I think poor grasp of left and right is probably more linked to dyspraxia, which I may or may not have. Do you also have trouble telling the time? I struggle hugely with any clocks that don't have large faces with big numbers printed on the. Although I am also rubbish with numbers in any format, so it might be more down to that.
No. I suspect that all of us have a variety of symptoms, and that each of our clusters is different, and come up with different degrees of severity, at different times, and with different triggers. Not being able to easily tell time is a challenge, and from your postings here on FMB, I suspect that you have invented good workarounds for all this.
So, my main problems are left-right, and transposing numbers. For example, if I read or hear 1607, I will sometimes but not always write this or speak this as 1407, 1617, or 1670, or... I also am physically clumsy, so regularly run into furniture or bang my hands on solid objects; but I view this as more being impatient. I can tell time correctly with either digital or analogue clocks. I only rarely transpose entire words: blood work becomes work blood.
Emotional stress, tiredness, or hunger will make this worse, which I interpret as evidence that this is a combination of flaws of both brain structure and biochemistry. Genetics likely are a factor, as my father had most but not all of this stuff, and some other symptoms as well. He could read or hear "chimney" but neither say nor spell it correctly: "chimmeny," "chimbly," or "chimbeny." The combination of the letters mn he found impossible. He barely made it through high school (ages 14-18).
I view my problems as very mild disabilities, and rooted in some sort of brain misfunction. They hamper my ability to function; but to a very minor extent. Once I realized this was going on, as a child, I invented my own workarounds, which have sufficed over my life. In my former working life, I had to be very careful with both numbers and mathematical formulas. I would review my work several times, and arranged for someone else to review it looking for my specific types of mistakes.
In my Ph.D. program, I ran into fellow students who had been diagnosed with some variant of dyslexia, and decided to view themselves as differently-abled instead of disabled, and then tried to force the university into large - not reasonable IMO - accommodations: no time limits on timed tests, no written dissertations for a Ph.D., etc. Some were quite vocal and self-virtuous about it. I knew a few very well, and these friends did not want to invent and use work-arounds; they wanted the world to accommodate them, and lower standards to do so. Ironically, they were all from California and graduates of the California school system! In the US, the California school system is viewed by many as too focused on a primary goal of ensuring every student's self-image is positive, and not actually on education: learning stuff.
