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Clumsiness

Desiree W

Well-Known Member
Hi there everyone. I'm curious to know if anyone else has issues with clumsiness. Being awkward from a physical aspect can be a bit of a health hazard. I bump into things a lot. I may not feel it them right then, but there will probably be a cruise and a painful reminder later. I tend to drop things too. I've included the article below that explains this being on the spectrum. Clumsiness Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders—Poor Proprioception
 
My proprioceptive GPS has been needing a recalibration since my birth... I'm the guy who trips over the cords laying on the ground, or stumbles if the next piece of sidewalk is just a little higher than the others, or smacks into a door jamb with my shoulder.

I drop stuff sometimes, but over the years I have gotten better. I just have to focus on stuff like this... where as others don't probably even consider it. I have to focus on lots of things others don't consider, like my speaking (when I speak), which hand to use, make sure I'm not making some odd moment or repeated motion, I constantly watch the body language I put out...

People often say I look sad, or tired, or pissed, and most the time I'm just thinking - but then again they wonder why we do tire out? In my case I think my brain just gets tired of thinking on stuff so much to try and not look like a stupid fool.

To me being clumsy is nearly normal, and I only seem to notice it when it happens more and more frequently and then I start focusing on how I am walking, or how I grab the glass, plate, pot of boiling water, etc.

My only real worry might be, that when I get older, I might one of those that falls and breaks bones. I don't want to be that guy calling and saying "Help I have fallen and I can get up." Geez please no... : )
 
I drop stuff quite a lot, bang into things. It's probably the reason I've had three cycling accidents this year that and other cyclists cutting me off.
 
Yeah... My worst case was once that I was having wine, and I don't know why, I bit the glass, in my mouth, and I broke it, in the middle of a meal, in front of people, as if it was a cookie that I was biting! So embarrasing and dangerous.

To prevent burns, I don't iron. That's a rule.

Last December, I was walking on a sidewalk, and I got distracted looking for an old lady that usually is in a corner (go figure why was it important for me to see her) so I missed a step and sprained my ankle.

I drop things almost every day, and in order to not be so clumsy, I remind my self constantly that my eyes have to be where my hands are (if doing something manual, like cooking) or my feet are (when walking).

That is one of the reasons why cooking is not easy for me, I have to concentrate too much in not droping, spilling or burning myself (I have now the mark of a burn on a wrist that looks as if I tried to slit it, but it is just that I touched a hot pan by accident).

If someone talks to me while I'm doing something in the kitchen, the chances of screwing up go up, because then it's harder to concentrate.
 
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I have had issues with clumsiness my entire life, and motor skills in general. Because of this, neither gym or art class were exactly my cup of tea growing up. :D My handwriting was so bad that I had to take a special class back in elementary school just so I could learn to make it legible. In gym class, our coach would tell the entire class while we were running laps that it was only okay to pass a specific group of students that were known as the "slow runners" (guess who was in that group?). :rolleyes:

Now that I think about it, all of us kids in the "slow runners" group were special needs of some type. I still wonder how she was able to get away with such blatant discrimination...
 
Yeah... My worst case was once that I was having wine, and I don't know why, I bit the glass, in my mouth, and I broke it, in the middle of a meal, in front of people, as if it was a cookie that I was biting! So embarrasing and dangerous.

I think about doing this when I drink from a really fine glass.
Every. Single. Time.
I actively have to chant to myself "do not bite the glass, do not bite the glass".
What's up with that?

Same for when I'm standing on a train platform; "do not jump, do not jump"... (in a non-suicidal way. It's more like, I wonder what would happen / what it would feel like if I jumped. Of course I know the answer)


On the topic:
I do not feel especially clumsy but I often find bruises that I know not from where they came. I bump my shoulder on walls, trip on the street, hit my head getting into cars. Again, not every day or so often that I think; Geez, woman, what's your problem. Perhaps I'm low-level clumsy ;)
 
Yeah... My worst case was once that I was having wine, and I don't know why, I bit the glass, in my mouth, and I broke it, in the middle of a meal, in front of people, as if it was a cookie that I was biting! So embarrasing and dangerous.

To prevent burns, I don't iron. That's a rule.

Last December, I was walking on a sidewalk, and I got distracted looking for an old lady that usually is in a corner (go figure why was it important for me to see her) so I missed a step and sprained my ankle.

I drop things almost every day, and in order to not be so clumsy, I remind my self constantly that my eyes have to be where my hands are (if doing something manual, like cooking) or my feet are (when walking).

That is one of the reasons why cooking is not easy for me, I have to concentrate too much in not droping, spilling or burning myself (I have now the mark of a burn on a wrist that looks as if I tried to slit it, but it is just that I touched a hot pan by accident).

If someone talks to me while I'm doing something in the kitchen, the chances of screwing up go up, because then it's harder to concentrate.

Reminds me of a woman in an Oliver sachs book. Her disorder was if she shut her eyes she fell over. She needed to see herself or she didn't know where she was.
She couldn't stand up with her eyes closed.

Yep, I have the burns and the bruises.
I have something I call 'the hand '

Say I'm doing something in the kitchen. Opening a tin perhaps.

Everything's going okay. Then, suddenly 'the hand' will come in at high speed for no reason to grab the tin.
It's like I'm watching it but can't stop it.

This occasion resulted in stitches..

I have to watch it.

The doctor asked me how I did it...

'Well, I was trying to be quiet....'

(A family joke... a lot of my escapades (can you have an escapade in your kitchen?) start with 'I was trying to be quiet '
 
I've always been clumsy.
Sports and gym in school, forget it.
I get bruises or scratches and don't know when it happens then get asked how it happened and looks that are like they think I am lying when I say I don't know.

Believe me, it doesn't get better when you get older.
I find I don't lift a foot enough and stub the ground or something simple like a hose. Walking is slower and takes more energy. And I did fall once and couldn't get up. If it hadn't been for someone nearby I don't know how long I would have layed there. Nothing broken. But, I have foot neuropathy since cancer surgery and that makes a big difference. I don't live alone and the elderly man I live with isn't gone very long on his own usually.
The house is so big we couldn't hear each other from one end to the other so we check on each other throughout the day. We have intercoms, but, in the night if something happened where we couldn't reach them... well that could be bad.
It does seem to be an Aspie trait. He isn't Aspie, but, elderly.
 
I closed my car door today and walked straight into a lamp pole so hard my glasses fell off. A businessman walking by was laughing so much he dropped his suitcase. I ended up just saying: "I can't help that I'm uncoordinated." As this guy walked down the street laughing himself to death. My life, a constant comedy for random passers by.
 
I closed my car door today and walked straight into a lamp pole so hard my glasses fell off. A businessman walking by was laughing so much he dropped his suitcase. I ended up just saying: "I can't help that I'm uncoordinated." As this guy walked down the street laughing himself to death. My life, a constant comedy for random passers by.
N.T's and some aspies are cold
 
I'm actually not too bad these days. I used to drop things a lot and walk into door frames or trip over when I was younger.
 
I closed my car door today and walked straight into a lamp pole so hard my glasses fell off. A businessman walking by was laughing so much he dropped his suitcase. I ended up just saying: "I can't help that I'm uncoordinated." As this guy walked down the street laughing himself to death. My life, a constant comedy for random passers by.

Clumsiness like a laser beam, causing death by laughter.
 
Uncoordinated = life

I cannot recall the number of dishes I have broken by accidentally running them into the faucet.
 
My clumsiness can join my stupid door answering as reasons to wonder how I have managed to survive this long. I have had this problem as long as I can remember.

One time in High School I took a pratfall in front of several friends. I was very embarrassed to have them all standing around laughing as I got up. I started to head for the Ladies room, but they told me they were not laughing because I fell. They said it was because they thought I fell and got up gracefully. I thought they were being sarcastic, but apparently they meant it.

I do not manage to be gracefully clumsy often, however. I look like a banana that has been on the shelf a while sometimes. I have gotten better at moving things out of my way at home to cut down the hazards.
 
My clumsiness can join my stupid door answering as reasons to wonder how I have managed to survive this long. I have had this problem as long as I can remember.

One time in High School I took a pratfall in front of several friends. I was very embarrassed to have them all standing around laughing as I got up. I started to head for the Ladies room, but they told me they were not laughing because I fell. They said it was because they thought I fell and got up gracefully. I thought they were being sarcastic, but apparently they meant it.

I do not manage to be gracefully clumsy often, however. I look like a banana that has been on the shelf a while sometimes. I have gotten better at moving things out of my way at home to cut down the hazards.
I remember saying and thinking my head is made of brick
 
Very, very clumsy that I dare enter a shop that has delicate things surrounding me!

I do not have self awareness from what is happening behind me ie my bag or something.

My husband says that I find dips and holes where there are none.

But, I am not clumsy when cooking, surprisingly. I LOOK clumsy with a knife, but very rarely cut myself.
 
In gym class, our coach would tell the entire class while we were running laps that it was only okay to pass a specific group of students that were known as the "slow runners" (guess who was in that group?)

I would be the one that the gym teacher had to find a placement for, because no one chose me for their team and in truth, I felt utterly demoralised and I do believe that a letter got me out of doing gym.
 
I would be the one that the gym teacher had to find a placement for, because no one chose me for their team and in truth, I felt utterly demoralised and I do believe that a letter got me out of doing gym.
Nearly all the same apart from never being allowed to be absent from PE
 
It feels like i have Tourettes with movements, if I'm holding something valuable or delicate I get very nervous and really have to concentrate, I start catastrophising which I'm good at.
 

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