My most important adventure! – Showing the ABILITY within the disABILITY!!

It’s Monday afternoon and I’m sitting at Carlisle train station with a Salted Caramel Latte and writing this blog waiting for my train.I’m off to Edinburgh today for the RI World Congress on Disability. Over 1,000 experts in Disability come together from all across the world with the aim of creating a more inclusive world  and accessible for all.  Over three days there are workshops, presentations, speeches, fringe events from across the looking at all aspects that relate to the lives of Disabled people. 

Day one focuses on Employment, Education and Skills which looks at how polices can be put into practice to allow people with disabilities to access education, employment and training. This is what The Usual Place does, I’m so looking forward to this day and to see what I can learn from other countries while at the same time spreading the word about The Usual Place.

The focus of day two looks at how it is best to support people with disabilities to live independently through policies and practical information. Also building on from the previous day with sessions on UK employment . Well this is what I do everyday, I adapt to what I do everyday to fit around my dyspraxia and I work to be able to do this. 

And day three looks at how we can take ideas from around the world to help us make the world more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Well in theory is the conclusion of the whole Congress and the ultimate aim to happen in this world.

Now my feelings are mixed, I’m excited but nervous too. It does help that Sue and Ged will be there too which gives me some comfort. 

Look out for blog updates throughout the week and when I come home plus my usual facebook and Twitter updates too!

Twitter -@XxAmyxPopxX

Volunteering – An amazing journey of discovery!

To make the end of Volnteers week I wrote this blog for Strong Young Minds, one of the websites I write my blogs for. So I thought I’d share it with you all. Please feel free to  ask me any questions 😊

I am writing this as Dumfries and Galloway’s Third Sector Young Volunteer and Volunteer of the Year which is so amazing and I still can’t quite believe it.  
But I will take you back to a shy, quiet, unconfident 12 year old Amy who didn’t know quite where she fitted in , in this world! At times didn’t even want to be here and frequently missed school and didn’t have that many friends.
It all changed one evening when my Dad took me to youth group where one of his friends was a youth worked at. From being there as young person I began volunteering at there youth groups for primary school pupils and also a project during the summer holiday.  

It was while I was there as young person I met Tracey who was a youth worker with the local councils Youth Issues Unit. I got involved in both local and national youth projects including YouthBank, Inspector8 and National Conversation and being part of our presentation to COSLA. I won the Ian McAlister bursary award, a local award for my commitment to the voluntary sector. I also won a Young Quality Scot Award for my involvement in our projects and as a peer mentor. By July 2010 I had done over 500 hours voluntary work from starting there in 2005.

In 2011 I attended an event for young disabled people locally to talk about what mattered to us, organised by DG Voice – the Voice of disabled people in my local area. I met Heather who was the Development manager and I was soon welcomed into the organisation and made a director in 2012. Through the years I have been involved in projects with employability, schools and even was a speaker at our conference on End of Life Matters. My main purpose of being a director was to make the organisation more youth friendly and get more young people involved. In fact my role this summer is to look at how we use social media and how we can use it to benefit us more

What you might not realise is that in these years I was volunteering I was also looking after my Dad who had cancer. From 2003 to his passing in 2010 he had three types of cancer and without his wife and my mum there I was the main carer. Volunteering was a way for me to escape from caring and too me but more importantly to find the person I should be. The evening of the presentation of my Ian McAlister bursary will always mean something very special to me as it was the last proper picture of me and my dad.

It was from the feedback of the Youth Matters conference that the foundations of Inspired Communities Enterprise Trust came from. The purpose of ICET is to give young people with additional support needs training and employment opportunities in hospitality and retail. U have been involved right from the start from us getting funding, learning from other cafes, finding the building, finding our builder, all the legal aspects, spreading the word around the community to finally getting the keys almost a year ago. I have been chair of board of directors for just over a year now, it’s a big learning opportunity for me and can be challenging but with my fellow directors and staff team supporting me I know I can do it. Through the wonderful Usual Place – the café where ICET is based – I’ve been able to meet MSPs, MPs, council leaders, professionals and even the First Minister.

Some would ask why I volunteer when I don’t get paid for it. But for me the benefits are more than that. It’s given me such a confidence boost and created so many amazing experiences. It’s made me proud to have dyspraxia and to show the world that just because I have a disability don’t ever underestimate me. I’ve met so many amazing people on this journey from all the youth workers, other young people, professionals and those at higher levels. I’ve truly been able to spread my wings and its influenced every part of my life. Volunteering has always been there for me through my darkest times of my life and has given me something to focus on.

It’s now 2016 and I’m 24 I have been volunteering for over 10 years now. I am confident in who I am. Looking forward to what the future will bring for my career with the knowledge that volunteering has made me stronger.

So if your thinking about volunteering….then DO it!

Me, myself and I – How dyspraxia affects me

So not all people with dyspraxia have the same symptoms. So what makes me dyspraxic then……The main definition of my dyspraxia is I have an unusual gait -meaning how my hips move to make me walk. Therefore it affects my physical ability and I struggle with tasks such as running, skipping, going up and down stairs. 

I have poor balance so can appear clumsy or bump into things. Have even been told I look drunk when I’m completely sober!! 

I have poor hand/eye co-ordination so struggle with throwing and catching. Easiest way to describe it is playing rounders I couldn’t time my swing right to hit the ball I’d completely miss it 

Poor muscle tone. Meaning my muscles aren’t as strong as they should be. So I can’t always stand or sit for too long. I’m constantly moving round. I also suffer really bad cramp and my knees lock at least once a day 

As well as physically dyspraxia affects me socially and emotionally do. I find it hard to keep my emotions in check. Can’t always take jokes as jokes. When I was younger I had low self esteem and confidence though as I’ve got older my confidence has defiantly improved. 

Loud noises can also annoy me. My main one is balloons popping, it’s so bad I really don’t even like being in same room as balloons. I’m getting better with loud environments once I started going out and going to concerts. 

I can also talk in terms of good days and bad days….I tweet a lot about these days. 

Finally as well as being right handed I am right sided. I do everything with my right side first. Even the simplest of tasks or movements using my left side can prove difficult or look awkward. 

That’s just a summary of how it affects me. In other posts I’ll mention these areas in more detail and why it makes me do the things I do. 

You see dyspraxia is a condition that affects every area of your life 🙂

So what is Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is a condition in the family of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) . The word Dyspraxia is of Greek origin. The part -Dys means ill and -praxis means doing. Therefore it means ill doing.
Definition of dyspraxia is “ an impairment of immaturity of the organisation of movement” which is where it gets its other name Clumsy child syndrome.
The brain of a child or adult with dyspraxia can’t process information correctly therefore causing signals from the brain to parts of the body to be misinterpreted. We have trouble planning planning our movements and co-ordinating our bodies to make those movements. We therefore have no ultimate knowledge of what our bodies can do.
There is no cure for dyspraxia it is a life long condition, when children become adults they have to learn how to adapt the world around them to fit in with their dyspraxia.
That’s a very brief summary of dyspraxia. In following posts I will talk about the particular symptoms I have, how it affected me in school, how it is at work and how it affects me generally day to day. Also what I’m doing to change people’s perception on people with dyspraxia and other hidden disabilities.
Please feel free to ask me any questions or here or on Twitter. It’s XxAmyxPopxX.

Thank you

Amy xxx