Directional Challenges

[CurlyGirl]

I am wondering if anyone here has directional issues. I know MANY people have difficulties with left vs right, and couldn't tell you which was is North if their lives depended on it - but I'm talking about challenges beyond that. I'm talking about getting turned around or disoriented in buildings that you've lived or worked in for years, or getting lost in cities you've lived in for a decade. I'm talking about sheer panic when you encounter a 'detour' sign on the road because it takes you off the only route that is familiar to you to get to a familiar destination....

I have been diagnosed with 'Developmental Topographical Disorientation' by a research team working out of the University of Calgary. Well - as much as a research team can diagnose. Their wording was that I met all of the criterial for the condition. I went through neurological testing (very stressful) and spend 2 hours in an MRI machine while doing directional challenges. (BTW - I LOVED being in that MRI machine! I felt it to be incredibly relaxing!!!)

This condition has had major impacts on my life. I would even call it a disability because of the stress that both the fear of getting lost or actually being lost causes. That stress has caused me to avoid going places - and hence I am a SERIOUS homebody...

Any who.... does anyone else struggle with these types of challenges?

 

[Outdated]

My sister did. Even at 14 she struggled to read an analog clock, that was just when digital clocks started becoming common and that was a godsend to her.

She struggled with school work, especially maths, but she wasn't stupid, far from it. She could do maths in her head easily as quickly as me or my brother and tell you the answer but when she tried to put pen to paper there was a mental block there. She said her brain just freezes. She was a year ahead of me in school but I always did all her homework for her.

She can't read a map. She says she can if you turn it up the right way for her but as soon as you turn a corner she's lost again. I was driving her somewhere one day and she told me to take the next street on the left, so I did. "No, no, I meant my other left."

 

[CurlyGirl]

Maps are challenging for me as well - for the same reason. I have literally found myself turning in circles while trying to find the correct orientation.

Math was also a challenge (and extremely stressful) for me. Even today if someone asks me to calculate 7X6, I will end up reaching the answer by: 36+6 because I know what 6X6 is, but have never been able to remember what 7X6 is. I use similar methods for division. I am not sure why, but some basic calculations are simply elusive to me.

 

[Outdated]

Math was also a challenge (and extremely stressful) for me. Even today if someone asks me to calculate 7X6, I will end up reaching the answer by: 36+6 because I know what 6X6 is, but have never been able to remember what 7X6 is. I use similar methods for division. I am not sure why, but some basic calculations are simply elusive to me.

That was my sister as well, yet she could add and subtract and do percentages quicker than most people could think how to. I watched her do the shopping for a family of 7 one day, the total bill was in the hundreds of dollars but when the lady at the till told her the total she didn't even blink - "That's wrong!". They went through the whole docket and Lou was right, an item was advertised on discount but the discount hadn't been recorded in the till. The difference was 15 cents.

Can't read a map but could win an argument with a tax lawyer.

Once her kids were old enough she went to night school and studied real estate law and became a licensed real estate agent.

All those kids weren't hers by the way. When she finally met the man she fell in love with she already had 2 kids and he had 3. It sort of turned in to the Brady Bunch.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

When I read a map, I want the top to always be north. Once the top is north, I can physically turn the map and still know where north is.

But if the map on turns itself, such as gps driving maps will do, I get totally mixed up.

 

[AspieChris]

I get lost in my own neighborhood sometimes. Ive lived in tge same house for 25 years. My wife knows every street name, and most every house for miles (it feels that way).

She gets frustrated when I don’t know what street she’s talking about.

 

[CurlyGirl]

That was my sister as well, yet she could add and subtract and do percentages quicker than most people could think how to. I watched her do the shopping for a family of 7 one day, the total bill was in the hundreds of dollars but when the lady at the till told her the total she didn't even blink - "That's wrong!". They went through the whole docket and Lou was right, an item was advertised on discount but the discount hadn't been recorded in the till. The difference was 15 cents.

Can't read a map but could win an argument with a tax lawyer.

Once her kids were old enough she went to night school and studied real estate law and became a licensed real estate agent.

All those kids weren't hers by the way. When she finally met the man she fell in love with she already had 2 kids and he had 3. It sort of turned in to the Brady Bunch.

I get lost in my own neighborhood sometimes. Ive lived in tge same house for 25 years. My wife knows every street name, and most every house for miles (it feels that way).

She gets frustrated when I don’t know what street she’s talking about.

I bet you have Developmental Topographical Disorientation. There are online tests you can do on gettinglost.ca , along with tons of information.

I also struggle to remember street names. And even struggle to remember which direction cars travel on a one way street that I walked on for 3 solid years. I finally realized it was because when I walked to work, I viewed the cars from one perspective (e.g. front). When I walked home from work, I viewed the cars from the other perspective (e.g. back). Those two views make it impossible for me to retain which direction was the one way direction. (Hope that makes sense...)

It's a very challenging disorder.

 

[Hypnalis]

@CurlyGirl

Buy a 360 degree orienteering compass, and learn to use it. "Silva" and "Suunto" are good brands that are used here.
They look like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walkers_compass_arp.jpg

Orienteering compasses are designed to be used while running, so they're very practical for frequent daily use (in particular, they're much more practical than using a compass app on a mobile phone.

Thumb compasses (the one on the left here):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Compasses_orienteering.jpg
are good too, but harder to use.

If I were in your shoes I'd buy both, but start with the rectangular one, because they're much easier for learning to read maps.

Also don't start with using a compass to navigate in rough terrain (way too much information).
IMO city streets in a flat (single-level) town or city that doesn't have a perfect rectangular grid is best.

 

[Outdated]

Many years ago my sister was living in Newcastle, near Sydney and Mum flew down from Darwin to visit her grandchildren. Louise's husband knew what she was like with directions and he was going to be away for work when Mum was arriving so he sat in the passenger side of the car and got Lou to drive to and from the airport a couple of times first so that she'd know the way.

Lou got to the airport just fine on the day and picked Mum up but she ran in to problems on the way home. Sydney has a whole heap of one way streets that change direction during peak hour. Lou isn't capable of going over one block and then coming back onto the same road again afterwards, so she drove the wrong way down a very busy one way street.

She drove at a walking pace with two wheels in the gutter so there was plenty of room for cars to get past and for the most part that was fine, people gave her funny looks but didn't put up too much of a fuss, until one man in a big Toyota Troop Carrier deliberately stayed in the middle of the road and both of them had to stop. The man sat there honking his horn and making aggressive hand gestures.

Lou got out of her car and minced (Mum's word, not mine) her way to the four wheel drive, the blonde hair and the makeup, short skirt, stockings and high heels. She walked up to the driver's window of the 4WD and tap tap tapped on the window with a long red fingernail while smiling ever so sweetly.

The man wound his window down and Lou, quick as a cut snake, grabbed his tie and wrenched on it until his head and shoulders were pulled through the window. She screamed in his face "I'm blonde and I'm 40, get over it!".

Then she minced her way back to her own car and just sat there smiling sweetly until the man backed up and went around her.

 

[Mary Terry]

My sister did. Even at 14 she struggled to read an analog clock, that was just when digital clocks started becoming common and that was a godsend to her.

She struggled with school work, especially maths, but she wasn't stupid, far from it. She could do maths in her head easily as quickly as me or my brother and tell you the answer but when she tried to put pen to paper there was a mental block there. She said her brain just freezes. She was a year ahead of me in school but I always did all her homework for her.

She can't read a map. She says she can if you turn it up the right way for her but as soon as you turn a corner she's lost again. I was driving her somewhere one day and she told me to take the next street on the left, so I did. "No, no, I meant my other left."

I have to orient the map to the four directions or else I have trouble following it, too!

 

[Mary Terry]

Maps are challenging for me as well - for the same reason. I have literally found myself turning in circles while trying to find the correct orientation.

Math was also a challenge (and extremely stressful) for me. Even today if someone asks me to calculate 7X6, I will end up reaching the answer by: 36+6 because I know what 6X6 is, but have never been able to remember what 7X6 is. I use similar methods for division. I am not sure why, but some basic calculations are simply elusive to me.

I'm okay with maps but I basically have forgotten the multiplication tables above the number 6 due to lack of practice, I suppose.

 

[Judge]

I tend to be quite practical and organized about the need or use of maps.

If I need to go somewhere I'm not familiar with, I simply print out a section of any search engine's map and print it. Then use a yellow magic marker to highlight the simplest route to get there. And I usually supplement the map with my own written directions of left on this street, right on that street, take the such-and-such exit off the freeway....and so on.

With such a sense of organization and a proper set of instructions, a sense of direction often becomes a moot point.

 

[Mary Terry]

My car has a GPS navigation system. I just input the destination address and the car tells me where to go and displays a route map. I also have a cell phone app that does the same thing when I'm not in my car.

 

[Outdated]

I'm the same as @WhitewaterWoman , I've never even attempted to use a GPS because I know I'd find the map moving around on me very disorienting. I have a good sense of direction and a pretty good memory though, I can study a map before I leave home and not make too many mistakes.

 

[Judge]

My car has a GPS navigation system. I just input the destination address and the car tells me where to go and displays a route map. I also have a cell phone app that does the same thing when I'm not in my car.

Mine no longer functions due to a defective SD card that contains all the data. But I never used it anyways while actually operating my car. Too distracting, especially given the onscreen image literally moves in whatever direction my car was going.

Conversely whatever I print and highlight on paper stays exactly where I put it to begin with.

 

[Xinyta]

I don't know if I have it. Likely not. But I can relate to panicking by being taken off course or going a direction I am not familiar with. I don't drive though. But I feel that way merely as a passenger.

Though I'll sometimes be too curious to be in fear. I'll tend to look at and recall landmarks which help with direction. I learn landmarks before street names quite often. Which helps me familiarize myself with my environment and makes me comfortable enough to start learning street names.

Though when you need to know street names in the middle of nowhere. That's trickier. It takes a few times for me to remember the street names. Like I need to have it written down to remember. I guess extra close observation of the lay of the land will alivate alot of that. But I don't pick up on it right away alot.

 

[CurlyGirl]

Many years ago my sister was living in Newcastle, near Sydney and Mum flew down from Darwin to visit her grandchildren. Louise's husband knew what she was like with directions and he was going to be away for work when Mum was arriving so he sat in the passenger side of the car and got Lou to drive to and from the airport a couple of times first so that she'd know the way.

Lou got to the airport just fine on the day and picked Mum up but she ran in to problems on the way home. Sydney has a whole heap of one way streets that change direction during peak hour. Lou isn't capable of going over one block and then coming back onto the same road again afterwards, so she drove the wrong way down a very busy one way street.

She drove at a walking pace with two wheels in the gutter so there was plenty of room for cars to get past and for the most part that was fine, people gave her funny looks but didn't put up too much of a fuss, until one man in a big Toyota Troop Carrier deliberately stayed in the middle of the road and both of them had to stop. The man sat there honking his horn and making aggressive hand gestures.

Lou got out of her car and minced (Mum's word, not mine) her way to the four wheel drive, the blonde hair and the makeup, short skirt, stockings and high heels. She walked up to the driver's window of the 4WD and tap tap tapped on the window with a long red fingernail while smiling ever so sweetly.

The man wound his window down and Lou, quick as a cut snake, grabbed his tie and wrenched on it until his head and shoulders were pulled through the window. She screamed in his face "I'm blonde and I'm 40, get over it!".

Then she minced her way back to her own car and just sat there smiling sweetly until the man backed up and went around her.

I can almost guarantee your sister has Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD). Send her a link to the gettinglost.ca website. They have a forum full of stories like you have just shared - without the benefit of the ballsy sister! I love her!!!

 

[CurlyGirl]

I'm okay with maps but I basically have forgotten the multiplication tables above the number 6 due to lack of practice, I suppose.

I have never thought of it before, but for me I think the multiplication table was a curse beyond the number 5. I haven't forgotten any of it, I was simply not able to learn it.

 

[Outdated]

Send her a link to the gettinglost.ca website.

I lost contact with all family a very long time ago. I'd like to hear from my sister again one day, she's the only one I ever really got along with.

....without the benefit of the ballsy sister! I love her!!!

She always had a bit of a mean streak in her, when we were kids she used sticking up for me as an excuse. She learnt early on that if you beat up a bully you don't get in to trouble, instead you get told you're a good girl for sticking up for the little ones.