h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Over the years I have come to see that those of us who have their brains wired for visual spatial or kinaesthetic learning and perceiving are at a great disadvantage when it comes to the world around us that is structured and geared to the linguistic among us. Firstly we are often labelled as either poorly educated, illiterate, or my particular favourite learning disabled when actually we simply learn differently. By the way according to the dictionary disabled means incapacitated in some way, weakened or incapable…. disqualified..... none of which apply to me…. I learn.... am able to learn and enjoy doing so …I also recognise when I am and when I am not learning and this generally occurs when people insist I learn the way they do.

Currently I am attending University this is not my first foray into the world of higher learning but my second, my first being accomplished successfully but at great personal cost. University is structured for the linguistic, taught by the linguistic and suited best to the linguistic however I have no choice but to compete in their format if I want another qualification at the end of my time here. I should be grateful that the university has a disability officer who if I will only admit to being neurologically impaired will be only to glad to get the accommodations that would make my time as a visual spatial learner a little easier in this environment and what do they use predominantly to determine my neurological impairment.... why my lack of ability in the spelling and grammar department funnily enough.

If you try to run you diesel car on unleaded it kills the engine but we don’t turn around and say hey that car is neurologically impaired we recognise it runs on a different fuel and give it what it needs. I have no problem with grammar and spelling being taught and that is why I put this through the spell and grammar check on my computer before posting it....what I do have a problem with is being marginalised or having my ability in this area being used as a measure of my worth or intelligence.

I wasn't implying that you were any less intelligent than someone else, in fact I am almost always misspelling words. It was originally written to show that grammar and spelling is not necessarily needed to effectively communicate with other people. However, we have become accustomed to certain rules and when they are broken, our minds have to work harder to interpret what we are reading/hearing. That's were the second message comes in. It can be just a difficult listing to someone when they aren't speaking the same way that we are accustomed to. President bush occasionally makes up words or says something that is taken out of context and everyone makes a big deal of it. It isn't that he is not intelligent, but he seems to be when people don't take the time to think about what he's trying to say. About 3 months after 9/11 he was asked how he felt, he replied that he and his wife were doing fine. people got angry at him because he didn't seem to care about the tragedy that just took place. He didn't do anything wrong, he just seemed to. In many of his speeches he makes up words, I think that he does because he is nervous due to immense pressure. In the entry, i wrote something about unlearned people wanting to sound smart and making up words. That was from personal experience, one of my friends does this all the time, he isn't stupid, he just can't find the right word to express himself. My little cousin does this too. But he does it to try and sound smart. I hope that I didn't offend anyone by writing this, it was meant to be a way for me to try and say something about the way people obsess over "proper grammar" and at the same time comment on my president.

Not in the least offended what I was trying to do was present yet a differnet viewpoint..... should have inserted smileys to demonstrate this apologies...as stated before I don't object to the idea I simply hate the fact that there is no room for difference in the system that it is seen as the one and only way of being and all other modes of communication and thought are inferior with no allowances made.

Have just re-read my original post and somehow in the spell check part of the process my opening paragaph was deleted maybe this will clarify my viewpoint somewhat


Upon reflecting on your writing I thought to myself how is this relevant to me every day I write assignments and letters even though I can not spell and do not understand or apply most grammar correctly this is not because I have not been taught or because I lack a certain degree of intelligence but simply because I think in pictures not words to start with and that my brain is oriented towards concepts and the global... creating networks of simultaneous images that are multilayered ideas and thoughts on a single topic or that might crisscross numerous disciplines at one time rather than symbols and logical progression of linear thought.