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Quick #dyspraxia thread, thinking about how the effects of the pandemic over the last year have posed some very specific challenges that I still haven’t fully got my head around. I’m thinking particularly of planning. /1
One of the ways I mitigate against overload is through rigorous planning. My system of notebooks, day/week planners, email folders, reminders etc is Byzantine, designed around structures that work for me. In normal times, this gives me the impression of being mega-efficient! /2
What’s invisible is the labour of this; that in order to get through my tasks, I spend a long time on the planning out of when things will get done. I build in as much flexibility as I can, but even this flexibility has to be structured. /3
The enemy of this is sudden change. Whether that’s last minute requests to do a job, or rug-pulls about working norms, each new demand requires re-working the planning itself, which is a massive process. /4
I’m not saying this is an exclusively or universally #dyspraxic experience - who likes last minute change? - but for me, it’s a laborious process, often even having to rework plans for previous days so I can re-spatialise the overall shape of the week. /5
I’ve been lucky enough to have a diagnosis for over 25 years, so I’m pretty good with my systems and able to roll with change to a level that I hide my difficulties well. But the last 12 months have been a different order of quick change, major replanning and emergency jobs. /6
And while we’re all dealing with what it means to change our working patterns in radical ways, I’m not sure that we - I, at least - have really understood the specific impact this has on many neurodivergent people, for whom this work presents additional challenges /7
In circumstances that require quick responses and sudden reorganisation, it can be really scary to admit that you need a good run-up before you jump, or extra time to process. Especially if, in ‘normal’ times, you don’t need to ask for this. /8
What’s the solution? I don’t know, and I don’t think this period of unknowns and sudden changes is going to end soon. And even among people with #dyspraxia the experience will be very different. But here are my current strategies. /9
1. Building in as much contingency time as workload allows. Planning in time to do (re-)planning has been a massive help.
2. Doing the planning before starting on a new emergency task. Slowing down and working out how it fits in first. /10
2. Doing the planning before starting on a new emergency task. Slowing down and working out how it fits in first. /10
3. The ‘do not disturb’ function to help manage when new jobs are coming in.
4. Getting back into journaling at end of day to help process and organise thoughts. /11
4. Getting back into journaling at end of day to help process and organise thoughts. /11
Being open here in hope it’s helpful to other #dyspraxic folk who’ve found the last year a particular challenge, always interested to hear of others’ strategies, old or new! 12/12
