A Workington man has launched a dyspraxia awareness day for education professionals, in the hope that they will spot the condition in school and be able to diagnose people sooner.

Cameron Farish, 22, was diagnosed as dyspraxic at 17, after a lifetime of being accused of being clumsy or not trying.

He said: “It’s my mission to educate teachers. I do think a lot of teachers thought I was just being lazy and not wanting to get better.

"It would give me a great satisfaction to think I had helped even one person.”

The launch took place at Lakes College this week.

Six education professionals and support staff attended, including Lakes College principal Chris Nattress. Clare Jeffreys, from the Fixers organisation, which helps people with dyspraxia, also attended the launch.

Mr Farish said: “The launch went really well. The principal is taking it to the board of principals and Danny Braithwaite, Lakes College vice-principal, will take it to the vice-principals board.

"Information is also going to a PGCE meeting of all colleges in the north of England and information will go to UCLAN, colleges in the north, primary headteachers in Cumbria and I’ll get the word out to contacts in secondary schools too.”

Mr Farish, who works at Lakes College in sport and public services, has worked with the Fixers organisation to produce a poster for the launch, which highlights the symptoms of dyspraxia - a physical co-ordination disorder that can run in families.

He has battled with the condition all his life and through school had particular difficulty with his handwriting and with sports.

He added: “I used to get a lot of jibes because of my handwriting and being poor in sports. It pushed me towards getting better.”

Mr Farish was only diagnosed before he went to university and went through primary school and secondary school without it being picked up.

When diagnosed, he said, it was a relief to know that there was a reason behind why he had bad handwriting and issues with sport.

He managed to get help at university, and got a disabled student’s allowance to get a laptop computer and do work on dictaphones, as he couldn’t listen and take notes at the same time.

He found it difficult to learn to drive a manual car, due to the co-ordination required to control the clutch, brake, pedals, gears and steering wheel at the same time. He said: “I just couldn’t get my head around it and physically do it, so I had about 20 lessons and wasn’t getting anywhere, so I had to move on to driving automatic cars.”

Perseverance, he said, has helped combat his dyspraxia. He said: “I’ve got better over the years with my hand-eye co-ordination as I always involved myself with sport, even though I wasn’t good. It never really improved with hand writing."

Mr Farish’s love of sport and the sporting industry pushed him. He said: “Because I was so into sport and the sport and leisure industry and actually teaching I thought I am going to push myself and force myself to do this because it’s the area I really want to work in. I’ve always just made myself do it and no matter what anyone else says like ‘you’re not very good at this’ - I’ve never let it hold me back.”

He now wants to raise awareness so that children can be diagnosed at secondary age, before they get to college.

Symptoms of dyspraxia can include difficulty with co-ordination, spatial awareness, concentration, organisation, following instructions and picking up new skills. More details can be found at www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia and www.fixers.org.uk