Classless in Dyspraxia terms...

There are a few things that are difficult for a Dyspraxic that are easily achieved for everyone else who doesn't have Dyspraxia. Getting dressed, staying dressed, physically writing, chopping onions. I will get to all of that in, yet, more future posts. But I want to talk about the British class system and Dyspraxia.

On one level I'm lucky to come from a middle-class background because private schools made having Dyspraxia a lot more bearable but that is where all this class junk ends. Posh people aren't the most understanding when it comes to Dyspraxia they like stiff people in suits, people with aims of going to Oxford, and people who dominate every sporting arena. None of that will ever be us.

I hate the class system that exists in the UK and that is the primary reason for my love of Australia. No Dyspraxic wants to be judged on the image, no Dyspraxic wants to have the fact that they wear a mask of whatever they had for breakfast on their face thrown right back at them. It is for all of this and more that I have never fully felt completely accepted as a Middle-Class person.

Dyspraxia is a great leveller and I've never thought that anyone is better than anyone. In some elite schools, people are taught not to talk to cleaners. This to me is a bloody disgrace and wider Britain should be ashamed that we choose to let this belief flourish. Why should anyone look down on anyone else? In Australia, all of that is frowned upon.

I've always been fascinated by all types of people, and love trying to work out people's quirks, uncertainties and complications. Every single person is made up of levels, layers of a marble cake. I also love a good debate so when looking for a potential career after school it was no surprise that politics was chosen.

To have something that is only yours is vitally important because so much of life is shared, so much of the best parts: football matches, concerts, meals and children. Even Netflix is shared. I wrote to lots of politicians and asked for advice. My then local MP, Anne Milton, let me follow her around Westminster for the day and from then on I had a first professional mentor.

Over the next few years, I canvassed for votes, went to Black Tie Dinners and eventually had a six-week internship in Westminster. This isn't a paragraph of boastful arrogance or a way to haplessly talk up this Dyspraxic. It is instead to show that as a Dyspraxic you have to view things in a slightly different way, and have to come up with ways to get yourself at least level with your competitors in the jobs market.

Anyway, it was canvassing where I learnt most about what total nonsense our ancient class system is. Through knocking on hundreds of doors, for nine straight weeks I learnt above all that we are both all the same and all very different. That people are people and the class system is both mad and very, very outdated. I also learnt that most stuff is not about you, me or your cat, everything fits into a much bigger cliché.

Canvassing as a Tory in less affluent areas I had no idea how to broach that I had a dishevelled, maybe slightly drunk-sounding posh accent that Dyspraxia had given me. I found myself apologising for being a middle-class, white man asking for people to vote for a party known to back rich people and low taxes. But eventually, I got better and better at reading people and situations. Finally, I had something away from a family business, away from contacts laid on by a very successful Father.

It was an essential part of growing up and I learnt that it is alright to be hated as long as friends and family like you. I learnt to mask my Dyspraxia by dressing smartly and looking the part. If you see me on an Alderney beach with sand on me and ice cream around the nose, I won't worry too much because I don't need to impress anyone here. Alderney is a Dyspraxics paradise with no bouncers picking on us, no snobbish locals and no one worrying about the time it takes us to pack up shopping.

After university, Oxford Brookes the better Oxford uni, by the way, I worked for Anne in Westminster. Dyspraxia means you are immediately judged and I was judged once more. People assumed that Dad had got me the role. I was able to point to years of canvassing, Black Tie Dinners and smooching. The class question was easily dismissed and eventually, respect was earnt. I could not have done any of this without the backing of a great professional mentor or hundreds of lifts to the further parts of Surrey from Mum in the car. For all of that, I will be grateful forever.

Hopefully, this has been helpful for your budding Dyspraxics reading. So much of who you become will be about hard work, critical thinking, finding the right mentor and negotiating relationships.