I Suppose I Should Laugh Really!!

[RATTER15]

Being severely dyslexic, I subscribe to various forums on FaceBook along with other places where we discuss the pro's and con's and coping issues, techniques etc.

The problem is reading this stuff! Talk about the blind leading the blind, I often sit here laughing at myself trying to understand what the hell people are trying to say. When things are written well, it makes reading it a little easier, however, a dyslexic trying to read what another dyslexic has badly written is a bloody nightmare! For some reason, many dyslexics either cannot or will not not use spell checkers, I don't know why that is!

Anyway, just sharing a humorous moment of mine :-)

[RATTER15]

I Suppose I *Should'nt Laugh Really!!

[Old_Geezer]

I preferred the original title.

Hmm perhaps they do use the spell checker but pick the wrong suggestion ?

[tonyav]

LOL, never thought of it that way, RATTTER. A dyslexic trying to read what another dyslexic has written.

[RATTER15]

No OG, many of these words would never be found in any dictionary lol. I usually get the gist of what I'm reading after a few attempts but it does amuse me, not laughing at them but laughing at the situation.

[elliemay1]

Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there ever was a dog!

[marval]

It must be confusing, I am glad you are able to laugh at the situation.

[woofgang]

RATTER, I think that possibly people with dyslexia don't trust spell checkers because they can actually change the meaning of what is written and a dyslexic may not notice. I used to work in the NHS with a colleague with dyslexia. She had to write notes on visits she had made to people in their own homes and relied heavily on spellchecker to ensure that what she had written was correct as it would form part of that person's NHS medical record. Often she would get a colleague to read what she had written as well. One time she had visited a lady whose eyesight as failing and she had suggested that she should get some READING GLASSES. She had misspelt glasses and the spellchecker had corrected it to READING CLASSES! One letter, big difference!

[Booldawg]

How do you get on with AB Ratter? as there is no spell checker. Do you paste it from something like Word into AB?

[RATTER15]

Booldawg, I have a spell checker in the browser that works with AB, but I do often write it out in word first and the copy it in.

Woof, I know what you mean, generally speaking I would notice the difference if a spell checker gave me the wrong word but not everybody would for sure.

[mikey4444]

I have always been a bit puzzled by dyslexia. One of my brothers was diagnosed with it the 60's when he was at school, but a bit too late to do anything much about it, although the Army helped a bit later on.

If you are severely dyslexic, how do you managed to read this, and other things on a computer screen ? My brother says "its easier" but can't elaborate much more. I am interested to know your views and experiences.

[RATTER15]

Wow Mikey, I dont know where to start, let me show you a picture that may help you see how wide the issue is is to start with. http://tinypic.com/4dulocn9

I dont have a problem with reading words but I have a problem putting them together to make sentences. I often need to read thing a few times to understand them. I have great difficulty putting my thoughts on paper and sometimes what I write is not what I mean. I lack concentration and focus, my short term memory is dreadful, if you were to give me three words to remember, I would only ever remember three, the third word would not even be stored in the memory at all. My brain does not work fast enough to join my letters together so can not right fluently so I write in block capitals at all times, it doesnt work fast enough to play football, as I cant process the information fast enough to make a split second decision where to pass a ball. The dyslexic brain has to work about 10 times harder to process the same amount of information as the "normal" brain. Well that is just a starter, it goes on and on, dyslexia is not just about reading and writing, it goes far beyond that. In all fairness, my reading and writing skills are not bad compared to many others.

[RATTER15]

Some people really struggle with reading due to words literally disappearing from the page or the screen, cant follow a line without getting lost and similar, some of these issues are helped with coloured filters and coloured glasses.

[mikey4444]

Thanks Ratter....sounds awful...you manage to make yourself understood most of the time though !

[ummmm]

Boold....You need the spell checker in your browser and it works for all sites I use.

[RATTER15]

Mikey, I do make myself understood most times but I think most people would agree that I lack finesse!

If I need to write a lengthy letter for example, maybe two pages, to get it into some kind of acceptable order to my standard, it would take anything up to two days to write it, then Carakeel refines it for me to assemble it into an order for anybody else to make sense of it and to correctly punctuate it.

[RATTER15]

this was the pic I meant to post earlier. http://tinypic.com/m/ix9wye/4

[mikey4444]

Ratter...you are hardly the only one on AB that lacks finesse, so I wouldn't let it bother you !

[TWR]

Snap Ratters, I do admire you for coming out with your plight & talking about it in a humorous way, It's a pity some of the Spelling Police don't think about that when they Criticize people ? some members problems, mind you, some live in a sheltered world don't they?

[RATTER15]

Thanks TWR, I suppose I am happy to talk about it because it affects 10% of the population, so not exactly a rare problem, also dyslexia is very misunderstood. I also find it a very fascinating subject.

[Xeronema]

Ratter: My friend suffers from severe dyslexia and I also suffer from mild dyslexia. The one thing that I have on my side is that I can type extremely fast so I have time to Google word definitions if I'm not sure whether I've got the correct word or not. I know it sounds a little silly but I hate it when I misspell things incorrectly - that could have something to do with my other mental health issues maybe?