Mersey Reporter - #Merseybites #News

THIS week was neurological diversity week, we thought we would post this out as food for thought... Why am I raising this? I'm posting this as recent events have highlighted why we must take notice of neurological diversity and the mythology surrounding neurological conditions like ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia. These issues are now increasingly being used as a political weapon and in other destructive ways.

Experts raised fears that vulnerable people are receiving misleading health content. This misinformation often leads to misdiagnoses and increases the anxieties of those who are affected by these conditions. Flawed understanding by outsiders, explicitly those with influence, only exacerbates the negative effects for those who are affected by neurological diversity.

A UK University study has recently found that social media frequently contains higher levels of inaccurate or unsubstantiated mental health claims. This leads to a:- "powerful echo chamber" that is helped by algorithms, which are designed to push rapidly engaging content, so to reinforce false or exaggerated allegations.

The study by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has shown that social media platforms like:- X (formerly Twitter,), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are contributing to a growing trend of self-diagnosis and misunderstanding of conditions.

What's more concerning is that this inaccuracy of mental health and neurodivergence information online is being picked up by AI programmes. These programmes then see the misinformation as fact, due to the amounts of posts about it, thus:- 'learning it'' as fact. When asked, it then puts this information out as fact, helping to increase the flood of misinformation and wrong ideas about neurological conditions.

Remember, as of late, that we know off, AI still doesn't have the capacity to evaluate the validity of any information it receives other than what it perceives as public consensus.

This flawed online information about conditions such as both ADHD and Autism, along with conditions like Dyslexia, can only led to mixed up judgments about mental health issues, including ascribing versus aspects to the wrong frameworks.

The accumulated incorrect narratives can also result in issues for those applying for jobs. Especially now that AI is being used in the application process to find suitable candidates and eliminate unsuitable candidates. As we mentioned, AI is only as good as the information it has available to processes. Which often contains wrong assumptions. Whist we are writing this about neurodiversity, it behoves us to bear this in mind in any AI judgements.

What is adding fuel to the fire are statements by the likes of Donald Trump attacking a rival on Truth Social and other platforms.

Recently, he attacked the California Governor, Gavin Newsome, for having Dyslexia, calling him stupid and of low IQ, and dangerous because of it.

Dyslexia, a learning condition that alters how the brain processes written words and has other interesting quirks. This isn't a roadblock or sign of low intelligence, in fact, many of the world's best businesses, political and scientific leaders are or were Dyslexic, with one if the most famous being:- Alphabet Einstein.

Again, AI will have absorbed comments by political figures who should know better, through news channels within the US and throughout the world. This is already manifests the increasing results being regurgitated on some AI models, claiming a sign of Dyslexia is low IQ because of the flood of links reporting it on:- 'repairable' links, backed up by previous assumptions on other 'reputable social media and blog' sites that AI models use to scrape data.

Information bias due to mass reporting on a subject, even if wrong, will result in AI models reporting wrong information. If enough people say online the Moon is made of Green Cheese, the AI will show it as fact in the results it delivers to users. This is the same issue that is affecting people with neurodiverse conditions trying to get real information. It is also a good warning point that websites that are not regulated, like social media sites, shouldn't be used for AI information learning. The response of control the of AI perception of misinformation is only given to it by those who programme it. Gork for example, has a very interesting way of seeing:- 'facts.' But this is a different issue, or is it?

This isn't supporting any political party, but it's interesting that this was pickup by Liberal Democrats' Adam Dance MP, who is dyslexic himself, going online to say Trump's comments were:- "deeply troubling, offensive and completely out of step with reality."

Dyslexia is often misunderstood as simply:- "seeing letters words in the wrong order." Yet, this neurodiverse condition often allows for a complex brain processing system to function. These functions allow the dyslexic brain to do logic leaping, that most people's brains can't do, yet that logic and faster brain functioning have flaws. Within adults, especially those in high pressure roles like journalism, as I obviously am, often Dyslexia manifests in spelling mistakes which slip in as we try to conform to a prescribed framework of writing. Many people, including me, have developed complex coping mechanisms over the years in order try to resolve our:- 'errors' in the way we process written words, but it doesn't stop our writing and points of view being any less valid.

Unlike what Trump has said, we often have higher than average IQ's, and excel at high level tasks like:- investigative reasoning, complex problem solving, and "big picture" thinking, along with 3 dimensional problem solving. Yet, we tend to struggle with:- "simple" clerical tasks like spelling or filling out forms. Also, we get words mixed up like:- "because" by spelt in so many different ways, on the very same page, we correctly write it. Plus, we get tongue or finger tied retrieving the exact word you want to say or write, especially when under pressure, yet we often have an extensive vocabulary. This is not low IQ or a sign we are not understanding the subject we are talking about, but a sign of us finding it hard to organise thoughts into a logical, linear order on paper, even if the ideas are perfectly clear in our heads.

The idea that we struggle to remember a sequence of instructions or a series of facts if they aren't written down immediately, as even the NHS or the British Dyslexia Association commonly say is a characteristic is a simplification. It is not memory that's faulty, as the vast majority of dyslexics have exceptionally good memories, but it's our output that might not initially be accurate. The note just helps us as a guide to follow, which helps us to stop our logic leaping overriding the processing of the task into a different order... It complicates simple tasks for us, but this can affect everyone, not just dyslexics. It can also help, as we often find quicker solutions to problems which are often not as obvious.

Dyslexia is a fascinating and somewhat frustrating topic to describe. This has led to many debates even today and it's hard to identify. It is also not really a medical condition as such, but more an evolutionary diversity of brain operations.

Before the late 19th Century, literacy was not a universal requirement for most jobs, so it wasn't such a big issue. Early Doctors thought it was a physical eye problem, hence:- "word blindness" being given to the condition. When the Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with the eyes of a subject suffering from the problem, they often dismissed them as:- "laziness" or "lack of effort."

This idea of:- "laziness" or "lack of effort" then got stuck in medical texts and became hard to shake off.

Describing dyslexia is extremely hard and this has led to many negative assumptions over the years.

Although the term was 1st coined in:- 1887 by German Ophthalmologist called:-Rudolf Berlin, it took nearly 100 years for it to be officially acknowledged by the UK Government.

In the UK it wasn't until the 1970 Education (Handicapped Children) Act that the UK started to recognise learning difficulties. Yet, a famous report in 1972 (the Tizard Report) expressed scepticism, suggesting that:- "dyslexia" was just a label used by middle class parents to explain why their children weren't top of the class.

The major turning point within the British editorial environment came following the:- Warnock Report (1978), which introduced the concept of:- 'Special Educational Needs (SEN).' It shifted the focus from:- "handicaps" to the specific learning requirements of the individual child. This led to worries over funding and giving students excuses not to learn.

The definitive moment of recognition came in 1987. Surprisingly, if you know your British politics, this was under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government! The then Department of Education finally issued a statement:- "dispelling the myth" that dyslexia didn't exist. They officially acknowledged it as a specific learning difficulty that required distinct teaching methods to be developed and implemented within the British Schools. But the legacy of negative assumptions hadn't been lost within the educational systems themselves. Even I suffered, when I was at School, with educational psychologists trying to use me and hundreds of other students to prove Dyslexia didn't exist, with the suspicion that it was educational dependents trying to save money being wasted on:- "lazy" or "stupid" pupils.

Perhaps the most important date for many of us who have Dyslexia was the year 2010. In that year, the Equality Act in the UK legally defined dyslexia as a disability, if it has a:- "substantial and long term adverse effect" on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities (which includes:- reading and writing at work). But as well as helping it also brings with it a dangerous issue, and that comes from AI when applying for jobs. A topic we are currently researching.

Interestingly, AI might also help dyslexic people to achieve more in the future due to our ability to logic leaping. Especially when it comes to quantum computing.

Oddly, when talking about computers, the best examples of the modern misunderstanding of the condition that oddly describes the condition brilliantly, yet is completely wrong, became popularised due to computers. In itself, a contradiction is correct and wrong at the same time.

In 1984, just as Dyslexia was becoming recognised after years of debating, a joke emerged on the virgin internet and within many top computer magazines that was soon to popularise the condition.

This famous piece of corporate satire followed the release of a brand new Intel Pentium Processors Chip. Soon after release a strange technical error known as the Pentium FDIV bug led to the chip mockingly being discribed as:- "the dyslexic chip" and quickly became 1 of the 1st:- "viral" scandals of the internet age. It was discovered the chip was found to be:- "misreading" its own internal lookup table. At the time, David Letterman (the US TV host of the:- Late Show, on CBS) ran a report called:- "Top 10 Reasons to Buy a Pentium" with entries like:- "It doesn't matter what number you dial, you'll always get the person you were thinking of." This was quickly picked up by early internet newsgroups and pushed out globally.

People joked that the chip was:- "math dyslexic" because it was otherwise brilliant and fast, but failed at:- "simple" mechanical retrieval, much like the:- "spiky profile" of a human with dyslexia, who might be brilliant at a job, but struggles with spelling.

Letterman’s jokes worked because they highlighted the absurdity of a multi-billion dollar piece of:- "genius" equipment failing at a:- "basic" task, and yet worked for some unknown reason...

It’s important to remember that if, like me, you are also Dislexic, you are part of the first few generations who are even able to have this conversation openly. Your struggle isn't a lack of ability; it's the tail end of a century long misunderstanding. With AI and statements like Trump, it's going to be increasingly hard for us within Western society to be professional and not get hit with centuries of misunderstanding playing against us.

It is worth pointing out that the results for dyslexia in alphabetic languages cannot be generalised, because the risk factors associated with dyslexia may differ across cultures and languages. Yet, Dyslexia, whilst it is less common among Japanese and Chinese speakers, definitely exists.

If you're Dyslexic, the fact is, like me, our:- "output" sometimes has a spelling glitch, which doesn't mean the processor is broken; it just means the interface is finicky. The world could forgive a computer chip for being:- "dyslexic" and still use it to build the modern world. We can certainly give ourselves permission to succeed, despite the few people who happen to find our spellings a bit of a:- "bug."

If you are interested in the University study we have talked about, please go to:- UEA.AC.UK

To find out more about Dyslexic, please visit:- BDADyslexia.Org.UK

To read about Neurodiversity Celebration Week, please visit:- NeurodiversityWeek.Com

The USA Reader

Mon, 23 March 2026 1:40 am

I don't like Trump but I can understand why he said that comment as old people of his age believed that crap as they got told by everyone it was true. Sadly, unlike the vast majority of Americans Trump continues to believe that chap. I don't think AI models will take anything he says as correct even when he is, so don't worry about it. Also, the programmers of AI are often neurodiverse, so it stands to reason that AI will develop neurodiverse attributes itself...

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