Typological and Spelling Corrections

Hello, I'm dyslexic. My brain handles words a little differently than most, and spelling doesn't stick the way it does for most other people. I can see the same symbol sequence five times and still do not see the mistake sitting right in the middle of it. It isn't about trying harder. It isn't about caring less. It's just how I'm wired, and it stays that way for life. I, and most of the 10% of the population like me, really do want your help catching things. Some kinds of help work better than others, so here's a quick guide.

There are two kinds of mistakes

The ones that matter. A wrong number. A wrong name. A wrong date. A link that goes nowhere. I make a mistake that makes the sentence say something I never meant to say. You are welcome to tell me about these every time, because I want to make sure my meaning is not lost

The ones that don't. "Recieve." "Teh." A missing apostrophe in a chat message. If you read it, you knew exactly what I meant, and no meaning was lost, then you can let those go. A correction in this case will not improve my brain's performance in this regard, and there's no actual cost to the mistake.

Here's an easy way to tell them apart: ask yourself if you understood me. If you did, it's generally the second kind.

If the mistake is on an outward-facing document and error-free presentation actually matters, of course that's a great exception. Please know that I want to get numbers, names, dates, and anything an external stakeholder will see right. Helpful corrections are appreciated and welcome.

How to tell me

This is the part that makes the difference.

• Just fix it, if you can. Type over it in the doc. That's the kindest version of all.
• Say what's wrong and what's right. "Hey, the invoice number in the second paragraph should be 1042." Short and clear is perfect.
• Tell me quietly. A direct message beats a reply-all every time.
• Tell me once if I keep missing the same word. Then I can teach my computer to catch it for me.

What doesn't help

• Pointing at a mistake without fixing it. Just "*receive" leaves me the work and no useful information.
• Suggesting I use spellcheck/autocorrect. It's already on. It catches misspelled words, but it can't catch a real word in the wrong place, "form" and "from" both look fine to it. Also, autocorrect is more my enemy than my friend; it will pick a whole new word for me that I never meant to use.
• Adding commentary about it. Anything about being careless, or unprofessional, or not proofreading. I've been hearing those since I was a small child. Those comments don't teach me anything new. They do not hurt my feelings anymore (I'm grown up!), but they might erode my trust in you.

Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to read this; most people don't think much about it, and you just did!