STOP PICKING ON PEOPLE WITH DYSLEXIA!

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Hi,

I'm getting pretty fed up of people posting messages that pick on or criticise people who clearly have difficulty with spelling and grammar.
It is not uncommon for people with ASDs to have dyslexia or other specific learning impairments that may well, throught no fault of their own, make it EXTREMELY difficult for them to have accurate spelling and grammar.

Also, autism is on a spectrum, so there may well be people here who are more affected than others, and who may also have learning difficulties, which again would, through no fault of their own, impact upon their ability to spell and punctuate and use grammar correctly.

For an example of this picking on people, see This thread

Frankly, I am disgusted by the attitude that some people have. Picking on people who genuinely find things difficult, whether it is through dyslexia or some other cause, is appalling and unforgiveable behaviour.

Please could you all have some consideration for others and stop picking on the vulnerable.

I'm pretty tired of all the people on the net in general using ret*d speak like "r u there", so I try to get them to use proper language. I've realized that dyslexia exists, but what's saddens me is that there are a few people that are just sloppy with language that blame them not trying on their imaginary dyslexia.

I've read you saying you've got dyslexia, but you take great care to use proper sentencing, formatting and stuff like that, so your posts are very neat, tidy and easy to read. At first when you brought this matter up a month or two ago, I was very surprised since I couldn't see the connection between you and this language impairment.

I don't want people with dyslexia to feel bad about posting since they might get picked on, but we must still be vigilant when faced with "ret*d speak". Maybe you could make a FAQ about how a dyslectic's writing might look so people can differentiate between that and sloppy language. I know that dyslexia doesn't make you write use "words" like "u", "plz" etc. I complained about one person's post on this site once, someone that had a long paragraph with no punctuation or capital letters.

Retarding the post with no punctuation or capital letters - that could well be a sign of dyslexia. I have read may documents by people with dyslexia or learning impairments that look like this. Some people CANNOT use punctuation - they genuinely do not understand it.

I appreciate that "r u" as opposed to "are you" may be a little annoying to some but

1. This is partly a cultural thing. Many people, especially younger people are used to writing like this and my well be mocked by their peers if they DON'T write like this. So they can't win really. If they write 'properly' all the time, their peers will pick on them for being 'posh' or prententious or verbose or long winded, but if they write in abbreviations here, they get criticised for laziness!
Unwritten rules are confusing enough for aspies without people on WP adding even more. Perhaps we need a 'live and let live' policy

2. Although "r u" and "plz" can not necessarily be argued as a sign of dyslexia, it is possible that some dyslexics may opt to use these abbreviations as it is easier for them to use and remember than longer words. Short of asking people to prove whether or not they are dyslexic (which would not really be a fair or nice thing to do) we have no way of knowing someone's exact reasons for doing this.
So although it may well be annoying, I think that it is probably a better idea to try and be tolerant as there may well be a reason that a person relies on abbreviations.


Regarding my dyslexia, I am fortunate in that I only have it mildly and I also had some EXCELLENT teachers at school who really helped me. I've also managed to find some good books on the subject. Not everyone has good teachers, and people with more severe dyslexia may well find it impossible to use proper grammar and spelling, no matter how hard they try or how much help they have. We all have different ability levels, and we shouldn't criticise those who appear to have less ability in certain areas.

If people genuinely have Dyslexia and can't help writing like that, then fair enough, it's not their fault. But using "ret*d speak" out of sheer laziness ticks me off. I always type things properly, and write everything in full. Who cares if some stupid clowns don't like me writing all "posh"? No wonder grammar and spelling has decayed so much recently, many people have no respect for the English language.

I am dyslexic and have bad executive dysfunction. I can get caught out by these comments. The main thing is the time. I can take me a whole day to write a 3 page letter. I'm not joking either. 9am till 5pm.

Sometimes I just have to hit post then come back to edit it with fresh eyes. But it can be embarrassing. If you like I can post completely unedited text so you can compare.

I know for a fact that some dyslexics use text speak because they find it a lot easier. It is not just a question of not being able to spell and punctuate. The mistakes you make happen regardless of whether you understand or not. It is not easy picking through your work and finding them, because in your mind it reads it as correct. Just like someone who has been wearing upside-down goggles for a week, they will see the right way round because their mind reverses the picture. Well it reverses the picture normally it reverses it back so it is the 'right' way up. It is like that your brain will read it as normal even though it has mistakes in it.

The thread in question,
I felt was not poorly handled.
The original responses may have
been a bit harsh, but once it became
clear that there was indeed a difficulty,
I think that the tenor got better.

Moreover, the original post was UNREADABLE
to me. Between the massive errors in spelling
and such, along with the sheer size. Really, if
the poster desired responses, they needed to
be told that people couldn't understand.

No question alot of aspies are pedantic a$$es and miss the forest for the trees.

I dn't rly care bout this issue.

Grammar Nazis r nt tht annoyin nyway.

Picking on anybody is wrong, especially if they cannot help what they do. I totally agree with Girl7000, people should not criticize people's spelling, punctuation or grammar. It's not their fault if they are not as able as other people.

Android

There's a serious difference between
'picking on' and criticizing. I am a terrible
speller. I jump through many hoops to try
and make my posts readable. Why? Mere
respect for others, and a desire to communicate.

Now, it may well be that some cannot manage
to post something which anyone can understand,
but shouldn't they, at the least, be told this, so that
they can stop wasting their time? Certainly, simple
issues such as punctuation and capitalization all help.

Regarding your second paragraph, I do see your point, but I would argue that everyone has a right to post here, regardless of how impaired they are.

If people don't understand and need them to clarify things, they can ask, nicely, what the person meant.

Perhaps having some kind of basic grammar and punctuation guidelines stickied somewhere would help? And / or some links to resources for people with dyslexia?

Punctuation and capitalization are not 'simple' for everybody.
Perhaps in the longer term there needs to be some kind of spell check and grammar check facility introduced here - although I don't know how realistic this is.

Regarding 'jumping through hoops' this is because you CAN. Some people's dyslexia and / or other learning difficulties may be such that they cannot do this. Obviously, they want to communicate otherwise they wouldn't post. It must be very disheartening when having made the effort to write a post, the person is criticised, sometimes unneccessarily harshly, for their spelling and grammatical errors. It is also unfair to suggest that making such errors shows a lack of respect as it is not really right to make personal judgements about someone based purely on the fact that they appear to have a dyslexia-type difficulty.

Sorry girl7000. While I don't pick on people for bad spelling, I do have very high standards for spelling and grammar. I've given up telling people, though, because of the high amount of dyslexics on this site.

I'm a stickler for spelling and grammar but would normally only say something if the person was picking on me for something else. It's usually fairly obvious when somebody has dyslexia and instead of jumping on them for their errors, it would be better for other people to just ask them what they meant.

Who said otherwise? I don't think a single
person here has been banned for difficulty
typing.



The former is a matter of common sense.
One can find whatever they need, IF they
truly don't understand these things - but
it is not our place to be their grammar school
teachers, nor is this usually the problem.

As to the latter, that would indeed be a
nice idea.



I know. That's why I tone down my responses here,
compared to most sites. The problem on the net, in
general, is a pervasive one, where people are so used
to their 'skilz' in typing quickly for gaming, that they've
no respect for those of us who are a bit older, and can't
comprehend what they're trying to express. Punctuation
and capitalization especially are of near vital importance,
when trying to read something of any length - though a
lot of whitespace does help too.


I don't know if this bbs software supports that.



Automated hoops. Such as running firefox with a spellchecker.
Or typing in a word processor, if I'm using IE. Or, worst comes
to worst, using an online dictionary.



I'll try and take your word for this. I don't have
a great deal of understanding of the issue.



I generally restrict lashing out that much
UNLESS it is pure netspeak crap. And I'm
perfectly willing to 'accidentally' insult someone
with real difficulties if they have adopted that
s**t perfectly.

Just be thankful you don't have dyslexia.

I wish that was all that was wrong with me.