Drunken Bungle Whore

Had a chat with someone at work this week and it got me thinking. They were saying that they've discovered (in their late 30's) that they may be dyspraxic - clumsy, poor attention span, etc. When they checked it out on the web there were websites with support for Adults and Kids with dyspraxia.

It got me thinking - is it a good or a bad thing to know? This guy says it's a relief to know - but that having never known before, he's just got on with his life and done pretty well for himself. But surely some people would use something like this as a crutch? "Oh I can't achieve that because...."

In my experience I just seem to have known a lot of people with a lot of handy excuses for not doing stuff - rather than just getting on with life.

One world class example was a 'friend' who said they'd been told they were dyslexic - and they made a huge song and dance about it, how they'd been ridiculed as a child and were now unconfident as an adult etc. As they'd not mentioned it for a while I enquired after it the other day and they said that they'd recently been reassessed and been told they weren't dyslexic after all and "...since the lady told me that my spelling has been much better!"

I know some labels are unavoidable - but are we (as a society) being too quick to try and label people/ conditions - with all the best intentions - but it's actually having the opposite effect?

Maybe I've just known a dodgy bunch of people so I'm interested in hearing other views/ opinions.

Reality

For ages I thought I had Tourettes.

Turns out I'm just a rude ****

ps - Labels are nearly always bad. Helps feed predjudice.

Miss Kinky

i think it depends on the individuals attitude... i was registered disabled last year, but it didn't affect my life... i didn't go round saying "i'm disabled, i can't do that"... i carried on restoring my car, although i needed help with some of it... i just got on with it...

i had a hip replacement op and now i'm no longer disabled, although i'm certainly not 100%. i still restore my car, i still just get on with it... i'm "labelled" but so what...

valley commando

iTrader: (1)

yep but you get the best parking space

OllyK

There's 2 types of people in this world, those that label people and those that don't

stew911

depends on where she lives though.

but i understand what people are saying. my son was diagnosed as having ad/hd when he was 5 and it is a hard thing for him to deal with, especially when all the kids round here know that he has to go to a special needs school and they take the **** out of him for it. my partner too, after years of people just thinking that he was out of control, it turns out he too had got ad/hd and if it had been discovered years ago then they could do something about it.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

TBH I think a lot of it is just PC BS - nobody is thick anymore, they are dyslexic, nobody is clumsy they are dyspraxic, no children are just horrible spawns of satan, they have ADD.

What was wrong with the old days when people realised some people were more intelligent than others, some were clumsier, some had nicer personalities etc... I dont know.

Personally I know I can be quite clumsy, mainly due to being impatient and rushing things rather than taking my time, I also have a fairly low attention span - but at no point have I thought 'I wonder if I can get some free cash from the DSS or a little orange sign for my car'.

Its like nut allergies and bee stings - I dont remember there being droves of children in the past dropping dead from eating Marathons.

stew911

but thats just it though, even though partner now knows he has got ad/hd he don't get any special treatment and apart from the dla money that i am entitled to for my son, we don't get any other help. in some counties social services provide parents with what is called repsite care, to give the parents a break, if you have bought a kid up like mine you may understand why sometimes you need a break, but here in good old west midlands, you get ****!

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Which is part of the labelling problem, there is only so much help to go around, and if everyone who is just obnoxious gets labelled as having ADHD, then the real cases who genuinely need help suffer because of it.

I suppose its just another example of our society where nobody wants to take any responsibility for their own actions anymore.

stew911

that is so true, i know people who say that their kids have also got ad/hd, but they ain't, they are just naughty, out of control kids who they let them do whatever they like. with my son, who is nearly 14, i have constantly tell him the difference between right and wrong and show him what is the best way to behave. it took me a while to get him diagnosed as well. i was quite young when i had him and the docs just thought i was just another ****ed up paranoid teenage mum who couldn't cope. once he was diagnosed i returned to the docs and thrust said diagnosis into his face and told him what i thought of him.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

If you look hard enough at anyone you'll find something wrong with them.

The problem is medical conditions for describing your problems do not describe how bad they are:

Like you can be "slightly disabled" or "badly disabled"
Or you can have minor asthma or chronic asthma.
Same with dyslexia, some people mince up teh few odd words (don't we all? Ok, well maybe just me ) And others cannot string together a coherent sentance.

Even Down's syndrome, some sufferers I've seen have far greater intelligence and awareness than some "normal" people, yet are labelled by society as having an inferior mental age and being a complete dependent, just because they have the same visual charteristics that typifies Down's sufferers.

Having said all this, I label poeple: I assume anybody and everybody is stupid or lying, until the proove themselves to the contrary. Poeple may say that this makes me feel superior (superiority complex ), well maybe it does. But when an idiot lives up to my initial label, I can feel smug in the thought that due to my presumptions, they rarely cause me any harm (unless they are oafish thugs and I don't duck out the way quick enough )

Alas

Sometimes these things are just an excuse. I worked with a woman who had 3 boys who were always getting banned from school for varying disruptive behaviour. Of course they all had ADHD which was the cause of their problems.
My 4rse!!!!
The oldest one def had something wrong and I felt sorry for him. It was obvious the kid was not right and he had other health probs as well as the ADHD. The other two were just nasty, badly behaved little b4st4rds whose mother (and them) used ADHD as an excuse. The father was a nasty, ignorant **** who obviously influenced the kids. But they were pandered to and are in for a nasty shock when they try that behaviour when they get a job(if they ever do). Trouble was, their behaviour belittled the probs of the oldest boy and he tended to get lumped in with them as just being a nasty little git.

Apparition

Ignorance is Bliss.
Yve

Alas

Or to put it another way
Not knowing something is often more comfortable than knowing it.

Mmmmm - I really don't know.

JTaylor

Is ADHD genetic then? In my limited experience the behaviour of children diagnosed with ADHD is not dissimilar to that of the parent.

scoobynutta555

This craze of labeling yourself is just an excuse by the ignorant, lazy, underacheiving IQ challenged underclass to avoid the label of 'thicko' and to try and salvage some dignity from a worthless life.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

We used to have terms as kids, didnt need to call it Autistic, Dyspracwhatsit, Dyslexic or ADDHT. It was all a bit less pc then.

Deacon
Spasser
Mong
Window Licker
Jewish (not to offend and Jewish, that just meant tight back then to us)
Rembo/Retard/Div/thicko

Can you imagine somebody taking a kid to a specialist to be told that they are a Spazzy Deaconist or possibly a bit of a Mongoid, with the doctor doing the Deacon moves as they leave !

My missus is into the whole medical explanation for kids shortcomings, she decided the youngest was Dispraxic cos he threw his hands out when he run, cue much consultation with sister in law who is a child care specialist who told us what to do, I just asked him why he did it and he said cos he liked it, I said it looks a bit funny and he stopped !

As for autism, I work in IT, a lot of IT departments could be mistaken for an Autism/Aspbergers day care centre !

I myself was awarded the nickname Spacko, or Wacko Spacko Marko Jacko to give me my full title !

scoobynutta555

Ours was 'Jew bags' for a tight person.

JTaylor

with Jacko, class

Spoon

Mine is 'a pleasure' for a tight lady.

Reality

I've met loads of kids with attention deficit whatever it's called.

I must be the cure cos the little ***** always behave impeccably when I tell them to .

Leslie

I used to know a bloke who could not walk across a room with a cup of tea on a saucer without spilling it. He was an above average pilot though!

Les

Alas

Must have needed the wings

David Lock

No doubt he was fine with a double scotch though

Leslie

Certainly was!

Les

falkster

bluto22b

Drunken Bungle ***** - I think your user name is amazingly good. Can I add you to my buddy list

Turbohot

Labelling is a business for opinionated people.Everyone has good and bad within them.Some only look at bad and try to use that "bad" or "negative" for branding people.Some do this branding because,the labelled one has exhibited her/his archetype to people.
However,labelling people in a flippant way is not a good practice,IMO.