Adventures Of A Neurospicy City Boy

When your English doesn’t english.

Neurospicy is a fun, quirky way of describing people who have neurological

problems like dyslexia, dyscalculia, sensory issues etc. It’s a way of saying ‘one of

these is not like the others.’

Ever since I can remember, spelling, reading, writing, maths were hard. Textures,

sounds, colours were also annoying to the point of crying from frustration. Let me tell

you what I mean by spellings, reading etc. From my point of view.

I don't know how you see words in books or signs but to me words move. Move!

What do you mean by move? I know you might think that it doesn't make any sense

but that's exactly my point. It doesn't. That is why it used to bring me to tears.

I will try to give you an example. Let's take this sentence. “A cat is small and cute.”

Now what I would see is, “Cat a cute small and”. If I closed my eyes and looked

again I would see, “tac a sall and cute.” Now that was not a spelling mistake, it is just

how I saw the words. Imagine a small child only just learning how to read sees this

and people couldn't accept that the words were moving, so they kept yelling at me

telling me I was wrong which frustrated me even more.

Writing is also related to my reading difficulties because if you can't read the word

and if it changes every time you look at it, how are you supposed to learn the

spelling? 

Reading has never been one of my strengths. I've always found the idea of willingly

taking a book and sitting down to read it over watching a video for simple enjoyment

very weird. Text just doesn't make sense. When you listen to people's voices,

sounds are easy to understand. When we read text, you have to rely on the rules

and ways that words have been made and passed down the generations.

It confuses me how ph and f have the same sound in the word phone, how whole

and hole are read the same way even when there is a w before whole but it is silent.

How can you just say a letter is silent sometimes but not silent in other words. I

genuinely believe whoever made the English language was seriously high. While

speaking, things like a silent w or ph sounding like f don't matter, that is why I prefer

videos for relaxing rather than a book. It just makes sense.

Of course the Indian education system functions off gigantic textbooks and a lot of

reading so I’ve had to learn to deal with it. The main thing I’ve learnt is that context

matters. I picked up how to read small parts of sentences and judge what it means to

say without having to read the full sentence. It’s kind of like how Google docs can

give you suggestions on what to type by understanding what you’re trying to type.

I also learned how to use face to face interactions as much as possible. By watching

how people speak, a little lip reading, their use of slang, voice modulation, tone, and

body language, I have a better understanding of what people mean, beyond what is

coming out of their mouths. My friends come to me whenever there is a

misunderstanding or they are in a tough spot as they know I see things differently,

can cut to the root of the matter and can explain it to them in a way they understand.

Reading people is so much easier than reading text.