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You apologised for misspelling 'grammar' after I pointed it out. Do you see what I'm saying? I didn't want you to apologise for it, I was actually hoping you would tell me to fuck off. You had every right. I was making a point, not attacking you, and I'm sorry about that.
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Why would I tell you to 'fuck off' for correcting me? It wasn't phrased as an attack, it was you pointing out I'm imperfect.
If you where trying to get a rise out of me, well then you deserve the 'fuck off'. I was here to talk about this issue, not get into a swearing match.
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Is it stupid to be embarrassed by something you can't change? Why are you embarrassed about having consistent problems with spelling 'grammar'?
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Now you are attributing embarrassment to me. I'm not shamed by my lack of spelling skills. I work to compensate for them, to minimize the inconvenience I cause to others with them. When I fail at this, I fail -- I'm not perfect. My lack of perfection isn't an embarrasing problem. =p
Being sorry for not being perfect is not the same as being embarrassed for not being perfect. There isn't anything to be ashamed about.
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I once interviewed a guy on crutches. He was on crutches because his left leg was missing above the knee, and by the brief account he gave, had been for some time. He did not use a prosthetic, nor was he reliant on other people for his mobility. In fact, he was more mobile with his crutches than some people with no impairments. I don't know why he didn't use a prosthetic, nor did I ask... the story was not about his leg.
Maybe an artificial limb would make him self-conscious, like his disability was a dirty secret. Maybe he felt physical discomfort in wearing one. But on your analysis, he would have to swallow his pride and wear one anyway, even though he would be uncomfortable, just because you think it's 'unreasonable' for him not to.
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Good for him -- he compensated for his disability effectively. An artificial leg, crutches -- same difference, the precice means don't matter.
As an aside, when your leg is missing above the knee, artifical legs really suck, and don't work all that well.
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Compensating for a disability is one thing, but what you suggest sounds more to me like apologising for it.
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Apologising for it when it causes others inconvenience sounds like the decent thing to do to me. While it isn't your fault, it is your responsability.
Getting upset at people because they treat you as if you aren't disabled, when you won't even tell them you are, isn't being very responsible.
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Fact is, he didn't. And that's it. Even if he had four midgets underneath him, holding him aloft and carrying him everywhere, well, if that's how he copes with his disability (not accounting for the morality of midget slavery, of course), who am I to argue?
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Actually, the morality of midget slavery is precicely the point. If he chose to do that route, and felt those midgets where obligated to help him simply because he didn't want to use crutches, an artificial leg, or other means of compensation that doesn't harm others, he was being a git.
To a lesser degree, asking others (especially random others) to compensate for your own responsibilities, when you could deal with them yourself, is the same thing on a smaller scale.
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It strikes me that if you're interested in contributing to a discussion, sniping at someone's spelling is simply taking the level of debate down to the playground.
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Sure, you could be an asshole about correcting someone's spelling. Quite possibly the thread started with talking about someone being an asshole -- but, lacking specific links, I'm talking about the general morality of being on a message board as a dyslexic.
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And I don't accept that bad spelling makes a post difficult to read. I didn't have any trouble reading yours, and yours had several mistakes.
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Then I did good. Thanks for confirming it. =)
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As long as the meaning is clear, just ignore the spelling mistakes. If the meaning is not clear, ask for the post to be rephrased, or read in context and discern it for yourself. If a post is so badly spelled that you simply cannot read it, even after it's rephrased, (and in nearly two years of TFP membership, I've never seen a post I couldn't understand, even if only in context), just hit back! Forget about it! It's that simple!
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And, if after spending 10-30 minutes of effort decyphering a post, you finally work out what it says, should you point out to the original poster that they should have posted more clearly? And, perhaps, reposting the text you decyphered so others don't have to do the same work you did?
See, I don't like noise. I like signal. People generating noise are being anti-social and harming the forum they are in.
Not putting effort into your composition does harm to the forum you are posting in. Taking up the forum's bandwidth (both in screen-space and bits) with badly formatted, difficult to read posts that you placed next to no effort towards composing is something I actually do find rude. 100+ character run-on sentances I judge to be marginally polite...
A dyslexic who puts lots of effort into a post (which many dyslexics do!) is contributing. On the other hand, some random non-dyslexic git who just can't be bothered to form paragraphs because they are lazy, and don't think the readership is worth the effort, isn't contributing.
At the same time, mindlessly attacking people's spelling and grammar generates noise, and is also a stupid, anti-social act.
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A bit of compassion and understanding, without expecting everyone to wear a sign around their neck outlining their various medical, psychological and personality 'flaws' is apparently too much to ask for.
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I understand what you communicate, to the best of my ability. I feel compassion for those who are harmed. I don't read minds. I help the less fortunate out of both charity, practicality and love -- not out of any obligation.
If you want me to compensate for your 'flaws', you have to tell me about them. If you don't want me to compensate for them, simply don't tell me about them, and I'll treat you like I would J Random Person.
If you have a problem with dyslexia, your inability to spell and form proper english sentances will probably be obvious to people who read your posts. They will think that your first language isn't English, or you don't consider grammar/spelling important, or you are dyslexic.
Of those 3 possible categories, one of them is rude and impolite. The other two are quite acceptable imperfections. Those in the 2nd category -- the lazy ones -- are being rude. Letting people know you are dyslexic (or, your native language isn't English) is simply explaining you aren't being rude, even if it appears (on the surface) that you are.
All I am asking is for people with disabilities to do a reasonable amount of effort to compensate for them, before they expect others to do the same.
Disabilities are flaws, not sins. Saying you have a disablity isn't saying you are a bad person in any way.
edit: seppling mistake.