Coordination and direction issues?

This might be because of my dyscalculia , but ever since I was little I’ve always struggled with coordination and finding my way around places. It takes me a good couple of goes to get used to and find my sense of direction. I suppose it’s also possible I’m a little bit dyspraxic too but I know it’s definitely a symptom of dyscalculia and can also be part of ADHD as inattentivenes can make it harder to fully absorb your surroundings and get your bearings.

adhDrew

I am terrible with directions-mostly if I am driving and i need to make a turn, knowing I need to head “towards downtown” (in my city), I will turn what ends up being the wrong way from what I was POSITIVE was the correct way to turn. Related to this question, for as long as I can remember, when I give directions to people, I have to hold up my left or right hand to reinforce in my head which way I mean for them to turn. And I am known among my friends for telling them to turn left/right when I meant to say the opposite way. When I saw “coordination” in your question, I remembered reading an article about how some people with ADHD walk in a diagonal line when they think they’re walking in a straight line. In real life, this reveals itself when I am holding the umbrella for my husband and me (I am much taller than he is), within 1-2 minutes, he is getting wet because I have veered off, and the umbrella is no longer over him. Is there no end to the long list of weird shit that ADHD throws at us?!? 🙄😆

adhDrew

ohmu.

I've read it's common for people with ADHD to have issues with direction and sense of orientation/locality. I've always had great issues with this.

pinkmess

I don’t know whether either of my parents had ADHD, but one used mental-map navigation and the other used route-landmark navigation. I am terribly direction disoriented. It took me a good couple of years to learn the orientation of the buildings and rooms of my previous place of work. Fortunately, getting to work was a straight shot, so it didn’t take me too long to learn the route. When inside a building, I can’t tell which direction the streets are without looking out of the window. I don’t know how I got from one place to another without a map app. I used to say, “I can go anywhere with a map (the paper kind before Smart phones).” My spatial awareness absolutely sucks! LoL I recently moved and got a new job. I am figuring out how to get around all over again!

ohmu.

There are apparently two types of navigational strategies: Mental-map navigation, and route-landmark navigation. I have problems with the former, but pretty good with the latter.

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