BS: Dyslexia

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 09:08 PM

Guest- thanks fpr your concern [it is apreshiated]
howwver, nowadays i don't give a flying fuck waht anyone says about me [as long as they use their regiular mudcat name].

a while ago, i got offendeed at people cometning [i think ive spelt co#menting wrong, but i dont care!]
about my spelling mistakes, [wehen i first joined here in 2000, thereb was Murray Mclreod and Skipjack K8 , that felt it nessersary to comment on my bad spelling, at that time i felt outcast, and posted to the main forum., [and PM'f them both], ie "sorry if my bad spelling anoys you, i'm dislexic, if you prefer, i'll stop posting here, and just read the threads"

there reply was="don't be daft john, we like you, and want you to stay here"

At the time I thought Skipjack8 was a complete wanker, and more interested in spelling than music=

I have since met him, and nothing could be further form the truth, he is an all round good guy, and an exelent musician, [fiddle, accordian etc], in fact, i've forgotten all about him taking the piss out of my spelinng, and ive booked him and his band for a gig in hull!

I don't give a shit waht anyone says about me, if they are good musicans, i'll do waht i can to get them a gig.

There was a thread a while back, [some arguing shit],
skipjack posted, saying=
"dont forget why we are here"
he means = we are here fore the music, ie see wahts happeningf in your area, se waht festivals etc etc"
any extra stuff, is not important, its just cit chat and bullsit,
ok some of it is important, [worlfd issues etc], or funny.
but the main thinhg here is music.

and-
a while ago, i posted that i'm starting a folk club in Hull, =
Murray Mcleod posted to it, saying=
"good luck wihth it john, i will go, next time i'me in hull"

to all people=
this whole thing is about music, if you spell bad= it doesent matter,
make a folk club, or start a session or wahtever, but wahtever you do, make sure you keep live musc going.


john

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: InOBU
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 09:01 PM

I have a learning challenge similar to dislexia, I have problems sequencing, and therefore can't spell... still got into law school, for those who don't know me... LDs shouldn't hold ya back. I don't mind jokes about it, I DO get a wee bit sick of fellow catters (I supposed new ones who don't know me...) using my spelling to counter points I make in discussions, more than my spelling, my graduating a top 3 law school in the US says more than my ability to spell, but I am off the point, no, I think it is cute.
Cheers
Larry

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Helen
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 08:24 PM

I am dyslexic and as Bobert said, I have also worked out some tricks to help steer my brain in the right direction.

The first was to wear a ring on my left hand so that I could tell left from right quickly, and then my wristwatch took over that function.

A neat trick for remembering b's & d's is to write the word "bed" and see the word as a picture of a bed - bedhead, mattress, foot of the bed. Then it's easy to remember which way the letters face.

The best thing I have done is to go and get diagnosed for Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome for which I was prescribed Irlen lenses, which are mildly coloured lenses in my glasses, and for some reason that helps to stop the print from jiggling about on the page. For me the print has a little shadow-halo around each character and this is made a lot, lot worse by high contrast black on white letters. With high contrast it is a lot harder to stop my brain from picking up words from the print lines above and below the one I am reading, as Bobert also described.

For my computer I have adjusted the Appearance on the Control Panel (PC, Windows) so that the background colour of documents is a neutral beige shade so that the black print doesn't contrast so much and hurt my eyes.

I usually know if I have typed something incorrectly and go back and fix it because I have spent the majority of my life writing, reading, typing etc so it is automatic for me to proof read as I go.

I find it a very conscious experience using a typewriter or keyboard because I learned to touch type about 30 years ago but I still hit the wrong keys by hitting the key with the corresponding finger on the other hand, e.g. instead of an "s" (left hand, ring finger) I would hit an "l" (right hand, ring finger).

Other than that, yes, I do have a sense of humour about spelling, more so than a lot of the pedants, some of whom can appear to have little sense of humour about spelling sometimes. Spelling, as Tinker said, is a little flexible. I tend to make little jokes about it, which sometimes only amuse me, e.g. referring to my former profession as a "lie-bare'-i-an", rather than "librarian" or the "lie-berry" instead of the "library". It tickles my funny bone when pedants pull a cats-bum-mouth face and correct my pronunciation. ;-> Sorry!

And, as always, it is the spirit in which the joke is made which makes all the difference.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Mudlark
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 05:59 PM

I am dyslexic, transpose many letters, can't tell left from right, (tho I do OK with up from down!), am hopeless with direction, and find reading tablature, music, etc. impossible. None of this precludes a sense of humor, however. And altho I seldom read jOhn's posts his thread names usually make me smile.

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: skipy
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 05:31 PM

I am "b" & "d" dyslexic, if I am writing, not so bad on a keyboard, I have to think "bog / dog" to decide which direction the letter goes.
To do this I imagine a picture of a dog / shit 'ouse.
It works for me, if there is "spelling mistake" above - IT IS A TYPO!

Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Raedwulf
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 04:53 PM

Moses - the problem is that, yes, I read that perfectly (ignoring the fact that I've seen it before), but I would have read it much faster had it been spelt correctly, because my brain wouldn't have wasted split seconds sorting out the letter groupings.

When John is disliked, it is not because he's dyslexic (he's not), it's because he A) floods the board with such complete fucking rubbish; & B) because those of us that have hung around here long enough know that he can spell perfectly well *when he can be bothered*. Wading through one of his ha-ha-ain't-I-amusing-look-I-can't-spell-even-though-I-can posts is profoundly fucking annoying. Which is why, for some time since, I completely ignore anything that the waste-of-space posts.

P.S. In case anyone thinks I'm being unfair to John, I'm sure I have seen somewhere (sadly, I forget exactly where) an admission that he deliberately mis-spells to annoy people.

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 01:42 PM

Sorry to become pedantic, but letter & shape recognition are only two of the skills used in decoding text. Far more important in these examples are the use of context and prediction.
Underbirths are og! (Les Barker - Irrational newtscene)

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 01:29 PM

Most interesting!

I have read the good readers scan a small group of words, then pause, gazing at a blank space while they interpret what they scanned. Confirmation that we do not read whole words, one at a time.

Another thing I've learned is that the space around print matters as much to us as the printed material itself. That is why we are irritated by print which is too open or (worse)too squashed.

Once I learned that, I realized why I have such a hard time deciphering chords in written music. The note heads are squashed above and below, and they don't have defining white space around them.

A further point - don't use sans serif print if you are writing more than a few words. Sans serif print is "draft print" which lacks the little blocks on the tops and bottoms of the letters. The little blocks help us steer our eyes when reading.

Bobert - I don't read long posts either. I don't think it's dyslexia, I think it's self-defense.

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 12:38 PM

That illustrates my point, Moses. If the first and last letters are correct, you can mix and match the innards just so long as the innards are for the most part the correct innards though in incorrect sequence.

Now for "nons". If you look at the above paragraph that Moses has shared and start rearrangin' the words and leavin' out about 25% of 'um you'll have some idea about what lexdexics face without using a pointer and readin' slow compared to "nons"...

Now, here's just another thing that I found as a lexdexic. I can skim an article real well and get a good amount of content from just a quick skim... I've had others who have been blessed/cursed with this condition tell me the same thing... Go figure?

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 11:33 AM

Send it back they've spelt it wrongly ;~)
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Moses
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 11:18 AM

Someone sent me this yesterday

Read it fast.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 08:54 AM

Hey, wait jus' a gol danged minute here!!!

Spellin' ain't half as important as content. Might of fact nondyslexic brain processes information very similar to those of us you have lexdexia.

See, when "nons" read a word they don't read every letter. as long as the first and last letters are in the right place and most of the other letters are between 'um it really don't matter much. The average "non" will get it and not give it another thought, unless the avrerage non is a spellin' taecher 'er one of them folks who jus' likes to be over critical...

But now for the lexdexics. What "nons" do in readin' a word, lexdexics do to an' entire groups of words... You know like paragraphs. We tend to mix 'um up. Sometimes we'll pull down a word from a line or two above or under the line we're trying to read and read it into what we are reading. Lots of times we'll just rearrange them in the line we're readin'... So instead of "The cow jumped over the moon" it becomes "The moon jumped cow"... Now if the line above
what we're readin' is "Blue is the color of my true love's eyes" then we might process something like "The blue moon jumped cow"...

As an adult lexdexic and looking back when I was trying to learn to read it was very frustratin' because what was being presented to me in the printed form did not square with my knowledge of language. There ain't no pills fir it either. One jus' developes little tricks, like using pointer to keep the words being processed in order... I use the pudder arrow when readin' and that works purdy good but I'll jus' confess to passing by posts that are long drawn out cut and paste threads unldess the first paragraph really grabs me because they wear me out...

But, hey, I know folks will joke about us lexdexics but most of us don't care because if we hadn't figured out how to read we wouldn't be here to read 'um... As fir spellin'... life's too short!

Lexdexic and proud of it...

Okay, maybe not proud... but not ashanmed either...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 08:49 AM

How do you know they are deliberate misspellings? There are plenty of people who cannot spell or who never learned touch typing properly. Maybe they just don't have the patience to correct all their errors.

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Tinker
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 08:03 AM

I'm not dyslexic, but I do have a processing problem that makes spelling a less than exact science. It amuses me, and I know that the mispellings cause more discomfort for those who immediately know a mispelled word than they ever will for me. My brain really does consider spelling an exercise in options.

tinker

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: GLoux
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 07:30 AM

Dyslexics of the world, untie...

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: GUEST,Mingulay
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 07:21 AM

I know a number of people with dyslexia who would not take offence at all. In fact most of them would probably laugh along with it. At least they could read it first off.

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 06:09 AM

43,

Why should dyslexics be treated any different than anyone else? As a conservative, I am offended by the personal insults given here all the time- so what?

Subject: RE: BS: Dyslexia
From: Splott Man
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 06:05 AM

At the risk of compounding...

How would they know?

Subject: BS: Dyslexia
From: GUEST,Deep Thought
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 05:27 AM

Surely someone with dyslexia would be offended by all the threads containing deliberate mis-spellings? It is either insensitive or sycophantic, either the poster finds spelling mistakes funny, or he is jealous of John from Hull's popularity.

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