Dyslexia for beginers

General
1

John Foss <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote:

> Is that too much to ask? Sure, you can be in a hurry, you can be lazy, you
> can even hide behind a label such as dyslexic.

Grrr.

John, on some things I will respect your opinions and let you hold them
unchallenged but on this I will speak out.

You clearly have no idea what a relief it is to be told that you are
NOT stupid, lazy, daft, sub-normal, moronic,
thick, dim, ignorant, mental, mad, werid, a freak, not trying , failing,
a loser, idiot, nuts etc etc. But have dyslexia, a name for your condition
that you have
finally earned after hours and hours of tests including IQ, sight and
hearing, testing your balance, your ability to track a moving object, your
visual sequental memory etc. You have a specific learning disability ( or
difficulty depending on where you live and which term is used locally).
Your normal, theres a reason why you are not learning the same way as your
friends and its not the reason your enemies have used as labels for the
last X years of your miserable school life.

I and many other Dyslexics (some of whom ride unicycles) do not hide
behind a label. If we use that label, its because we chose to be open
about something that is a big part of who we are.

Dyslexia occurs globally, yes, there are dyslexic Japanesse. Different
education systems and scripts may make problems with writing
less noticable in
some regions. But the problems with left and right, visual and audio
sequential memory, co-ordination and the like don’t go away. We just
have to learn coping stragies to deal with them.

Sarah
Dyslexic- all my life
offically diagnosed at 15
after 11 years of schooling that could have been better.

Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships.
http://www.nwcue.org

2

I have to agree with you on this Sarah, Dyslexia is often misunderstood.

My wife and son are both Dyslexic so I have some experience of the condition and its implications. My wife went through school, college and university only to be diagnosed when she was working, what a relief that was for her. We are having big problems getting school to do anything for my son (he’s also a unicyclist BTW), as it will cost them money (of course they don’t say that it’s just implied). And all the time it’s my sons education that suffers.

Think about this, if you think anyone can learn to spell then why aren’t we all level 10 riders? After all it’s only a matter of making the effort isn’t it?

Gary

3

and/or

Which one, Gary? :slight_smile: :wink: :slight_smile:

4

sendhair writes:

I wondered how long before someone said that.

“Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish”

Something that is impossible is “NOT POSSIBLE”. That statement is a frame of mind not an action, this is something that people with disabilities often need to do everyday. My other son has a severe physical disability and does this everyday, he can’t do physical things that other people can but he tries harder than most people ever do.

So as I said we can’t (and not for a matter of trying) all achieve the same results from the same effort.

Gary

5

RE: Dyslexia for beginers

> > - by unicus:- Think about this, if you think anyone can learn to
> > spell then why aren?t we all level 10 riders? After all it?s only a
> > matter of making the effort isn?t it?

Spelling is not the pinnacle of writing.

Neither is reaching level 10 the pinnacle of unicycling, but it’s supposed
to be real hard. Anybody who wants to can reach there if they persist. But
spelling takes less effort, and is more likely to enhance your image in the
“real” world.

JF

6

John Foss write:

Spelling is not the pinnacle of writing nor is level 10 the pinnacle of unicycling and I didn’t suggest they were. The suggestion that anyone with enough persistence can reach level 10 is just not true; after all we all have physical limitations.

Your attitude of ‘this takes less effort than that’ is a bane for people with disabilities and is one reason why people with Dyslexia have been called stupid; I assure you they are not. Was Einstein stupid? He was Dyslexic.

For someone with dyslexia learning to spell can be way harder than any unicycling regardless of effort. On the other hand my son with a physical disability is fantastic at spelling, always has been, but he will never ride a unicycle. An extreme example maybe but placing your value system and expectations on people you don’t know could be very offensive.

As for enhancing your image in the real world well for all your correct spelling John your not enhancing your image in my and dare I say many others views on this subject.

I respect your views on unicycling, you’ve had many years of experience, so please respect other people and don’t belittle them when they may have made more effort to learn how to spell than maybe you ever had to.

In the end spelling is not that important it’s what you say that matters. Striving to better ones self is good but we are all different, we have different starting points and we will not all end at the same place. We will have different hurdles to pass on the way and I believe we should help each other to overcome them if possible not to make them higher.

Gary

7

Re: Dyslexia for beginers

> Think about this, if you think anyone can learn to spell then why aren’t
> we all level 10 riders? After all it’s only a matter of making the
> effort isn’t it?

If you can type you can certainly run spellcheck, regardless of how dyslexic
you are.

8

Scott Kurland writes:

Yes Scott you may think so but even doing that maybe difficult when you have no idea how a word is spelt. Try unicycling, M$ Word 2000 doesn’t recognise that. Just using the spell checker can be difficult; Dyslexia is not just about spelling it can affect allsorts of tasks. I could comment on your spelling/grammar but I won’t, as I understand what you are saying and that’s what’s important.

Tactfully suggesting that someone should use a spell checker or helping them to do so or pointing them to where they might get help is maybe OK depending on how you know them, it’s the lack of tolerance and understanding for others that I object to.

This is a forum for discussing unicycling we’re not writing dissertations on the subject or anything. Personally I write differently depending whom I’m writing to and why I’m writing.

Gary

9

RE: Dyslexia for beginers

> unicycling and I didn’t suggest they were. The suggestion that anyone
> with enough persistence can reach level 10 is just not true; after all
> we all have physical limitations.

I digress. You have to be able to ride a unicycle to work your way up to
level 10. Not everybody has the physical capabilities to ride. However if
you do, and if you don’t have physical limitations on the various movements
required by the skills in the levels, you can work your way up to them as
well. The main limiting factor is time. Being older doesn’t help either…

> An extreme example maybe but placing your value system and
> expectations on people you don’t know could be very offensive.

My apologies to anyone I’ve offended with my take on how dyslexia is real,
but is a potentially dangerous label when applied to someone who suffers
only mild effects. Please note that in my earlier posts I did not intend to
dismiss dyslexia as no excuse for bad spelling. My tangent about dyslexia
was away from the topic, which was intended as people who don’t make the
effort to avoid being sloppy in their posts. It was not directed at people
such as you, who do.

In my years as a circus educator, I saw thousands of examples of the
physical forms of dyslexia in kids learning to juggle or do other physical
skills. With practice, it gets very easy to spot hemispheric discrepancy
problems in people before they even make their first throw. These effects
are often related to the forms of dyslexia that make reading and spelling
difficult. Juggling, it has been shown (but not by any large scientific
study), can be an effective tool at fighting these effects, and helping
students with their reading.

> I respect your views on unicycling, you’ve had many years of
> experience, so please respect other people and don’t belittle
> them when they may have made more effort to learn how to spell
> than maybe you ever had to.

Thank you for your respect. I direct the respect back your way direction,
noting the complete lack of typos that I noticed in your post. Whether you
made a supreme effort to accomplish this is beside the point. The fact that
you made the effort shows your respect for the readers here. When the
“spelling police” rear their ugly heads, as they again have, it has always
been directed at people not making an effort. I think it’s the effort, or
lack of one, that people are really reacting to.

Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com <http://www.unicycling.com>

“This unicycle is made all from lightweight materials. But it uses a lot of
them.” – Cliff Cordy, describing the very heavy new prototype unicycle he
brought on the Downieville Downhill

10

Re: Dyslexia for beginers

Unicus is now my best friend.

__
Trevor andersen

11

One of my best friends and his young son both claim the label ‘dyslexic’. One of them clearly has a genuine problem, but the other appears to be grateful for the label, as it absolves him of some of the responsibility for his poor reading and writing skills. We could all find examples on both sides of this debate. Arguing from examples is dangerous and unreliable.

My view is that reading and writing are not natural activities; they are acquired skills. Why call someone who cannot acquire the skill of reading and writing ‘dyslexic’? Why not call those who can learn, ‘lexic’? Perhaps it would be more positive to say that 95% of people are lexic, rather than 5% are dyslexic.

We don’t call people ‘dysunicyclic’ just because, however hard they try, they do not have the particular ‘wiring’ necessary to learn the skill of riding a unicycle.

A less trivial example would be musical skills. A person who cannot learn to play an insstrument or read music is not labelled as dysmusical or dysharmonic or dysrhythmic. This is because society accepts that music is a special skill and a gift. In fact, there is little real difference between music and reading/writing. It’s just that society takes it for granted that ‘everybody’ can read and write, so those who can’t must be ‘abnormal’.

The truth is that something like 20% of the adult population of Britain are functionally illiterate, for a variety of reasons. It is not for us ‘lucky ones’ to belittle that. My ‘dyslexic’ friend can strip and rebuild an engine as easily as I can write, edit and punctuate a letter. My engineering skills are very limited; am I dysengineeric?

Just because I can do something (read and write) it doesn’t mean I can criticise someone who can’t, whatever the reason.

12

Re: Dyslexia for beginers

I’d like to say that, I personally have been making an effort to improve my
spelling and whatnot in my posts. I hope it has showed through. But I do
not agree with any of your arguments. Any improvement I have made is a
direct result of spellcheck, and where there is not spellcheck, there will be
no improvement in spelling whatsoever, try or not. Of course this is not to
say that I will not try, but like it or not, spelling is not something
everybody can learn to do. It requires a very specific part of the brain and
cannot be communicated by other parts. In otherwords, there is no logic or
creative thinking involved, it is purely strict memorization. Some people
are apt to memorization, some people are not. Having said that, I am sure
that if I devoted the overwhelming majority of my time to learning to spell,
i.e., dropped school, unicycling, didn’t work, had no social life, and
stopped posting so that I could devote all that time to drilling myself in
the ways of spelling English, yes I would hopefully improve. But that would
be stupid. I am perfectly content with other peoples typing and spelling
errors, it does not bother me in anyway, and I firmly believe a persons
opinions should be judged on the basis of there merit, not on how they are
spelled. To discredit somebody simply because of how they spell is no
different then making fun of somebody or discrediting their opinion because
they have a lisp, a stutter or any other such speech impediment. All of
those are overcomeable with enough effort, but from experience I can say the
amount of effort required is simply not worth it. And not everybody who can
ride can be a level 10 rider. That is simply not true. That way of thinking
is stemmed from a way of thought that was discredited in the beginning of the
20th century, and is simply not true. You for instance, would ververy likely
not be able to ever become known in the field of theoretical physics. I say
likely only becausedon’tont know ypersonallyaly and theoretical physics may
be one of your areas of interest. Further, I’d curiousous to hear from
harper, how many of the people he works with are expert spellers. I’d bet
money that most physicistssts he works with have trouble in this area as
well.

Also, remember, nobody attacked the validity of your posts on the matter of
managing inclinsimplymly because some of the formulas you used were not
correct or were not used correctlyNobodydoy attacked you because we
arecognizeize what the point you were trying to make was. And that, physics,
at least not at the specific points, is not your area of interest, and you
should not be held accountable.

You have to take into consideration, that, for you, who spelling comes easy
to anyway, devoting a little extra energy to it every now and then may not be
a big deal. For other people other people, it is a big deal. And for some
people, your opinion is not really going to worthoth that much that they are
going to run out arearrangenge there life and strive with all their hart to
overcome there terrible spelling problems, just to please a couple of people
who insist on focusing on the fine points of peoples faults instead of
respecting that person for who they are and what the have to say

__
trevor andersen

13

Re: Dyslexia for beginers

I’d like to say that, I personally have been making an effort to improve my
spelling and whatnot in my posts. I hope it has showed through. But I do
not agree with any of your arguments. Any improvement I have made is a
direct result of spellcheck, and where there is not spellcheck, there will be
no improvement in spelling whatsoever, try or not. Of course this is not to
say that I will not try, but like it or not, spelling is not something
everybody can learn to do. It requires a very specific part of the brain and
cannot be communicated by other parts. In otherwords, there is no logic or
creative thinking involved, it is purely strict memorization. Some people
are apt to memorization, some people are not. Having said that, I am sure
that if I devoted the overwhelming majority of my time to learning to spell,
i.e., dropped school, unicycling, didn’t work, had no social life, and
stopped posting so that I could devote all that time to drilling myself in
the ways of spelling English, yes I would hopefully improve. But that would
be stupid. I am perfectly content with other peoples typing and spelling
errors, it does not bother me in anyway, and I firmly believe a persons
opinions should be judged on the basis of there merit, not on how they are
spelled. To discredit somebody simply because of how they spell is no
different then making fun of somebody or discrediting their opinion because
they have a lisp, a stutter or any other such speech impediment. All of
those are overcomeable with enough effort, but from experience I can say the
amount of effort required is simply not worth it. And not everybody who can
ride can be a level 10 rider. That is simply not true. That way of thinking
is stemmed from a way of thought that was discredited in the beginning of the
20th century, and is simply not true. You for instance, would ververy likely
not be able to ever become known in the field of theoretical physics. I say
likely only becausedon’tont know ypersonallyaly and theoretical physics may
be one of your areas of interest. Further, I’d curiousous to hear from
harper, how many of the people he works with are expert spellers. I’d bet
money that most physicistssts he works with have trouble in this area as
well.

Also, remember, nobody attacked the validity of your posts on the matter of
managing inclinsimplymly because some of the formulas you used were not
correct or were not used correctlyNobodydoy attacked you because we
arecognizeize what the point you were trying to make was. And that, physics,
at least not at the specific points, is not your area of interest, and you
should not be held accountable.

You have to take into consideration, that, for you, who spelling comes easy
to anyway, devoting a little extra energy to it every now and then may not be
a big deal. For other people other people, it is a big deal. And for some
people, your opinion is not really going to worthoth that much that they are
going to run out arearrangenge there life and strive with all their hart to
overcome there terrible spelling problems, just to please a couple of people
who insist on focusing on the fine points of peoples faults instead of
respecting that person for who they are and what the have to say

__
trevor andersen

14

Re: Re: Dyslexia for beginers

Actually, all of the physicists and engineers in my department have outstanding spelling and grammatical skills. They have to. They constantly write papers that are refereed for publication and proposals that are reviewed for funding.

Most of them are left-handed and their handwriting is pathetic. I, also, am left-handed but I of course print like a typewriter.

Spelling is not the most important thing in life. Having an adequate supply of root beer, however, rates pretty high up there.

15

An excellent point.
In interpreting (from English to American Sign Language and back) one of the goals is to match the register of the speaker. That is to say how the person would be speaking or signing in that particular situation. ie. formal business meeting or a boy scout meeting. Some signs and wodr are viewed not acceptable in certain situations.
In a newsgroup setting such as this most people are laid back. Spelling isn’t an issue. Because someone doesn’t spell correctly or have perfect grammar doesn’t mean they can’t, maybe they just don’t feel the need.
:slight_smile:

16

Re: Re: Re: Dyslexia for beginers

Greg,

Brad would agree with you on your root beer statement even placing root beer a notch or two higher than our 5’ giraffe.

Mary on the other hand would have to arm wrestle you over whether or not Mountain Dew is the center of the universe.

Bruce

17

Not everything has to start from the roots, I’m happy with rootless beer.

18

Re: Dyslexia for beginers

> I’d like to say that, I personally have been making an effort to improve
my
> spelling and whatnot in my posts. I hope it has showed through. But I do
> not agree with any of your arguments. Any improvement I have made is a
> direct result of spellcheck, and where there is not spellcheck, there will
be
> no improvement in spelling whatsoever, try or not. Of course this is not
to
> say that I will not try, but like it or not, spelling is not something
> everybody can learn to do. It requires a very specific part of the brain
and
> cannot be communicated by other parts. In otherwords, there is no logic
or
> creative thinking involved, it is purely strict memorization. Some people
> are apt to memorization, some people are not. Having said that, I am sure
> that if I devoted the overwhelming majority of my time to learning to
spell,
> i.e., dropped school, unicycling, didn’t work, had no social life, and
> stopped posting so that I could devote all that time to drilling myself in
> the ways of spelling English, yes I would hopefully improve. But that
would
> be stupid. I am perfectly content with other peoples typing and spelling
> errors, it does not bother me in anyway, and I firmly believe a persons
> opinions should be judged on the basis of there merit, not on how they are
> spelled. To discredit somebody simply because of how they spell is no
> different then making fun of somebody or discrediting their opinion
because
> they have a lisp, a stutter or any other such speech impediment. All of
> those are overcomeable with enough effort, but from experience I can say
the
> amount of effort required is simply not worth it. And not everybody who
can
> ride can be a level 10 rider. That is simply not true. That way of
thinking
> is stemmed from a way of thought that was discredited in the beginning of
the
> 20th century, and is simply not true. You for instance, would ververy
likely
> not be able to ever become known in the field of theoretical physics. I
say
> likely only becausedon’tont know ypersonallyaly and theoretical physics
may
> be one of your areas of interest. Further, I’d curiousous to hear from
> harper, how many of the people he works with are expert spellers. I’d bet
> money that most physicistssts he works with have trouble in this area as
> well.
>
> Also, remember, nobody attacked the validity of your posts on the matter
of
> managing inclinsimplymly because some of the formulas you used were not
> correct or were not used correctlyNobodydoy attacked you because we
> arecognizeize what the point you were trying to make was. And that,
physics,
> at least not at the specific points, is not your area of interest, and you
> should not be held accountable.
>
> You have to take into consideration, that, for you, who spelling comes
easy
> to anyway, devoting a little extra energy to it every now and then may not
be
> a big deal. For other people other people, it is a big deal. And for
some
> people, your opinion is not really going to worthoth that much that they
are
> going to run out arearrangenge there life and strive with all their hart
to
> overcome there terrible spelling problems, just to please a couple of
people
> who insist on focusing on the fine points of peoples faults instead of
> respecting that person for who they are and what the have to say

I’d like to point out that spellcheck would’ve caught 13 of the above
errors. Not all of them, of course - can’t do anything about ‘there’ for
‘their’ and so forth.