My 2020: Dyspraxia and Wet Shaving
It’s fair to say it’s been a bizarre year from a national lockdown to not seeing loved ones for several months and trying to adapt to a new type of ‘normal’.
A week before national lockdown I was diagnosed with dyspraxia, it took me a year to get diagnosed. The GP I saw seemed clueless and I was referred to a specialist at the local hospital. They too were clueless and recommended me to another specialist, this time at the council that dealt with people who needed mobility aids! 🤦♂️
After been left frustrated with the GP and hospital I decided to go private, despite the high costs getting a diagnosis at the age of 33 everything made sense.
So what is dyspraxia and how did I reach the conclusion that I must be dyspraxic?
In a nutshell, dyspraxia or DCD (developmental co-ordination disorder) affects a person’s coordination, their spacial awareness, and also sensory issues.
In addition, it affects 2–6% of the UK population, meaning that there’s likely at least one person with the condition in a class room or workplace. What’s particularly interesting that it’s more common with males than females and many people who have dyspraxia were born premature.
I’ve always known from a fairly young age that there was something wrong with me. My earliest memory was when I started primary school and I couldn’t use a pencil very well and had to have rubber grips put into pencils to help me grip better.
PE was difficult at times, a common thing you’ll hear many dyspraxics mention when talking about childhood struggles. Things like using a skipping rope I just couldn’t get my head round (until later on life) and pulling myself up on a rope was a challenge in itself. Another painful memory was not making the school football team in years 5 and 6, it wasn’t particularly hard to get into the team (if you weren’t dyspraxic!) you just had to attend training on a Tuesday after school. It was only me and another guy (who I’m convinced looking back had a similar disability) were not chosen. Football has always been a huge part of my life since becoming a fan at the age of 8, playing it however, is a completely different story!
This also continued into secondary school, I detested the technology based subjects particularly resistant materials (aka woodwork) and really struggled with technical drawings, using tools and various industrial based machinery that was used for projects.
Maths has also been a struggle; adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing were never an issue, however, when it came to studying angles, using a protractor was very challenging, I really couldn’t get my head around using it -even to this day!
Our brains are wired up differently, I could tell you about the geopolitics of an African country that many would not know about but struggle with zips and laces!
I’d say I’m very astute at understanding the world, people, and culture but the mundane things in life I fail at.
I’ve always known I’ve had a ‘co-ordination problem’ and did think it could be linked to being premature. I didn’t hear about dyspraxia until last year when I was listening to a rugby podcast which featured an interview with England and Leicester Tigers prop Ellis Genge who opened up about dyspraxia. In the interview Genge spoke about his poor handwriting and how he needed a laptop which helped him catch up with work and improved his ability to learn at school. The episode made me think about similar life experiences — could I be dyspraxic? 🤔
A few weeks later I started to learn to drive (again) after a ten year break! The first few lessons went ok and was honest with my instructor from day one that I have some kind of co-ordination problem. The instructor mentioned about a former student who had dyspraxia (that word again!) but after being very patient with the student she passed. Unfortunately I didn’t pass and don’t think I’ll ever drive. On this one particular lesson (and my last!) everything went wrong from stalling it, failing to find the biting point, ending up on the wrong side of the road — and the pièce de résistance for those of you who love a good laugh, breaking on a bend with a car behind! 🤦♂️
I was shaken up and the instructor asked why I did it and I couldn’t answer her, my head was thumping with all the information I was trying to digest as well not driving the car into a ditch on the country lane which in my head I had nicknamed ‘Hell’.
As we made a stop into the next village, the instructor asked what was wrong and I couldn’t explain. I told her I wasn’t comfortable driving back home as I was still shaken up from breaking on the bend and nearly causing an accident. We talked all the way home, I mentioned again about my co-ordination, she mentioned I had good steering but I could tell she knew something wasn’t right. We agreed that would be it and we went our separate ways.
As soon I got out of the car, I raced into the house and Googled dyspraxia and read a few articles. It was like looking in the mirror, the writers’ struggles were also my struggles. I also listened to podcasts and heard about one guy’s story, it was exactly the same. The mundane struggles he experienced, struggling to find work after university, and deep down knowing you’re different to everyone else.
I called my sister after the horrible driving lesson and explained everything. She picked up on things I struggled with and the things I would ask for help like bed making (still a struggle!) and known for having a bit of an odd walk — a typical dyspraxic trait.
I took action straight away and booked an appointment with my local GP, the locum who I saw appeared not to have a clue about the condition, so I was booked in at the local hospital as previously mentioned. I wasted months of making calls and nothing had progressed. I finally got an assessment with Dyspraxia UK, literally a week before Boris declared national lockdown.
I would say a lot of the tests I performed poorly on, particularly the exercises that involved shape drawing (it was like reliving those horrible Resistant Materials classes again!).
A few days later I received my results….. 🥁
It all made sense… I’M DYSPRAXIC!
Since March I’m still trying to figure things out — this isn’t ‘a one size fits all’ condition.
What I have learnt from joining online dyspraxic communities is that we’re a sympathetic bunch, we’ve been battered and bruised and got the scars to prove it and we’re always willing to help others. We’re tough skinned and been at the very bottom and at times had to work harder than everyone else because our brains work differently.
On the flipside, it’s easy to lash out from being frustrated and also from being burnt out from a day’s work, again because our brains process information in a certain way. If there’s days when we’ve had stuff thrown at us at once it really can be too much.
Of course there are things that can aid information overload such as writing things down or just stepping away from the computer and having a break but sometimes we need to forget about work and our troubles and find ways that make us calm and relaxed.
Dyspraxic Shaver
This year I really got into traditional wet shaving, this came about from unfortunately catching coronavirus.
I was severely weak for several weeks and hadn’t shaved a very long time, I looked like I had just came out of the gutter! 🙈
Prior to the lockdown, I had read about traditional wet shaving and bought a shaving brush and pre-shave products to try out but didn’t use them on a frequent basis.
After fighting off the virus and feeling like my old self again, I once again took an interest in wet shaving, this time changing my razor to a traditional double-edged razor, experimented with various soaps, and most importantly trying not to cut myself!
As shown above, it didn’t take long! So what has this got to do with dyspraxia? Firstly, for me I find wet shaving therapeutic, there’s nothing like having a hot shower at the end of a long day and enjoying a shave straight after from pre-shave to post-shave.
Many might view it as a mundane process or even find it a strange thing to get into, but for me it’s my quiet time, it’s a time to unwind, and put on a scent that invigorates.
From a dyspraxia perspective, I have to really concentrate on what I’m doing and not cut myself with the razor and it has taken time to find the right technique. For someone who doesn’t have the best co-ordination or concentration span I would say I have done pretty well since converting to wet shaving, it has helped me relax and take my mind off things.
It could have been any interest that could have helped me relax and take my mind off things but I’m glad it was wet shaving. Again, many might find that weird — and the people that know me you know I’m bit obscure! 🤣
But then again I wouldn’t be me. Like the many online dyspraxic communities, I’ve loved been part of the online wet shaving community, particularly the UK Wet Shaving Society on Facebook and sharing various #SOTD (Shave of the day) images on Instagram.
Social gets a bad reputation, but both the dyspraxia and wet shaving communities are full of positivity, engaging and interesting posts. Whatever your passion, follow it!
I’ve gone off topic slightly I know, but I want to end this in a similar way to one of the very first articles I read on dyspraxia which was written by journalist Maxine Frances Roper. I don’t want to be a ‘poster boy’ for anything, I simply just want to me, and most importantly, be accepted as me.
I hope you enjoyed this piece, this post is dedicated to Dyspraxia Awareness Week (4th October-10th October. If you would like to connect on Twitter — feel free to follow me @dyspraxicshaver, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on dyspraxia and also on wet shaving!
Stay safe and happy shaving! 😀
