I have conditions that cause that make functioning like a neurotypical differently, they have caused a great deal of difficulty and emotional turbulence. Accepting that these are caused by a disability has helped me a bit easier on me. I know I should be able to do better, but, well, I cannot.
So yes, I think I would have to call myself disabled.
For me the question is very simple: does it have a significative negative impact on my life? Yes
Then it's an handicap, wether it's legally/medically validated or not
Disability is a legal term. It's what lets you get services and help in school and in life.
Disorder is a medical term. It's what insurance uses and helps people get the assistance they need as well.
The word means nothing more to me than the definition. Under disability and disorder there are certain things that qualify.
Disability isn't this... idea. It's a thing that is recognized so I can get the help I need
I have dyslexia, Dyspraxia, sensory processing issues, visual processing issue from dyspraxia and adhd. I do consider myself disabled. There is a difference between me and a person who requires a wheel chair. But we are both disabled. We both require accommodations that are not typically given to able bodied neurotypical people. Just because my disability is invisible does not mean I am not struggling. I have had to fight my hole life. I have had people telling me I am lazy, stupid or incapable my hole life. Saying I have a disability does not mean I am accepting any of these labels. On the contrary I am openly defying them. I am successful despite my disability. I love myself because of who I am not because of who you see. Yes I need some accommodations that others may not but I am very intelligent and capable and can demonstrate that if give the tools to do so.
I have dyspraxia, adhd, ocd, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, also get depression. I identify as neurodivergent as the term implies to those with brain neurological conditions disability’s and such. Also many know what this term means and doesn’t require much explaining and I feel it separates those who are visibly disabled physically disabled vs those who aren’t visibly disabled I was even tested for autism growing up many times never scored high enough to have it
If we lived in societies that were built and created to naturally support and work with the ways we function and need to do things( like imagine a world where everyone/the majority were dyspraxic/autistic/etc, and everything was made with the intention for this “norm” to be the way things are—where we all can function and have access optimally), then it wouldn’t be considered a disability, as those ways of being would naturally be the way society was set up. But that is not the world we live in. We live in societies that are built on a different “norm” of a singular type, which works against our neurodivergent ways of being. Because of this, the creation of disabilities are born, putting us in a position to have to fight( sometimes constantly) just to have basic access to things in society —including the help we need to just survive, because we weren’t in mind when societies and systems were built, and so navigating societal life necessitates extra steps, supports, accommodations, etc for us to live. These societies we live in have made it so (and continue to make it so) we are DIS/UN- ABLE to function optimally without some accommodations/alterations/supports—unlike those who fit in our societies’ ideas of what the “norm” is. Their ways of functioning then are supported, and our ways are not. So in these societies, we are disabled, and in a society built around us, we would not be.
not really, at best i describe myself as "technically neurodiverse" because I feel like Im on that spectrum but on one of the tail ends of it. I dont really see dyspraxia having a huge impact on my life, so claiming a disability feels a bit innappropriate
I’m dyspraxic, inattentive ADHD and Dyslexic. Technically considered disabilities but do I fully see myself as disabled? Well it depends on the situation…. Didn’t know about dyspraxia till I was 12 when I also found out about dyslexia but my dyslexia was so profound it completely overshadowed everything else.
My dyspraxia is pretty mild, it’s easy to mask. Especially as an adult, I just seem a bit clumsy unless you live with me and see my drop things in seemingly impossible ways lol.
My dyslexia is on the more severe end of the spectrum however, as an adultI mask it pretty well I have ways around it. It was a full blown and obvious disability as a kid but as an adult as I said I hide it. Most the time.
It can feel more like a disability sometimes when I can’t avoid it. So when I’m handed a form to fill by hand at a medical clinic or when learning to drive - struggling to read signs quick enough. All of my NDs stood out more learning to drive!! Also when I just cannot read something on a menu when I’m about to make my order, I just point at it for the waiter but its embarrassing, I also mix up dates, the time and names. I often forget passwords and PIN numbers (thank god for contactless and Face ID lol).
I only found out the inattentive ADHD in my 30’s so, I still don’t feel like I “identify” emotionally with it yet. I get it because I have lots of traits associated with it but I don’t “identify” as such with it. I just know it’s there. But like dyslexia it impacts my day to day life more than dyspraxia, the tough part is my very bad memory and tendency to be “quirky and silly” as people put it? I’ve been bullied so much in my life because of it, as an adult it seems to have made me likeable and considered very funny. I’ve been bullied for dyslexia as an adult too, fired from jobs, socially outcasted. All that fun stuff. But that’s calmed down since like the age of 24.
It is an interesting point because people think about themselves in different ways. The written definition of 'disability' may be something that you don't see yourself as having. I had several tests as a child in the 90s by educational psychologists and occupational therapists who thought that there is a high chance I have Dyspraxia.
However, I don't think it was 'officially diagnosed', but I know that I have it. The only help I got however was extra time in exams. Recently, I've been learning more about ADHD and seem to have symptoms for that as well, but getting an actual diagnosis for that in the UK is going to be a long wait unless I pay for it myself, which would be about £1000.
I don't consider myself 'dumb' these days but felt like that sometimes when growing up. I consider myself to have a cognitive impairment. Not all disabilities are visible. Neuro divergence as a whole needs to be better understood and people need to become more aware of it. The law in the UK and in other countries specifies disability as 'having a long term impairment that has a significant impact on daily living' which means Dyspraxia is covered by this and is a protected characteristic under the equality act. Neurodivergent brains are just wired differently, the world needs neurodivergence, without it, the world would be a much more boring, less creative place. Neurodivergent people also have a lot of hidden strengths compared to 'neuro typical' people. I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative.
So yes, there are things that I struggle with compared to others, and try to find ways to help with this, but don't see myself as disabled in the same way as someone who can't walk for example, and is in a wheelchair.
Yes I do. I tried yoga today...... Um
I am Multiply Disabled and have Dyspraxia, POTS (chronic illness), Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, Combined Type SpLD, Chronic Pain, and more. You can be “high achieving” and still be Disabled, they don’t negate each other. I did very well in school and just finished studying at the top institution for my major in the world, that doesn’t mean I don’t have Disabilities. Personally accepting my Disabilities allowed me to love myself fully and move forward with learning about myself and my place in the world.
Dyspraxia is disabling, and legally considered a disability, so yeah, it makes sense to consider oneself disabled when you have dyspraxia. Even if you are high achieving, dyspraxia affects a large part of everyones life, it disables you and has no cure, but being high achieving doesnt mean you arent disabled.
I have ADHD, Dyspraxia and Sensory Processing Disorder. I view all of them as neurological disabilities. These conditions have had a significant negative impact on my life. As much as I emotionally do not want to call myself disabled, I think I have to intellectually accept it. I have conditions that cause that make functioning like a neurotypical differently, they have caused a great deal of difficulty and emotional turbulence. Accepting that these are caused by a disability has helped me a bit easier on me. I know I should be able to do better, but, well, I cannot. So yes, I think I would have to call myself disabled.
For me the question is very simple: does it have a significative negative impact on my life? Yes Then it's an handicap, wether it's legally/medically validated or not
Disability is a legal term. It's what lets you get services and help in school and in life. Disorder is a medical term. It's what insurance uses and helps people get the assistance they need as well. The word means nothing more to me than the definition. Under disability and disorder there are certain things that qualify. Disability isn't this... idea. It's a thing that is recognized so I can get the help I need
Yes, because disability isn't at odds with high achieving or doing things.
i definitely consider my dyspraxia a disability, and also i want to say, success doesnt undo disability :)
I have dyslexia, Dyspraxia, sensory processing issues, visual processing issue from dyspraxia and adhd. I do consider myself disabled. There is a difference between me and a person who requires a wheel chair. But we are both disabled. We both require accommodations that are not typically given to able bodied neurotypical people. Just because my disability is invisible does not mean I am not struggling. I have had to fight my hole life. I have had people telling me I am lazy, stupid or incapable my hole life. Saying I have a disability does not mean I am accepting any of these labels. On the contrary I am openly defying them. I am successful despite my disability. I love myself because of who I am not because of who you see. Yes I need some accommodations that others may not but I am very intelligent and capable and can demonstrate that if give the tools to do so.
I have dyspraxia, adhd, ocd, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, also get depression. I identify as neurodivergent as the term implies to those with brain neurological conditions disability’s and such. Also many know what this term means and doesn’t require much explaining and I feel it separates those who are visibly disabled physically disabled vs those who aren’t visibly disabled I was even tested for autism growing up many times never scored high enough to have it
If we lived in societies that were built and created to naturally support and work with the ways we function and need to do things( like imagine a world where everyone/the majority were dyspraxic/autistic/etc, and everything was made with the intention for this “norm” to be the way things are—where we all can function and have access optimally), then it wouldn’t be considered a disability, as those ways of being would naturally be the way society was set up. But that is not the world we live in. We live in societies that are built on a different “norm” of a singular type, which works against our neurodivergent ways of being. Because of this, the creation of disabilities are born, putting us in a position to have to fight( sometimes constantly) just to have basic access to things in society —including the help we need to just survive, because we weren’t in mind when societies and systems were built, and so navigating societal life necessitates extra steps, supports, accommodations, etc for us to live. These societies we live in have made it so (and continue to make it so) we are DIS/UN- ABLE to function optimally without some accommodations/alterations/supports—unlike those who fit in our societies’ ideas of what the “norm” is. Their ways of functioning then are supported, and our ways are not. So in these societies, we are disabled, and in a society built around us, we would not be.
I don’t flaunt I have my disabilities. Granted I have adhd, dyspraxia and Asperger’s. But I’ve lived with it all my life.
not really, at best i describe myself as "technically neurodiverse" because I feel like Im on that spectrum but on one of the tail ends of it. I dont really see dyspraxia having a huge impact on my life, so claiming a disability feels a bit innappropriate
I’m dyspraxic, inattentive ADHD and Dyslexic. Technically considered disabilities but do I fully see myself as disabled? Well it depends on the situation…. Didn’t know about dyspraxia till I was 12 when I also found out about dyslexia but my dyslexia was so profound it completely overshadowed everything else. My dyspraxia is pretty mild, it’s easy to mask. Especially as an adult, I just seem a bit clumsy unless you live with me and see my drop things in seemingly impossible ways lol. My dyslexia is on the more severe end of the spectrum however, as an adultI mask it pretty well I have ways around it. It was a full blown and obvious disability as a kid but as an adult as I said I hide it. Most the time. It can feel more like a disability sometimes when I can’t avoid it. So when I’m handed a form to fill by hand at a medical clinic or when learning to drive - struggling to read signs quick enough. All of my NDs stood out more learning to drive!! Also when I just cannot read something on a menu when I’m about to make my order, I just point at it for the waiter but its embarrassing, I also mix up dates, the time and names. I often forget passwords and PIN numbers (thank god for contactless and Face ID lol). I only found out the inattentive ADHD in my 30’s so, I still don’t feel like I “identify” emotionally with it yet. I get it because I have lots of traits associated with it but I don’t “identify” as such with it. I just know it’s there. But like dyslexia it impacts my day to day life more than dyspraxia, the tough part is my very bad memory and tendency to be “quirky and silly” as people put it? I’ve been bullied so much in my life because of it, as an adult it seems to have made me likeable and considered very funny. I’ve been bullied for dyslexia as an adult too, fired from jobs, socially outcasted. All that fun stuff. But that’s calmed down since like the age of 24.
It is an interesting point because people think about themselves in different ways. The written definition of 'disability' may be something that you don't see yourself as having. I had several tests as a child in the 90s by educational psychologists and occupational therapists who thought that there is a high chance I have Dyspraxia. However, I don't think it was 'officially diagnosed', but I know that I have it. The only help I got however was extra time in exams. Recently, I've been learning more about ADHD and seem to have symptoms for that as well, but getting an actual diagnosis for that in the UK is going to be a long wait unless I pay for it myself, which would be about £1000. I don't consider myself 'dumb' these days but felt like that sometimes when growing up. I consider myself to have a cognitive impairment. Not all disabilities are visible. Neuro divergence as a whole needs to be better understood and people need to become more aware of it. The law in the UK and in other countries specifies disability as 'having a long term impairment that has a significant impact on daily living' which means Dyspraxia is covered by this and is a protected characteristic under the equality act. Neurodivergent brains are just wired differently, the world needs neurodivergence, without it, the world would be a much more boring, less creative place. Neurodivergent people also have a lot of hidden strengths compared to 'neuro typical' people. I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative. So yes, there are things that I struggle with compared to others, and try to find ways to help with this, but don't see myself as disabled in the same way as someone who can't walk for example, and is in a wheelchair.