User blog:Glflegolas/Did you know? Glflegolas is DYSLEXIC

Hello LotR Mod Community,

I'm pretty sure that none of you know about this. In fact, I myself didn't know about this until approximately a month ago. But approximately a month ago, I had a discussion with the organic chemistry professor I TA under. Among the things that were mentioned were that she has a learning disability that mostly affects her working memory. For a second, I didn't think much of that, but then I remembered. Years ago, I had learned that I didn't have a very good working memory either. This started a discussion, and I learned that the two of us shared very similar strengths and weaknesses. Following that, I did some more research on my own, and found that yes, what I had suspected was indeed true.

You've got to be kidding, right?
Actually, in a way I am. The title was -- I do admit it -- a bit of clickbait. To be more specific, the condition I have is mostly dysgraphia, which affects your handwriting. However, there is also a bit of dyscalculia and dyslexia mixed in, which affects mathematical abilities and spelling. I used the term "dyslexia" because it's more widely known than either of the other terms.

But, you're one of the best writers here! This cannot be true!
When it comes to wiki coding, yes, I am one of the best writers here. And the pages that I create are pretty good too, as you have probably realised by now. However, the reason why what I write isn't too bad is largely because I check through anything I've written very carefully (an ability to recognise details thanks to Aspergers helps there, though I paid dearly for it on the social skills side of things), and that includes this blog post. If I didn't do that, there is a good chance that you wouldn't be able to read what I write without great difficulty.

In playing games
If you know me, you know that I am very bad at any PvP, in any game, and that I will go out of my way to avoid it. Dysgraphia is often characterised by poor dexterity. I've no idea how often I've pressed the "W" key in combat when I should've pressed the "S" key, and run straight into an Orc, generally taking lots of damage in the process. There's a good reason why I don't play FPS games. In addition, I have no idea how many resources are needed to build something. I can look at my inventory and chests and think "I've got so much stuff here, I can build a whole city!" and fifteen minutes later find out that I've run out of supplies after not even finishing the first house.

In reading
Contrary to popular belief, dyslexic people are not necessarily bad at reading, at least not as adults. As long as I can rationalise what I'm reading, everything is fine these days, although I might have to read things a couple of times to understand them, and I used to often not understand what I was reading when I was younger. I still occasionally lose my place when reading.

In writing
This is where the dyslexia shows up most obviously. In unedited work, I tend to misspell words very frequently, often reversing letters, adding or removing letters, or writing words as they're pronounced. In addition, I tend to write with a narrower vocabulary than I speak with, and often can't express my ideas in writing quite the way I'd like to. Finally, I can't spell and construct a paragraph at the same time.

In handwriting
The bad dexterity in gaming tends to carry over to handwriting. In addition to the spelling problems (especially in original work), my writing is so bad that you generally cannot read it; inconsistent letter form and word spacing, unfinished letters, inability to think and write at the same time, very strange paper orientations, using the wrong words when writing, and a tendency to get a very stiff hand after any significant amount of writing.

In mathematics
It might seem a bit of a stretch to think that poor handwriting, spelling, and mathematics might be connected. But in truth, it isn't, as spatial planning requires a good sense of numbers to perform effectively. As I learned when driving, I don't have a good sense of distance (thankfully, I tend to underestimate distances -- if it was the other way around, it'd be dangerous) or time when I don't have my watch. Counting and mathematics, while I can do them, are definitely not my strong points, especially because I make many, many mistakes when copying lines of math, or numbers from calculator to paper, and have virtually no understanding for the rhythm of music. I'm also not very good at avoiding obstacles when walking, and tend to hit trees, doors, and especially people pretty often. Surprisingly, I have a great sense of direction, and almost never get turned around.

How common are learning disabilities like yours?
Approximately 1 in 10 people have a learning disability. Often these are people with average to above average intelligence, who do really well at many things, yet do very poorly at others.

A sample of unedited writing
Compared to my handwriting, my typed work is generally significantly better. In general, there are not very many spelling errors famous last words, Glf!, as long as I do not try to type too quickly. However, there are some words that are always particularity difficult to spell. Most of my typographical errrors likely stem not from a lack of understanding of the words, but rather my typing faster than my fingers will allow. However, as you can see, I don’t structure paragraphs particulairly well, and I still occasionally mix up the order ot letters or leave hem out entirely. In this case, I think the problem is that I think I have written the word/letter, when in fact I haven’t (in other words, my brain thinks it’s been written when reality is tells the contrary.). As long as I don’t proceed too quickly, I believe that I can keep my typographical erros to a minimum, as them problem is likely not so much with my lack of a word’s understanding, but rather with my dextity not allowing me to type as quickly as I would like. In order to distinguish between my knowlede of word’s meaning and my bad dexterity, I havdecided to type this rather slowly. Since it does not appear that my slow typig completely solved my typo troubles, I will have to conclude that I am at least slightly dislexic.

In addition to my not soo good handwriting and typing, I also tend to tighten things – reagent bottles and toothbaste tubes, for example – more than they should be. This is further exemplified in karate, when I try to do bunkai or takedowns, beople often comlain that I “don’t know my own strength” and that I should try to go easy on them. In addition, I am not especially good at avoiding things--- I have no idea how often I run into people, doors, trees, etc. but especially people when walking down hallways or around corners. Falls are also somewhat common, especially when walking around in the woods. This rather poor dis coordination makes learning kata – which are somewhat similar to choreographed dance steps – take a lot longer than I would othersis expect. Driving is another example of my poor distance perception; I consistenyl underestimate the distance between me and the other car, and miss many opportunities to make turns that I could’ve easily made. Finally, I don’t have a very goo sense of time. And copy transfer mistakes in mathematics… yeah, don’t getme started on that,or on the fact that I can’t count very well. I definitely do noa hae a mathematical mineset. I couldn’t learn east from west or left from right until I was significantly older than most people, and don’t remind me how often I have revesed numbers on the calculator (similar to how I reverse letters in words sometimes), or how hard it is for me to undertand the rhythmic component of playing piano. Therefore, I would suspect that I have at least some characteristics of of a dyspraxic person (who has poor coordination) and a discalculic person (who doesn’t understand math properly). Somewhat surprisingly, I do not have a ppoor sense of direction; in fact, I can often find my way around when others would get lost, and Ihave no problem at all explaining things using diagrams when words would fail – I definitely am a visual thinker.

Do I have a learning disability?
I'm not certified to test for that, but I can provide a list, and the results of this list can tell you if you might have one. My results can be found here.

If you would like to know more, watch some YouTube videos, Google the subject, ask on my message wall, or leave a comment.

Glflegolas (admin) Send a Messenger  14:13, December 10, 2016 (UTC)