It’s amazing how even seasoned health professionals can’t get their head around the verbal- nonverbal gap some of us have . My depot(antipsychotic injection) nurse is one of those, although she’s a pleasant person. The conversation got round to my being good verbally. I said that that may be true but I lag some way behind when it comes to non-verbal/practical intelligence . That was responded to in a ‘Good verbal skills can help in so many ways’ way, completely glossing over what I’d said about non-verbal/practical intelligence.
She’s not the only person who thinks this way. In fact a failure to see how much poorer non-verbal/practical skills can negatively impact on a person is all too common. It almost certainly explains why I have never been assessed as having a learning difficulty.
I am lucky in that I have a stepdaughter who knows my practical skills are far from good , and gives me first rate support. There are probably many though that , unlike me, don’t have that support .
I agree with this. I have decent verbal skills, maybe even superior to my dad and uncles. but they are all excellent tradesmen and can fix just about anything. I have a hard time seeing how things work. I suppose I could get better by showing more of an interest and putting the time in, but im not very gifted in these areas.
the funny thing is, I once worked maintenance on a golf course. I remember one time I couldn’t figure out how the sprinklers worked. and another time they asked me to go look at the water pump and see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. I think they thought because my dad was gifted in this area, I might be able to figure it out, but I was totally lost and had to hand it over to the lead mechanic. I just bullshitted mostly, to get by. and I had a good rapport with the boss, so he kept me on for 3 years.
I remember at my last place when there was something wrong with the pipes under the kitchen sink, and water was coming out of one. I got really anxious and stressed because I couldn’t work out how to fix it . Luckily I still had my befriender seeing me then, and he sorted it for me.
It’s the problem with learning disorders/differences. They’re mostly understood by the impact they have on those around you, rather than the impact they have on you. So someone who has difficulty communicating their needs will always be seen as “more disabled” to non-specialists than people who wear exclusively slip-ons because they never developed the manual dexterity necessary to tie shoes.
It’s just much easier to adapt around disabilities that don’t impact your ability to pass as functional.
@Ninjastar What you are saying is very true. That could also apply to severe mental illness re being mostly understood.
On here , and in non internet situations, where it’s about being verbal I come across as highly functional .
Get me in a situation where more non-verbal/practical skills are required, and as my wife would have said , I’m up ■■■■ creek without a paddle.
To notice that though requires people being present when the need for such skills are to the fore. That’s the case with my stepdaughter who no doubt got an idea of how I am from her mother.
The truth is I’d really struggle to maintain a healthy level of independence without the support I get. That was the case at my last place where I was not functioning well at all.