Reply To: Clumsy/Constantly breaking things..

[shutterbug55]

I have thought about this post for some time now. We all complain about how we lose things, how things just disappear, and how frustrating it is when it happens so often throughout the day.
We don’t talk about the other stuff, the bumping into things, breaking
things, setting things down on a table that just moved 6 inches away. Stepping off a curb that wasn’t a curb, steping off the sidewalk and not seeing the raised curb. Tripping over things… the list goes on.

We talk about the missed conversations, the missed appointments, the missing time. How about this: How long did it take you to learn to ride a bike? Skateboard? Skate? Play Baseball? Soccer? Basket ball? For me some of those
things are out of the question. I can’t do them.

I think all of those things come from the same place. We have so much coming into our brains, from sights and sounds that our brains don’t know what to filter out. I think NT people have these unconscious filters and don’t have a problem with this. Inevetably, we filter out the wrong thing. So we break things, bump into things and cause them to topple and break, or we miss some key component everyone takes for granted, that lets us learn how to hit a baseball, ride a bike or something else.
Conversations are are tough, because we miss verbal, or physical queues. That nonverbal language that makes up almost 93% of communication. Again we can’t filter out the irrelevant stuff, because our brains don’t know what is irrelevant.

I have been doing some reading on perceptual filters. This is pretty interesting stuff, and I am sure Dr J. and a few of the others on this board can explain it. I think it is connected to the whole Executive Function and Working Memory issues that are ADD.

What does it all mean, Shutterbug? Well, for me it means I have to be mindful of everything I do. If I let my guard down and get distracted, while doing something as simple as setting a fork down, it will end up on the floor. Walking with a cup of anything is an invitation to a clean up situation.
I make accommodations. I pour my water out of a lidded container where the cup is going to be used. When I cook, I have a pyrex measuring cup handy, to place forks and spoons and other things I am using to cook with. Things still end up on the floor, but not as often.

Sports? Sports are out of the question. I have a tough enough time walking down the street, without tripping. So taking a run, while bouncing a ball? Not going to happen. Not in this lifetime. Hitting a ball thrown at me? Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. I’ve been hit by a lot of things thrown at me, but the idea of hitting those things BEFORE they hit me? Out of the question. Ironicaly, I can calculate the ballistic motion they follow, and trace the arc with
a high degree of mathematical certainty. I can do this even while the object is in flight. but I can’t step out of the way.

As usual, knowing why something is the way it is, doesn’t make it any easier to live with.  My suggestion would be to figure out accommodations that minimize the breakage and be mindful of the things you are doing.

REPORT ABUSE