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Hello everyone my name is Daniel Arnold and I’m 25

I got asked to do a write up about myself and my successes with strongman. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was about 5 years old and I have problems with speech, reading and writing, gross motor etc. Through my school life I was bullied and was told I wouldn’t get anywhere in my life by both kids and adults. This wasn’t so much when I was in high school. I did rugby for a few years but because of injuries I had to give it up. I am also in to cars and racing, mainly since the age of 18, I’m in the middle of building my own drag car too.

My life really changed when I was 21, my best friend (Nathan) asked me if I wanted to train with him in the gym, at first I said no. So weeks went past and then he asked me again. This time I said yes, I was 68kg and had never done anything like this before. It was not easy at the start because of my dyspraxia, but he supported me at every step- I found keeping to a healthy diet hard and eating 6-7 times a day was really tough. So when I turned 24 I decided I wanted to have a go at a strength sport, so I tried strongman and found I loved it. I did my first competition with only a few weeks of strongman training under my belt. I came joint 11th, my 2nd competition was Norfolk’s strongest man in novice class, I came 7th out of 15 people. I have just done my 4th competition which was my biggest comp and had some of strongest novices in the UK competing. I came 32nd out of 50+ people.

I often get asked ‘how do I deal with worried/nervous/anxious feelings I get?’ Well I battle with that every day. Some days I want to give up, but then I look back at how far I have come. That gives me the incentive to keep me going. I have awesome friends, family and a great personal trainer (Jenny Todd). They all support me at every step! But my successes are down too being determined. I just wanted to show all the people who said “I wouldn’t get anywhere in my life” That I can do it and I am successful. Over the last year and half I have met loads of awesome people doing strongman who have helped me to achieve my goals. Now you ask what I want from strongman in future, I want to do the under 90kg class and see how far I can go!!

Thanks to all the people who have helped me over the years and to those who tried to hold me back, there’s no stopping me now!

We are delighted to announce that during the upcoming Dyspraxia Foundation London Conference, Saturday 24th June, we will have two full hours of dedicated events just for youth members. If you are aged between 16-25 please join us for an amazing day!

The main conference takes places with speakers from Professor Amanda Kirby,  Dr Angela Webb and a very entertaining talk from former young ambassador Liam Plumridge – one of the first young people to appear on national television to talk about Dyspraxia!

Further to this we have a dedicated session just for 16-25 year olds, which includes:

• Presentations on staying safe on-line.
• Blogging
• Vlogging
• Opportunity to create a piece of dyspraxia art – full information and to vote on what, please click here

and much more. It’s also the perfect opportunity to meet other members of the Dyspraxia Foundation Youth, network and chat in a safe environment, share experiences and more!

All this can be booked for just £15 for students, and £30 for those who are members of the Dyspraxia Foundation – a 50% discount – please come join us for an amazing day. You can now also book your place online via card payment. Simply visit our secure website and secure your place today!

For full details of our exciting day, and alternative ways to secure you place, please visit the main Dyspraxia Foundation website.

We are looking forward to meeting you all on 24th June! 🙂

As part of the Youth presentations and workshops being held throughout the day we would like to create something made by you; Dyspraxia Foundation Youth! Its an opportunity to be involved in producing a piece of art work that we can use to raise the profile of dyspraxia and show what Dyspraxia means to you.

We can then share the finished work to raise awareness as part of Dyspraxia Foundations Awareness week and share on Social media.

Working with the support of Olivia Page we have 3 options of what we can look to do on the day please vote for your preferred choice. For those not able to attend the day you will still be able to submit your piece to be added to the final piece.

Vote ends: June 5th

A group of 4 of students including DF youth Facbook members Gemma Conlin and Anne Perham as well as Nadia Samir Abu Sakran and Natasha Evans at the University of Exeter Penryn Campus, wanted to raise awareness of dyspraxia, dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Two have dyspraxia and/ or dyslexia and the other two wanted to learn more about what they were. So for the past year, they have been organising a week to offer information and support to people.

To help promote the events, Gemma wrote an article on the positives of dyspraxia, which was published in the Falmouth Anchor (can be found here: http://www.falmouth-anchor.co.uk/wp/index.php/2017/02/09/life-with-dyspraxia-isnt-that-bad/

The list of events held over the week of the 13th to the 18th February were as follows:

Across the week, there was an exhibition running in conjunction with Humans of Falmouth showcasing the stories and journeys of those with dyspraxia, dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. This was the biggest event and many people visited in person as well as engaging with it online. If you would like to see the stories, they can be found here on the Humans of Falmouth Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/humansoffalmouth/photos/a.811331952329928.1073741828.810973319032458/1092470644216056/?type=3&theater

Other events included, an information fayre held at two of the University Campus alongside the Don’t ‘Disability Society. From this fayre, 3 people inquired about being tested. Dyslexia Cornwall were there to provide more information and Dyslexia Services from their university came to support.

A discourse was held with the Politics Society discussing whether reasonable adjustments are fair to everyone.

A drop in session was held to talk informally about SpLDs and to provide information and support to people. About 6 people come on the day, who plan to get tested (on the exhibition, we printed definitions of dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia and some people came to the drop in session after reading them to gain more information). After the drop in session, Gemma and Anne were interviewed by 2 student journalists about how the week had gone and explain where people could access information and support if they needed it.

Fantastic work and awareness raising!