Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site osu-eddie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!apr!osu-eddie!zwicky From: zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) Newsgroups: net.cog-eng Subject: Re: dyslexia Message-ID: <703@osu-eddie.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 16:12:23 EST Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.703 Posted: Fri Nov 1 16:12:23 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 06:38:51 EST References: <2246@iddic.UUCP> <481@cxsea.UUCP> <3508@utah-cs.UUCP> Reply-To: zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) Organization: Ohio State Univ., CIS Dept., Cols, Oh. Lines: 28 I am not myself dyslexic, but do suffer some (probably) related difficulties. I am a non-righthanded female with pretty much all of the symptoms of dyslexia except the perceptual problems; I read and write normally. However, I have a good bit of difficulty with right and left. This has a surprising effect on my desires in user-interfaces. Given a totally symmetric user interface, I become hamstrung, due to a tendency to intend to use my right hand, and end up using my left, or vice versa. Not generally a problem, because few things are truly symmetrical, but sometimes people get clever and decide it will be easier that way. Touch-typing, for instance, is as symmetrical as possible. You wouldn't believe what happens if you accidentally type something with left and right reversed; I gave it up and type assymetrically instead - at least that way my mistakes are normal. A few games also work this way (pinball, for instance), which is what really tipped me off. I hadn't realized how much it could get in my way until I was playing games on the Macintosh, one of which used the keyboard - four keys carefully chosen to be symmetrical, and the other of which used the keyboard and the mouse. I stank at the first, which was what I expected, but I was totally amazed when I discovered that I was above average (by a little) at the second. User interfaces have been a sore point for me, since I tend to be a limiting case (I think it's debugged - let Elizabeth play with it. If it runs for her, it'll run for anybody). Would be unfortunate, were it not for the fact that I know a lot of programmers and thus can make it a paying talent.