conte@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (12/09/86)
> ... Of course, there are some > individuals that have dyslexia or another learning disability that > makes such learning difficult, but surely we aren't all brain-damaged! Dystexia is *not* `brain-damage.' Holy hell, man, get your facts straight or you are going to embarrass yourself. You might be surprised to find out how many engineers are dyslexics. Tom Conte (a dyslexic) University of Illinois uucp: {ihnp4,seismo,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uicsrd!conte arpanet: conte%uicsrd@a.cs.uiuc.edu or conte@huey.udel.edu csnet: conte%uicsrd@uiuc.csnet usnail: 208 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL 61801 bitnet: conte@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu
stever@videovax.Tek.COM (Steven E. Rice, P.E.) (12/15/86)
In article <42600007@uicsrd>, Tom Conte (conte@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU) writes: >> ... Of course, there are some >> individuals that have dyslexia or another learning disability that >> makes such learning difficult, but surely we aren't all brain-damaged! > > Dystexia is *not* `brain-damage.' Holy hell, man, get your facts straight > or you are going to embarrass yourself. You might be surprised to find out > how many engineers are dyslexics. If hell is holy, a lot of theology is going to have to change. . . Sorry, Tom! Dyslexia, along with a host of other problems, falls into the category of "minimal brain disfunctions." In most cases, the precise nature of the defect is unknown, but it causes a problem that does not exist in most people. I'm sorry you chose to disregard the context of the sentence you quote. The one following was to the effect that maybe we all are brain-damaged -- after all, surely we wouldn't be engineers if we were in our right minds! [ 8^) ] Steve Rice ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- {decvax | hplabs | ihnp4 | uw-beaver}!tektronix!videovax!stever
conte@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (12/17/86)
>>> ... Of course, there are some >>> individuals that have dyslexia or another learning disability that >>> makes such learning difficult, but surely we aren't all brain-damaged! >> >> Dystexia is *not* `brain-damage.' Holy hell, man, get your facts straight >> or you are going to embarrass yourself. You might be surprised to find out >> how many engineers are dyslexics. > >If hell is holy, a lot of theology is going to have to change. . . > >Sorry, Tom! Dyslexia, along with a host of other problems, falls into the >category of "minimal brain disfunctions." In most cases, the precise nature >of the defect is unknown, but it causes a problem that does not exist in >most people. > >I'm sorry you chose to disregard the context of the sentence you quote. The >one following was to the effect that maybe we all are brain-damaged -- after >all, surely we wouldn't be engineers if we were in our right minds! [ 8^) ] Well, Steve, I take this as an apology. Among some famous dyslexics are ranked Nelson Rockafeller and Thomas Edison (they believe). The term is actually usually spelled `dysfunction,' to distinguish its technical use from the common meaning. And for good reasons, too. The distinction is that `brain-damnage,' connotes a loss of total cognative ability, whereas a dysfunction such as dyslexia is mainly a problem in getting information into and out of the brain and does not mean loss of cognative ability. Recent studies have found that dyslexics are more right-brain/visually oriented than most, actually that the visual functions seem to be shared by both halves of the brain. To wit, when I chose a computer, I decided to pick one that was visually stunning as much as it was technically stunning, which was the Amiga, of course. ;-) (Lets let it end here, this forum is for Amiga discussions after all.) Tom Conte Center for Supercomputing Research & Development University of Illinois uucp: {ihnp4,seismo,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uicsrd!conte arpanet: conte%uicsrd@a.cs.uiuc.edu or conte@huey.udel.edu csnet: conte%uicsrd@uiuc.csnet bitnet: conte@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu usnail: 208 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL 61801