The Purpose of this blog is to promote The Dyspraxia Foundation E book' "Dyspraxic Adults Surviving in a Non-Dyspraxic World" self
help book for dyspraxic adults. All proceeds go to the Dyspraxia
Foundation Adult support groups. Available on Amazon for £9.99
My Crash Course in TV Presenting
On July 18th (the day before I discovered that I was going to be made redundant See previous post) I went on a crash course for TV Presenting. I found this advertised on Meet-up. I went for the experience The whole point of doing this course was to live for the moment in a new experience. To not get anxious about what I can & cannot do because I’m Dyspraxic. Therefore, making what I can’t do self-fulfilling by getting anxious or not even attempting to do it. Avoiding new situations is a common a tactic to avoid failure amongst adult dyspraxics. To do something fun and challenging and not to beat myself up by comparing myself to other people on the course. There were people of all ages and different backgrounds including the Beauty Queen, Miss Liverpool, a laughter therapist, A life coach and an A level media studies student.
On July 18th (the day before I discovered that I was going to be made redundant See previous post) I went on a crash course for TV Presenting. I found this advertised on Meet-up. I went for the experience The whole point of doing this course was to live for the moment in a new experience. To not get anxious about what I can & cannot do because I’m Dyspraxic. Therefore, making what I can’t do self-fulfilling by getting anxious or not even attempting to do it. Avoiding new situations is a common a tactic to avoid failure amongst adult dyspraxics. To do something fun and challenging and not to beat myself up by comparing myself to other people on the course. There were people of all ages and different backgrounds including the Beauty Queen, Miss Liverpool, a laughter therapist, A life coach and an A level media studies student.
Our trainers were two professional TV presenters who were
very approachable and knew how to use kiss and kick feedback without being
unkind so they didn’t destroy our confidence.
Some of the challenges I faced caused by the way my dyspraxia
affects me were to remember what I was going to say. To keep my lower half of
the body still and use hand gestures while talking to the audience. But I do
stand-up and improvisation comedy, so I can get around that. I find it hard to
keep till for long as it requires more co-ordination to keep still than to
fidget. Which can be used to advantage in stand-up comedy but not when TV
presenting.
Although I am Dyslexic as well as Dyspraxic This affects my
spelling more than my reading ability. So I was surprised when I struggled with
the Autocue for the competition section. I have Keratoconus which gives me
blurred vision that swims in and out of focus. The font was quite large but I
had to move closer to the Autocue and I still struggled with it.( At least now
I have more time to spare I can chase up my appointment at the eye hospital to
get specialist contact lenses).
I think that if I
really wanted to become a TV presenter I would have to practice more and do the
full course rather than use the show reel that I have uploaded on here to get
work. But it wouldn’t be impossible because I’m Dyspraxic. The main thing was
that I tried something new and found it an interesting and enjoyable
experience.
