old silence

Sometime early in 1968 I lost the writing part of the English language. I could letter with difficulty. Written words were not my medium of ideas. It stayed buried for over twenty years.

When I was a child, dyslexia was not a word, much less a diagnosis. I did not learn to read early as my siblings did. I did not learn to read on on schedule like my peers. I was taught to read by a brilliant and determined tutor at age seven to nine by endless drill and small rewards. I still read by word recognition and have never learned to spell. Spellcheck!
As words are not, for me, composed of letters, the keyboard is unmemorable.
The lack has odd effects. I flip letter order and digit order and do not notice. Bad enough in text, disastrous in algebra. I cannot trust my notes.