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natesmom
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19 Jun 2009, 5:53 pm

I am ADHD.

I am so directionally impaired and spatially challenged, it is driving me crazy. Today I got lost just going a few blocks from my house. I decided to go a different way and just got confused. It was so sad. I left my GPS in another car. I also can't park straight, write on an envelope straight. I sometimes bump into walls.

Sometimes I laugh at myself and other times it produces so much anxiety in me I become wiped out!

Anyone else experience this? My PDD-NOS nonverbally, spatially gifted five year old tells me where to go LOL. That is his gift. Please someone tell me you can relate!!



poopylungstuffing
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19 Jun 2009, 6:02 pm

I go crazy giving directions....I have a hard time telling left from right...But I know my way around areas I am familiar with.
My ADDish+ dad has a really hard time with directions, so that I automatically know to navigate when I am in the car with him even on really familiar routes he is very very prone to turning the wrong way..
I have gotten rediculously lost just walking around the block in unfamiliar areas..



Aimless
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19 Jun 2009, 6:15 pm

I always get confused in office buildings because everything looks the same and I don't have an instinct for direction. I asked my brother once if he could tell where North was if he was in an unfamiliar place on an cloudy day(can't see sun) and he said he could.



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19 Jun 2009, 6:24 pm

err.. I hope you're REALLY careful when driving..

I'm the same way.. partly because I TOTALLY screwed up the driving test.. and they gave me a license anyways! (Well, I guess the driving testers probably can tell the difference between someone who is driving their best because it's the test, and people who are driving their worst for the same reason.. I fell into the second category. But seriously, I was stopped in front of a moving trolley, and then they gave me a license! WTF?!)

But I can never remember how to get anywhere until I've already driven there. I thought that was normal, though.



robbokris
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19 Jun 2009, 6:57 pm

I guess I'm the odd one out here because I've always thought of myself having a good sense f direction



Alphabetania
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19 Jun 2009, 7:01 pm

I am an Aspie with ADHD, and I can relate absolutely to everything you describe. EVERYTHING. Here is what I wrote about it last year before I was diagnosed:
http://tania.co.za/collective/blog.nsf/ ... rientation


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MattShizzle
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19 Jun 2009, 7:08 pm

I'm definitely not ADHD but I have no sense of direction whatsoever.



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19 Jun 2009, 7:26 pm

Same here, cannot even tell left from right w/o thinking about it :? (use landmarks to know where to go instead) :).


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Maxi321
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19 Jun 2009, 7:36 pm

natesmom wrote:
I am ADHD.

I am so directionally impaired and spatially challenged, it is driving me crazy. Today I got lost just going a few blocks from my house. I decided to go a different way and just got confused. It was so sad. I left my GPS in another car. I also can't park straight, write on an envelope straight. I sometimes bump into walls.

Sometimes I laugh at myself and other times it produces so much anxiety in me I become wiped out!

Anyone else experience this? My PDD-NOS nonverbally, spatially gifted five year old tells me where to go LOL. That is his gift. Please someone tell me you can relate!!


You sometimes get traits like that when ADHD is compound with dyslexia/dyspraxia. I'm both and I am so terible with directions it's unreal. If i walk somewhere and turn around everything looks completely new to me. though i can drive I don't becase getting from a to b is almost impossible. I spent 7 years at my school and never mastered the way to many classrooms without getting lost. And my 5 year old niece with downs syndrome/autism normally points me in the right direction when i'm out and about with her. :)



gramirez
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19 Jun 2009, 7:53 pm

I'm the opposite - I have incredible sense of direction. My mom is horrible at direction, and she always takes me with her since I'm her "human GPS". :D


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sunshower
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19 Jun 2009, 8:19 pm

If it makes you feel better, I can't tell left from right without making the "L" shape with the fingers of my left hand. :lol:

I can't seem to walk in a straight line either without intense focus - it's very frustrating for people who go walking with me when I keep bumping into them then veering off the path.

Diagnosed ADHD.


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19 Jun 2009, 8:27 pm

I'm fine with direction if someone says to turn right or left on a street, but if someone says to go north or east on a regular street, I have problems. I can only use a folding map, since I hate having to switch from one page on a Thomas guide map book to another page several pages away.


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19 Jun 2009, 9:11 pm

sunshower wrote:
If it makes you feel better, I can't tell left from right without making the "L" shape with the fingers of my left hand. :lol:


I do this too.
Also, I can't tell which way is north, south, east & west. People could tell me & then I'd turn around 90 degrees and forget. :lol:
I don't get lost walking about the block but for places that I've been to more than 5 times, I still wouldn't know how to get there.
My sense of direction is terrible.


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fiddlerpianist
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19 Jun 2009, 11:34 pm

gramirez wrote:
I'm the opposite - I have incredible sense of direction.

Me too, I was known as "map boy" growing up. Most days I'm fantastic with directions, those there are occasional days where I completely space and couldn't find my way out of a paper bag...


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Maddino87
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20 Jun 2009, 1:12 am

gramirez wrote:
I'm the opposite - I have incredible sense of direction. My mom is horrible at direction, and she always takes me with her since I'm her "human GPS". :D

Same here. I know the nearby highways and streets like the back of my hand. But I don't follow names of roads: I just pay attention to area details (billboard, buildings, arrangement of signals, etc.). If I need to turn around, I'll recognize everything I passed before. My parents rely on me to guide them through the streets and navigate through shortcuts.

But if I need to follow directions, I just use Google maps, more importantly Street View, so I have an idea of what to see if I need to change roads.



pschristmas
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20 Jun 2009, 1:25 am

Maddino87 wrote:
But if I need to follow directions, I just use Google maps, more importantly Street View, so I have an idea of what to see if I need to change roads.


Google maps and Street View are wonderful; I couldn't drive without them. I'm terrible about finding my way around new places and I'll stick to a known route if it kills me. My daughter will try to give me directions for all sorts of shortcuts and just sighs when I tell her, "But I know this route."

Regards,

Patricia