[Misc] DYSLEXIA - NEURODIVERSITY

[Right Brain Ronnie]

No i am right handed but I did hear that left handed people are significantly more likely to be neurodivergent than right handed people and that there’s an even greater correlation with people that have hyper-mobile joints!

When I was at university I ended up writing my exam papers in capital letters because otherwise there was no way anybody would be able to mark them!

I am right handed too. But always asked what handed I am, I still don't know why this makes any difference to my diagnosis at all.
I do shoot a bow and arrow left handed apparently!

I didn't know about the hyper mobility, I was with a girl once who was hyper mobile......fun times.

Capital letters are so much easier also, who ever invented lower case! I used to often start sentence when writing in small letters and add capital anywhere and anywhere, it just seemed write at the time until the teachers red biro ringed them like a bingo card.

I have heard this argument a lot, that we shouldn’t be labelling people. The fact is though that neurodivergent people are labelled with or without a diagnosis but without the labels are far more damaging, as a kid these can be ‘wierd’ ‘annoying’ ‘lazy’ ‘the naughty child in the class’, ‘antisocial’..a problem child. The fact is that neurodivergent people are constantly being compared to neurotypical people and judged by the same standards, they are often told if they would just pull themselves together they wouldn’t be so dysfunctional. These labels stay with people throughout life and cause serious mental health issues, some children end up hiding away and refusing to go to school because it’s too much for them.

The fact is that these are medical diagnosis and should be treated in the same way as something physical. Just because you can’t see them in the way that you can other disabilities, it doesn’t mean that they are any less of a daily challenge for the people who have them.

Excellently put.

 

[ozzygull]

This thread has helped me a lot, thanks for starting it. As I mentioned my teacher just told me that he thought I had dyslexia this was about 1986. I remember not really knowing what it meant apart from I had scruffy handwriting and couldn’t spell and was relieved that I was not just a bit thick. I really didn’t think much about it. Obviously over the years I seen it reported on, but I have got by, have a reasonable well payed job and worked in IT for over 30 years. But I’ve realised from this thread that a lot of others things that I have to compensate for could be related. I also hold a pen in a strange way, when I was a school because we had to use fountain pens I would always have ink on my fingers because of it.

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

What is happening inside the brain with neurodivergency?

What is it that is being assessed and diagnosed?

Genuine question.

And to play devils advocate, is it maybe that we all have the same challenges with our billions of different ways of processing the world but that perhaps some are more resilient to criticism and judgement? Is that perhaps the difference between divergent and typical? Resilience? Probably not but always worth exploring and asking questions. Sometimes things aren’t as complicated as we humans make them.

I don’t have the answers, I’m just asking questions.

I have some answers, you have to actually experience having dyslexia etc to know, it can't just be imagined.

When you are repeatedly put down in front of all your friends by teachers and then the bullies from aged 5-16 and then your school results suggest your a dumb ass ( iq test later in life proved very different) and then at intervals in your life you do something dyslexic in front of a work colleague and they joke, you let it go and it's often and spreads by some other colleagues inside you want to let it go, but you need to be smarter than the arses that just want to wind you up.
On occasion you can get drawn into giving them a bit of their own medicine, generally these character dishing it out can't take it, because in there heads they truly believe they are smarter, because they have seen the way your grammar,spelling, miscomprehension,speed of reading and the way you write is........there conclusion is the dyslexic is thick, if you or anyone else truly want to understand the dyslexic, keep reading this thread or research and learn.

You are way wide or the mark, it actually builds resilience in life, without tooting my horn I have more resilience than most people I know, when you have run and built a business from scratch for years through recession etc, you can draw on that that resilience and then use your creative problem solving mind on how to overcome this obstacles, I have always seen all problems to be solvable and continue to do so.

As they say never judge a book by it's cover........mine may not have many words on it that are spelt right, but open the it will be full of colourful, imagination and entertaining with a real message, but of course it will be an.............. audio book.

This thread has helped me a lot, thanks for starting it. As I mentioned my teacher just told me that he thought I had dyslexia this was about 1986. I remember not really knowing what it meant apart from I had scruffy handwriting and couldn’t spell and was relieved that I was not just a bit thick. I really didn’t think much about it. Obviously over the years I seen it reported on, but I have got by, have a reasonable well payed job and worked in IT for over 30 years. But I’ve realised from this thread that a lot of others things that I have to compensate for could be related. I also hold a pen in a strange way, when I was a school because we had to use fountain pens I would always have ink on my fingers because of it.

Thank you, I am so pleased. I think it depends how much support school, college,parents or partners give you early on to help let those hard school days evaporate away.
Congratulations on landing the right job for your dyslexia and for so long.

Because I am ADHD I had to control my focus when the job did not give me the dopamine hit I need, so if I was unable to move up the ladder because the manager was going to be there for life I would swap jobs, I did a lot of jobs.

My conclusion was to have my own business, so I could always grab that dopamine........would I earn any money today? Would I earn my best daily wage, I thrive on targets.

You have also remembered some detail of writing to me also, I remember the teacher nagging me about holding my pen wrong also! I also had ink stain fingers too!

 

[BadFish]

My dyslexic daughter is learning to drive. Today we had a go at parking in an empty car park, she said the parking bay lines her sort of moving.

Does anyone know if this is a dyslexia thing?

 

[Dick Swiveller]

My dyslexic daughter is learning to drive. Today we had a go at parking in an empty car park, she said the parking bay lines her sort of moving.

Does anyone know if this is a dyslexia thing?

Years ago, I went to the Shaw Trust who check websites for accessibility . The lady with dyslexia said that for her, italic characters moved and were unreadable so I would guess this is possible,

 

[Jackthelad]

I tried to get diagnosis of Dyslexia and dyspraxia a few years ago and like my failed attempt at getting help for OCD diagnosis, they just offered me online cognitive behavioral therapy. Which I had had years ago and it was like taking to a bot. It’s sad that people like me get more help from reading some of the replies on here than the actual NHS and so on.

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

My dyslexic daughter is learning to drive. Today we had a go at parking in an empty car park, she said the parking bay lines her sort of moving.

Does anyone know if this is a dyslexia thing?

I have heard of moving and jumping words and letters, although I don't get that I just miss out words letters. So it could be, however I found dyslexia is a gift when driving, as spacial awareness is very important. Wishing her good luck to her.

 

[Diablo]

a friend of mine is dyslexic....a successful businesman .. Most things he`s probably sharper than any of us but on simple things he struggles.

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

I tried to get diagnosis of Dyslexia and dyspraxia a few years ago and like my failed attempt at getting help for OCD diagnosis, they just offered me online cognitive behavioral therapy. Which I had had years ago and it was like taking to a bot. It’s sad that people like me get more help from reading some of the replies on here than the actual NHS and so on.

Yes such a shame the support is still not there as it should be, the most frustrating thing is those without it, including people that teach kids, still have lack of emotional intelligence to understand the needs for the kids. I hope you can get that diagnosis to fully understand how it effects you and to highlight your huge strengths.
You may have to go private for it, costs somewhere between £400-£500.

 

[Right Brain Ronnie]

a friend of mine is dyslexic....a successful businesman .. Most things he`s probably sharper than any of us but on simple things he struggles.

That can be very typical, I have done the same. In my early years I loved the challenges of doing all parts of my business so I knew everything inside out. The difficult part is employing people as good or better than you. Sir Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson maxed out their strengths while getting others to do their weaknesses.

The biggest thing is people underestimate your intelligence, which is quite funny but naive at the same time. It would not suprise me if Tony Bloom is, that isn't your mate by chance, is it?