Dyspraxia Documentary and Janet Taylor

Last year I watched Kara Tointon: Don't Call Me Stupid and for the first time felt I understood dyslexia. It was a brilliant documentary and I've since watched it again. But it also made me angry. Dyslexia is a difficult condition for those who have it and it does deserve recognition but there are other conditions out there that even doctors haven't heard of. In a nutshell: I was suffering a little neuro-diverse jealousy.

To be serious, though, dyspraxia is just as hard on sufferers as dyslexia yet few people have heard of it and those who have often only have a cursory knowledge of the condition. I'm only one woman and can't search absolutely everywhere but so far if there is a documentary out there on dyspraxia, it's hiding itself very well. So I decided to make one.

Today felt like my first proper day of filming. I've done personal pieces to camera in recent weeks and one or two last year when I first thought of doing the documentary, but today I actually went out to Salford with a sound guy (thank you, Will) and interviewed Janet Taylor, a remarkable lady who not only lives with dyspraxia, but also set up and co-ordinates the Manchester Neuro-diversity Action group, which helps adults with dyspraxia and other associated conditions.

Janet is a real inspiration: though this condition adversely affects co-ordination, organisation, memory and a host of other things most people take for granted, Janet has been a teacher, carer, support-group founder (see above), fundraiser and a chair of DANDA, a London-based organisation aimed at supporting adults with neurological conditions. She set up MANA in October 2000 as part of a project within the Dyspraxia Foundation before breaking away as an independent group around five years ago. She has run the group for a decade but admits she only set it up to prove that she wasn't useless. I think it's fairly safe to say she's done that incredibly well.