Transcriber: Daniel Brennan Reviewer: Hiroko Kawano
Hello.
As some of you know, my name is Ellie Madeira,
and I'm here to talk to you
about dyspraxia and how it affects my life.
So, what is dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia is a form of developmental coordination disorder.
It affects gross and fine motor coordination,
and it can also affect speech in some people.
Individuals may vary in how their difficulties present.
An analogy I have for you today:
dyspraxia is like your brain's wires have been all jumbled up.
So, say if you were playing football,
your brain would go from one, to two, to three, to four, to five, and get six,
and you would catch the ball.
My brain goes from one, to two, to three,
to 42, back to A, B, C, D, E, five, one,
and by the time it's gone in a full circle,
the ball has already hit me in the forehead.
(Laughter)
Dyspraxia is such a diverse condition
that it links with all of these other neurological disorders.
So, ODD, Specific Learning Difficulties,
ADHD, anxiety and all of the rest of them.
The best way for me to explain to you
what dyspraxia was like in my early childhood
is for me to show you me, age nine, talking about my dyspraxia.
(Video) Ellie: I'm Ellie, age nine, and I've got dyspraxia.
I first found out I was dyspraxic in Year 1,
when I went home to tell my mum
that I felt different and strange.
I went to Val, and she's a physio.
She helped me a lot and gave me like papers and tests
and made me do balancing things.
Dyspraxia is a bit like, um, um,
a bit like when your brain's wired up in a different way.
Sometimes you might get told off for being a bit talkative,
but really you're just forgetting to be quiet.
I'm sometimes a bit slow with my work as well.
It took me two years to learn to ride a bike,
and I used to do ballet as well, but I found that very hard and difficult.
Now I do Brownies,
which really works,
and it's really the club for me, I think.
I think I'm going to stick with the Brownies for a very long time.
I'm dyspraxic, and I'm fantastic!
(Audience) Aww.
(Video ends)
So, things that are really important
to remember about dyspraxia and dyspraxic people:
Children whose dyspraxia is identified at an early age
are less likely to have problems with acceptance by their peers
and with lower self-esteem.
So, like I said in the video,
being diagnosed with dyspraxia
meant I didn't blame myself for how I was different
and how I felt and acted.
Instead, I had a way to explain to others and had a reason in myself
so that I didn't feel isolated from my peer group.
Early recognition can make the difference between success and failure.
The fact that I was recognised early meant that I got physio,
like I said in the video.
In the physio, I learnt how to ride a bike,
I learnt how to balance on beams,
I even learnt how to handwrite.
It is a lifelong condition.
I am going to have it for the rest of my life.
It's never, ever going to go away,
unless they come up with some miracle cure.
But I can try and adapt, and find ways to deal with my problems,
and it might take me longer than all of the rest of you,
but I will always find a way.
There are six main categories of dyspraxia.
The first is organisation.
I find planning things incredibly tricky.
Just planning this entire talk took hours and hours in my brain,
trying to sort out all the tiny different things
I had to connect just to plan this.
My memory.
Organising my memory, again, with this talk.
(Laughter)
My schoolbag notes.
So from Year 7 probably up until now,
all of my notes in my bag were crumpled, all just at the bottom of my bag.
Gross motor.
So coordinating myself was always something
that I found incredibly anxiety-inducing
because my brain connecting to my muscles didn't always work quite right.
So it's the classic dyspraxic arm.
You would put your arm like this; my arm would sort of just go like that.
It didn't quite connect, and this, obviously, goes into sports.
And sports was something I also really struggled with as a child,
and I never felt like I could quite do it,
which was the reason I quit ballet when I was younger,
even though I enjoyed it.
Fine motor.
So handwriting.
I went to the physio and occupational therapist
to help me tie my shoelaces properly -
which is still a bit questionable whether I can do -
(Laughter)
and do buttons.
Concentration.
I find it incredibly difficult to stay in one space.
If you've ever seen me in the Sixth Form common room trying to do work,
one minute, I'll be sitting on the chair like a normal person,
the next minute, I'll be backwards on the chair with my leg on the back,
then I'll be on the floor writing on the table,
then I'll be back on the chair again.
And I can't sit still or stand still.
Standing on this little cross is actually quite difficult. (Chuckles)
All I want to do is pace up and down.
And classroom difficulties.
Copying from the board.
I'll look up at the board,
I'll register what's on the board,
I'll look down, and my brain's lost it,
and I look back up, and I read the board, and my brain's lost it again.
And that process will go on for ages.
But dyspraxia is really not just general clumsiness.
I know that a lot of you may think that because that is all that you may see,
but there are so many neurological problems as well.
But,
[POSITIVES!]
dyspraxia is not all doom and gloom.
There are positives.
Dyspraxic people are incredibly creative.
My mother always told me:
you know when people think outside the box?
Well, I've lost the box. The box is gone. I'm so far outside of the box.
(Chuckles)
I'm very good at adapting and finding alternatives.
I'd like to say I've developed a sense of humour.
I can laugh at myself.
And the one thing I think is truly a gift for dispraxic people is their empathy.
I can feel like I really, really connect to other people,
and I always like to see the good in everyone.
So, now and the future.
Now I'm taking four subjects to A2-Level: two sciences and two creatives.
I'm not learning to drive yet.
I feel like there should be one less dyspraxic person behind the wheel for now.
(Laughter)
I'll never know what it's like to have a normal brain,
and if someone gave me a pill to change my brain and to be 'normal',
I don't think I'd take it.
I've finally learnt to love and understand my flaws and my little quirks,
but I am thriving, and I'm surviving.
My name is Ellie Madeira.
I'm dyspraxic, and I'm fantastic!
(Cheers) (Applause)