Let’s start off with these three names. Daniel Radcliffe, who we all saw growing up as the Harry Potter Movie Series progressed; Florence Welch, from Florence and the Machine; and one of the world’s most famous geniuses Albert Einstein. These three famous faces share one common thing, and that isn’t fame. All three of them had, or have Dyspraxia.
Dyspraxia is a complex motor skill disorder that affects millions of people all around the globe and since this week (5th-9th October) is Dyspraxia Awareness Week, it is noteworthy to underline this phenomenon. From young children to adults and also elderly, dyspraxia disrupts a multiplex of neurological aspects that intertwine and interconnect to stagnate patients from fulfilling basic functions such as balance, rhythm, memory, and focus. Dyspraxia may also target speech; affecting articulation, volume, and also the rate at which a person utters a sentence/word.
Daniel Radcliffe has recognised the challenges that Dyspraxia brings with it but he encourages people to not let it stop them. As a child, he had problems with tying his shoes and other daily activities such as his handwriting and critical thinking.
“Do not let it stop you,” he said. “It has never held me back, and some of the smartest people I know are people who have learning disabilities. The fact that some things are more of a struggle will only make you more determined, harder working and more imaginative in the solutions you find to problems.”
Florence Welch is proud of having Dyspraxia since it raised her with a tough shell and she believes that some of the smartest and ingenious people all around the world have some type of a learning disability that challenges them to strive for more. She also noted that Dyspraxia has helped her develop a succinct yet proliferative musical passion.
Before a concert in Ireland in 2012, she appeared at an event for young kids with dyspraxia. There, she said that the condition doesn’t get as much attention as it should. She also told the kids that she was “very proud to be dyspraxic.”
At the age of 16, Einstein struggled to tie his shoelaces, implying he could have had dyspraxia. He also failed his college examinations. According to The Dyspraxic Chef, Einstein was ‘thought of as being dyspraxic’ or ‘having had dyspraxia tendencies.’
A woman named Philippa on the Dyspraxia Foundation U.K. website has likened Einstein’s quote, ‘everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid,’ to a child’s daily struggle with DCD (developmental coordination disorder), another term for dyspraxia.
Derived from the Greek words ‘dys’ (meaning inadequate) and ‘praxis’ (the act of doing something), Studies are to this day being carried out to identify the main cause which derives this developmental co-ordination disorder. Experts suggest that the patient’s motor neurons develop inadequately. Thus, the process of data from the brain to the neurons is heavily prolonged.
Although some studies suggest that this neurological disorder is hereditary since family members are often similarly affected, it is still not set in stone.
Dyspraxia is not as rare as you might think. Studies suggest that approximately 10 percent of people have some level of dyspraxia. Four out of every five children with mild to severe dyspraxia are boys while in the United Kingdom, studies have indicated that individuals with dyspraxia are often also diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
With awareness, successive and continuous speech and language therapy and occupational therapy with support from loved ones, the patient can gradually improve to a more cohesive way of living.