well, dyslexia, and Attention Deficet Disorder. (and the other term, i forget ADHD?) have sprung on the screen, as it were. New modern disorders.. why?
perhaps because, years ago, people like my father, who also has dyslexia, and had trouble in school, were shunted off, as he was, to a trade school.. he wasn't expected to read, so his difficultly reading didn't really matter much.
he became a butcher, got a job with his skill, a skill that required very little reading, and was able to support a family.
An article in today NYTimes points out, a clerical job, nowdays requires a college degree.
In the new technologic marketplace, where information is a commodity, a lack of literacy is a handicap. might that result in illiterate people being unable to support and raise a family? might a man like my father in some future world be unable to keep a job?
possible. but one of Nelson Rockafeller's son's had dyslexia.. but rockefellers money bought him tutors, and readers, and he did fine.
also, since dyslexia is perception problem, smart dyslexics can often learn skills to compensate.. and then can learn to use tools to overcome there handicaps.
my spelling is bad here, (i don't even try aenegma any more) but with a good word processor, i can turn out fine documents.
technology today allows the blind to "read"-- with scanner/readers, the lame, or physically handcapped to to type.. the dyslexics to spell, and edit!
You might know regular contibuters.. but do you ever think of how, they too might be using some of this technology? what evidence do we have? none! all you see are my thoughts, with out seeing my body.. Have i lost a hand or arm to an industrial accident? am i crippled with a childhood disease, or one of old age? how would you know? Unless i told you, all you would see are print outs of my thoughts.. do i speak into a microphone to make words appear? do i have software that scan and reads a page out loud to me? and if i did? would it matter? do really care how i get my ideas into a format you can use? or reformat to meet your needs?
In 1950, doctors encouraged parents of downs syndrom children to abandom them, and consoled them, the children with downs syndrom never lived beyond the age of 2 or 3.
and abandon to an understaffed orphanages, with no antibotics, and little affection, its true, they "failed to thrive" and died young.
but raise in a loving home with caring parents.. down syndrome children live to twenties and thirties..
We value human life too much. Tools that help everyone, often help the handicapped more than we expect.
will illitercy fall away, like lactose intolerance? i don't think so. maybe some, but some cognative learning disorders, like dyslexia will be with us for a long time.
