Thinking Out Of The Box

I'm sure many of us have had snow over the last few days and so have I. Which means one thing the return of the penguin walk. The penguin walk is basically me trying and sometimes unsuccessfully to navigate snow/ice in an uncordinated fashion, in short snow and ice and dyspraxia do not really mix. At times it can make dyspraxic people feel really anxious as our balance isn't great when the pavements are clear. I thought I'd share some of the hints/tips I have to cope in the snow to anyone who may find it difficult most importantly is a sense of humour.
1. Don't feel you have to rush/walk fast to keep up with others.
2. It may not be the sexiest of foot wear but walking boots can make you feel a lot more stable on your feet.
3. I got last year some metal grips for my shoes which dig in the snow which are quite handy.
4. Don't feel scared to tell others your scared of falling/ explain why it makes you anxious, hopefully they will understand and walk more at your pace or give you a hand if you think you'll fall.
Hope these may help some of you, in the mean time I'll be rocking the Pingu moves.

I was having a talk to one of my friends last night about how hard I find it to open up in real life about my diffcultys and how much easier it is online. Online I'm quite open have helped Mollie win her dyslexia award and things like that. It's not out of embarrasment or being ashamed of having them I suppose I just get scared people won't understand or will look at me like what you on about. Past experiences of people not being understanding probably haven't helped. I think a lot of people with mental health issues feel the same. I think party because they're hidden conditions nobody can see you have them to the outside world you look completely able bodied. Also I think it's because you never hear conditons talked about like dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism also mental health difficulties, and it's like how do you bring things up into conversations you can't be like "im dyspraxic wooop woop de woop." I think Frankie from The Saturdays is doing an amazing job helping people open up about mental health issues, what an inspiring lady she is. I hear lots of people talking about any medical trouble like if they've had migrane or allergies and things like that. I'd love it if I heard people saying im having a bad spelling day, or my memory has gone to pot today or im having a really clumsy day today watch the breakables, or I'm having a down day etc so many things you could add to that. As no matter what you achive academically or how much you've overcome a condition you will always have good and bad days, that's not letting the condition/s hold you back that's just fact especially made worse under stress or tiredness or a combination of both. At the moment I have told one person at my work, thanks to the advice mollie gave me, hopefully in time ill grow in confidence to tell more people and talk about some other issues ive ben going through and I hope anyone reading this blog can do the same, be brave talk to people you never know who may be going through what you are, it's surprizing how many people will be.

On Monday there was 2 programmes which both featured dyslexia, so I thought I'd write a blog about them and what I thought.

The first was My dyslexic Mind which was on the CBBC Newsround website and also has an interactive feature on the website for others to see what it's like tobe dyslexic. I thought that was a great way for especially younger people who may have younger siblings or people in their class to understand what it's like to have the condition. I love especially that it has a feature on memory, as it's something which is often forgotten about in documentaries. Alot of people don't realise what an issue memory can be for anyone with dyslexia and related conditions. My memory has got me into quite a few pickles over the years, some amusing some not so. I think my mum's dreaded words from  me must be "mum have you seen where I've put...." then that leads to me turning my bedroom upside down trying to find things. It often takes me a few attempts to remember what I've come upstairs/ downstairs for. I once was taking my dog for a walk and tied her up outside a shop and had walked all the way home when my mum wondered "where was Bess?" yer you've guessed it I'd left her outside the shop ooopsie. So I think it's so important people are made aware about memory and I have lots of admiration for Mollie from The Saturdays for being so open about how rubbish hers is, really makes you feel that you're not on your own. The documentary was simple and effective and showed any young dyslexic viewers that they weren't stupid but that their brains are wired differently and that there's so many different careers that people can go into.
The game can be found here http://t.co/OwWGibjb
and the documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/20783005

The second programme, 'My Secret Past, Shane Lynch - dyslexic' which aired on Channel 5, features Boyzone's singer-songwriter Shane Lynch who gives us a personal account of dyslexia. Shane shares with us a secret; he struggles to read and write. I used to be a huge Boyzone fan back in the day- I thought I was going to marry Ronan Keating when I was a little girl haha (sorry Matt.) So I was really interested to see this documentary. It really showed what people had to deal with a few years ago before dyslexia was so well known, so many older adults in the UK (and quite a few younger people these days) really struggle and have such a difficult time before dignosis and also unsimpathetic teachers maybe not helping. But again it was great seeing the condition getting so much awareness.
The link to the programme is http://www.channel5.com/shows/my-secret-past/episodes/shane-lynch-dyslexic

If you think you any difficulties and you're too scared to talk to talk to anyone be brave and talk to someone, I know it's hard when nobody you know may have any difficulties but the sooner you get help the better not only will it make you feel better, you'll see improvements in any work you do. Never let anything hold you back and stop you from doing anything you want to, enjoy living your life but at the same time never be scared to be open or scared to go for help.
If you ever need any help/advice feel free to tweet/ DM on twitter and I'll be pleased to help.
Thanks for reading this and stay strong!