Why do people group "thick" and "dyslexic" together?

[puddingsforsandy]

Not just on this forum as have seen it on other forums. Someone will say "that person is thick" and another person will say "maybe they're dyslexic". I have just seen someone comment on another forum "is it so hard to understand me? You must be dyslexic". On the Joey Essex thread on mumsnet, Joey is accused of being thick but someone has said he could be dyslexic! It's as if the two could be mistaken for one another.
As a dyslexic person, it doesn't give me much hope. One of the most painful thing for a dyslexic person is the thought that others think they're of low intelligence. Totally untrue.

Euphemia the two people who post the most dyslexic jokes on my facebook are my ex and my son. Both are dyslexic. Neither are 'thick' either. Ex went to uni and my son is there now.

nextphase I think the really clever dyslexics do manage to get around their weaknesses. For years the school told me ds just had bad handwriting. And to be fair, his handwriting is appalling, his eight years younger sister had better penmanship than him. For me, it was all the other stuff (and that his dad is dyslexic) that made me wonder. For instance, knowing what order the months go in is something a six year old could tell you. Ds still struggles to remember at 18. And of course, using the computer masks bad spelling, as he can use the spellchecker.

I said the same above about my DS chaz
His reading is fine but his spelling is awful. He can spell the same word differently 3 or 4 times on the same page. He cant remember a sum from looking at the board to writing it on the page. DS get 20% extra time for maths and 10% for other subjects for his A levels.

Actually I don't know if she is dyslexic, she might well be, if she is then it has not been officially diagnosed and she is 40 now.
She is an avid reader and has no trouble reading she just can't spell.
I'm by no means an expert on dyslexia but I always assumed it caused reading problems.

tolittle exactly, people just make assumptions... You can't spell, read etc. so that must be because you are thick or maybe just too lazy to learn... I think it says more about the people making these judgments than the people been judged. Yes different people's intellectual abilities vary but I wish people would not automatically assume that someone's writing/reading abilities equates to their intellect.

I don't think people are equating the two. They're actually pointing out that not being able to read or spell properly doesn't automatically mean the person is not very bright. It might mean they are very bright but are also dyslexic which explains the difficulty with letters.

Arabe I wasn't referring to everyones posts, I referring specifically to tolittle s previous posts. If you read them you will see where I was coming from.

Toolittle
Someone once described it to me as you file something nicely away in a filing cabinet. Then someone comes sling and gives it a good shake and messes everything up. Then you go back into the filing cabinet snd cant find your file very easily.
So even though your friend is reading the letters sre being scrambled in her brain so she cant retrieve them to spell

@Euphemia

I went to one of the leading schools in the country that provides dyslexic kids with specialist teaching. I am not dyslexic myself but most of my peer group, to varying degrees are. At school, and indeed now, they are always taking the piss out of each others dyslexia and forwarding on any jokes they have heard. I remember one t-shirt my mate wore to school one time during the height of the AIDS public awareness campaign during the late 80s, it read: "ADIS - Dont Die of Dyslexia"

Thank you that makes much more sense now.
I'm sorry if I caused offence by my comment I have very little knowledge of dyslexia. Thank you for helping me understand. Of course I wouldn't assume someone was thick if they had dyslexia at all. The one person I know who is dyslexic is very intelligent so I know that much at least.

Sorry LittlePea, that post wasn't directed at you. I was just answering the OP.

Arabe please accept my appologise. I misinterpreted your post. Can I blame my mistake on been 34 weeks pregnant and been up since 2am because DD has decided to jam her little feet under my ribs and I can't get comfy, so slightly sleep deprived?

My DD has recently been diagnosed as dyslexic.

She actually scored very high in an IQ test, but she has short term memory problems.

If you saw and spoke to her, you wouldn't think so. She's very articulate and has an amazing imagination.

When reading or doing spellings with her, she comes across as 'lazy' but that's because she struggles with written words.

Ask her to draw, play an instrument or use a computer and she's more advanced than the other children her age group.

Id hate to hear her being called thick.

That sounds fair enough.

Many Years ago my brother was diagnosed as dyslexic,after the ssecondary school tried to put him in the 'remedial' sets, and my patents kicked up a fuss.

He is now a professor at a RL uni.

I had hoped that things had moved on.

He still can't spell stuff mind.

I have a friend that has a very good job and she reads a lot of books and yet she spells things incorrectly all the time

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

People who think reading and writing are the same thing. If you are dyslexic they are totally different.

We can all look at a pretty view but only some people will be able to draw/paint it accurately. You can look at it for 2 mins or 2 hours but if you can't draw then looking at it for longer is not going to help you.

OP

I think some people who cannot read say they are dyslexic when they are not, or don't know if they are.

I've already explained that I know nothing about dyslexia and like myself many people who don't have first hand knowledge of it think the same way.

tolittle
Until my DC started to have problems and were later diagnosed with dyslexia I thought the same way too - so you are not alone. I think it is a very common misperception that someone who can read reasonably well cannot be dyslexic.

misperception? misconception

My son has an incredibly high IQ. He is also severely dyslexic. Bullies in the class have started calling him thick. I despair! He's 8 in year 4.

My dh is dyslexic. He has a Ph.D. Can't spell for toffee though

One of my primary school teachers told my mum I'd be lucky to get a couple of GCSEs, I got a good degree. Littlepeapod, I expect you have done so well partly because you're dyslexic. It isn't just a learning disability (frustrating as it is in school) dyslexics process information in a different way, which means they see things others don't. I forget the figure but a disproportionate number of UK millionaires are dyslexic.

a disproportionate number of those who have no job are dyslexic too - especially in men over the age of 40....

I think there is also a disproportionate amount of men in prison that are dyslexic as well Wonderstuff. Comparing DS 18 experience to DH's in the 60s/70s hopefully life will deal better cards for dyslexics. My DS "brains" have been recognized, whereas DH was in remedial class. DH left school at 15 (august baby) and became an engineer through the apprenticeship route. DS already has a 6th form scholarship for future engineers and aiming for the top universities (if he finally gets his UCAS application off
They have very similar problems just dealt with very differently at school. People may complain about SATS and league tables but my DS was given a lot of extra one to one to get him to his level 4 for writing, whereas DH was allowed to get to the age of 10 without being able to read, despite MIL constantly going into school.