Jan 26 2009
Dyslexia - Who Is Really Handicapped Here?
Looks to me like the t-shirt gives us some idea of how someone who has Dyslexia perceives the written word. But I think it only hints at it. OC will explain.
I met OC while playing in an online game called Tribal Wars. I’m not much of a fan of this game as some folks already know. It did have some good things though. The chance to communicate with other people all over the world while you made moves within the game gave you an opportunity to learn stuff that you knew little about.
OC really started opening up when I decided to experiment in the game and try something different and see what would happen. I left my tribe (team) and attacked the leader. It was a very interesting experience. The leader and I both learned some things of importance, I think.
Probably the most valuable lesson I got from the game was to find out that OC is a very bright 17 yr. old English lad who wants to be a writer and somehow he thinks I am some sort of graduate of an accredited English Literature program. So he types this out in the chat window. We all type way too fast and are always apologizing for typos.
I realize you may not read this and I am not entirely bothered, I’d just like to know some more about your writing. 1) When did you start writing and what about?2) What kind of writing, poetry, novels or just critic work?
3) And what do you find inspires your writing? I ask because my ambition in life is to become a writer, though this is challenged by Dyslexia which I suffer from. I’d like to know your nationality and if you have qualifications in English Literature? Its ironic that I ask this now, after reading your recent piece on TW as I sit and do English Coursework, A creative writing piece right now.
What advice could you give a 17 year old boy with ambition to one day be a poet or novelist? As you would surely agree, everyone should learn something from their experiences be it the RW or games like these, I was hoping you could bring some enlightenment?Thank you and I hope you get back to me, You will be sorely missed
lord_anthrax (OC’s game name)p.s. if you include me in your writing on life and understanding (i.e. like Junior) then call me OC.
Oh and, don’t refer to me as snot-nosed
Complete and utter silence from this end. People who know me would say that that is very much like the sun rising in the north. Like a lot of Brits, he’s got a sense of humour that I enjoy. Monty Python’s not dead he’s just resting. It’s the parrot routine. Google it. Just make sure you’re at home and have a change of clothes handy.
What’s going on here. Since this world has taught us all to be so sceptical, I started looking for the catch. Playing games in Facebook and on browser based games will do that to you. Guess what? No catch. He is what he is.
So I google webMD and look up Dyslexia. WebMD goes beyond the clinical description of medical problems. A word of advice here. Don’t get too deeply involved in all the little “symptons” that you suffer from. You can get too absorbed in them and they can distort your focus. They did for my father. OC knows what I am talking about.
I learned something recently while chatting with a new Aussie friend I have recently made. If you want to know the true meaning of Aussie slang, go ask an Aussie. Computers haven’t learned how to feel and that is why it is doubtful that they could ever replace human beings. They are a wonderful supplement but a replacement? I don’t see it happening real soon.
So OC sends me an email today about other stuff and we talk back and forth about things and he writes this. Keep in mind that when you write an email you don’t go back and forth and check spelling and edit and repeat the process several times. You just write what you feel. So this is part of the email.
Its called a handicap though I just see myself as if not more talented then those around me. It effects my reading and spelling. I couldn’t read untill I was almost 10 and it took alot longer for me to speel anywhere near correctly. A saying alot of the teachers at the Dyslexia Instituion used was “Dyslexic children are just as bright as other children, they just need to do more homework” I just though of it as a ploy to get me to do more homework bit I see now that it is true. Esspecailly since subjects like Biology now deduct marks for spelling errors. Another thing I hampers me with is Punctuation, I don’t understand sentance structure as well as others.I remember I was watching the new the other day and I was a bit on Dyslexia. They discribed it as “Needing pictures for each word”. Say you gave a Dyslexic Child the sentance “I went to town on a horse” They would understand “I” and they would have a picture for “town” and “horse” but the rest of the sentence could mean anything and they would generally use thier memory to add in otehr words. Getting it wrong most of the time.But the condition varies on different people. I have a mild case, it was just due to mal-practice in the teaching of dyslexic children at my primary (lower) school which meant I took longer then my peer to read and write.And while I’m cutting and pasting the email, OC sends me another one with this in it.
Dyslexia isn’t as rare as some people think. about 1 in 10 people suffer, its just alot of poeple go unnoticed because they aren’t ‘badly’ dyslexic (for want of a better word). There are some great names who are/were dylexic, did you know, for instince, that Albert Einsine was Dyslexic and he was one of the greatest thinkers of science. There are also a lot of Celeb’s that are dyslexic, though now-a-days we can’t really say they have achieved much in the way of tihnking.
You may already know that I’m Canadian. It’s pretty clear to me that Aussie’s, Brits and Canucks all came from the same parentage—Monty Python’s great-great-great-great-warped-Grandfather.
“I’m a lumberjack and that’s OK. I work all day and I work…
