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MistressDarkArt -> RE: Apostrophe S: 's for plural? (3/23/2014 12:30:44 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AlexisANew
Dyslexia was touched on by one person but ignored by the op so far.
I was 29 years old before I was diagnosed with both primary dyslexia and auditory dyslexia. My husband, who is a physicist by the way, was diagnosed with primary dyslexia and dysgraphia when he was 16 years old. Both of us can share many a story about our unhappy days at school, being put in the dunces class, being told we would never amount to anything, being made to feel stupid. Whilst my husband had caring parents who recognised that whilst their son was extremely bright, he had severe spelling and grammar difficulties and extreme difficulty holding a pencil or forming letters, I had step parents who delighted in telling me I was as thick as pig shit.
When my ten year old son (who is a bright lad) was diagnosed with dyslexia I knew it was hereditary and that is why I got tested so late in life. Up until being tested, I always had this sneaking suspicion that I really was an idiot, that I could talk the talk but sooner or later people would find out the truth about me. Once I knew with absolute certainty that I had this condition, I was over the fucking moon. For the first time in my life I had the confidence to educate myself whilst telling the grammar and spelling pedants to take a hike.
Dyslexia comes in many forms and its very common. Dyslexic people doubt their intelligence every single time they put pen to paper and dyslexic people try so much harder to get it right whilst still continuously getting it wrong. An example of that is, how many times I have to edit a post on here (almost every time). I proof read, correct and send and then proof read it again and usually spot missing words, missing letters or some random sentence that makes no sense at all. My grammar has always been a struggle and therefore expressing myself on paper has always been problematic. I try so hard and still I fail.
There have been some harsh criticism on this thread, at least that is how I have read it. For those of you that sailed through English language, good for you. I doubt you think any comments here were at all harsh. I'm glad the thread was amusing for so many. It wasn't at all amusing to me because what you're actually doing is mocking people who clearly have learning disabilities and I'm one of them.
And another thing, thank god for spell check, even though it can't tell the difference between 'wood' and 'would'. What I've just learnt from this thread is, spell check puts apostrophes in words that don't require apostrophes. What a confidence knocker to know that people were probably laughing at my posts all along.
Thank you for your post, AlexisANew. My apologies to all who viewed the subject as an attempt to belittle or mock anyone; definitely not my intention. That is why I wanted to point out that intelligence does not seem to be a determining factor for why grammar/spelling issues occur. I think your post is an important reminder that smart folks can and do struggle in many different areas. Numbers are one of those areas for me. Pose a problem beyond basic arithmetic, especially (and ironically!) word problems, and my eyes just glaze over while my brain retreats, singing "la la la la la" and wishing I was at the beach instead. [&o]
I've been fairly easily successful in life. In the past, I used my passion for writing and sailing as a regular paid/published author for a San Francisco-based sailing magazine. I always thought I possessed a reasonably sufficient level of intelligence so recently, for the heck of it, I took an online IQ test. 74. That's right: room temperature!! I know exactly where the disconnect happens for me: it's in the number/shape pattern challenges that ask 'what comes next?' I think I would fail miserably at sudoku. It probably wouldn't hurt me one bit to delve into it, if only to improve that area of my brain.
So yes, I do understand and appreciate the difference between organic disconnects and intelligence. If my posts were lined up together on a screen, readers would see that the majority of them have been edited for, of all things, typos, punctuation, grammar, and word substitutions for clarity. Heheheh, I just edited this post to substitute 'challenges' for 'difficulties', because I want to convey a more positive outlook.
And for the record, I've never laughed at your posts. I think they are beautifully constructed and thoughtfully crafted, and appreciate these qualities all the more now that you've outlined your challenges making them so. Thanks again for providing your important perspective.
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