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ASD and Clumsiness

I didn’t know I was autistic until I was an old man. As a youngster - suck it up and give it a go, or you won’t get picked. The list of sports I haven’t tried and competed in is probably shorter than those I have, but just a journeyman in most, master of none. A problem I had in several sports with small, fast moving objects (tennis, squash, cricket, table tennis - badminton was OK because of the shuttle’s slow and drop) was that my eyes couldn’t adjust their accommodation fast enough. A ball would get a within a couple of metres of me and I could no longer focus on it. I thought coaches who spoke of “watch the ball onto the racket” were speaking figuratively. Much later I found out that other players could actually do that. I just had to do a rapid approximation in my mind of the projected trajectory and “hit” where the ball should be. My squash racket’s head frame was covered in black marks - near misses.

My last TIA damaged parts of my cerebellum, so now I can’t be trusted on stairs. Or ladders. Or my motorbike.
 
In terms of clumsiness: once, I accidentally closed my ear in a car door. No kidding
. I can definitely relate to clumsiness but, like others said, when I do something athletic suddenly it's like physical things become easier. Like, I tried playing basketball and picked it up and was ok at it right away, or it's easy to pick up how to play an instrument but I still have a hard time balancing when I walk. Don't know why: i know alot of autistic people who find hard things easy and easy things hard. But I love learning new physical skills: like balancing a cane on my hand. It looks fun. I'm going to try it!
 
I've experienced a bit of all that is mentioned here. I was gung ho for trying all sports, but I promise you that I have the most off-kilter injuries that could have happened from them. Oops. Play soccer - get kicked in the tail bone. Play football (kicker) - tear tendons sliding on a muddy field. Play baseball - line drives to the face and chest. Also, I have shut my own finger in a car door. It shouldn't even be possible, but here we all are talking about it, haha.

More to the point, though. I'm envious of you who have solid and focused balance, which I do believe is an athletic and mental skill. It's a key attribute that I've seen magicians and entertainers use as a major strength, and I just don't have said talent really. I always wanted to juggle, for example. Nope. You may as well ask me to just throw things at people in the house. That's about how it's going to go. Pogo-sticks? Nah. That's asking for a hospital bill.
 
Dagan said:
Also, I have shut my own finger in a car door. It shouldn't even be possible, but here we all are talking about it, haha.
Click to expand...
Power saw, anyone?
finger.webp
 
A friend of mine had an amusing party trick. He’d almost severed his thumb on a lathe and, when stitched back, he had no sensation in it. He used to hold the flame of a cigarette lighter under it.
 
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