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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.