Dyslexia and ID Cards

Now I have to get the bad joke out of the way first, I do have a degree in bad jokes after all.

I thought DNA was the National Dyslexia Association

I do feel sorry for the readers of my blog as you have a lot to put up with. However one thing that I try had not to inflict upon you is my misspellings. As someone with dyslexia, I don't say that I suffer from it as its my readers who suffer, I am acutely aware that it can lead to misunderstandings and lack of clarity. Therefore I do try to ensure that I am not misspelling words. Occasionally one or two get through but the eagle eyed among you will spot them. Also I must say that I personally dislike having to try and read anything that is poorly written and or poorly spelt as it does make communication difficult.

Now I mention this as today I spotted a mistake that I had made in the titles I created for my videos. With the videos I post on line I place a water mark on them. While adjusting the colour (that is the correct British spelling) I realised that I had misspelled this. Dyslexia is also known as word blindness and I had not spotted that I had omitted a U from mouse. What I think helped my spot it was that in changing the colour of the font my brain was then able to detect the mistake. I know that there was some scientific research that showed that the colours of type and paper could really help.

I had to have a good laugh at that though as there will be tens of people that are scratching their heads wondering what a Wood Mose is!

Now to briefly return to a previous posting. While I was miffed by the action of the police officer the other day, I have always been aware that wandering about at night I could be stopped by the police or other figures of authority. However, while I had, and normally do, identification because I don't drive I don't have a driving licence. As this has effectively become your ID card by default in this country, the officer would only accept that as proof of who I was. Further, when I told the officer my address he quite noticeably reacted to the name of my village.

It is sad to acknowledge that in my village there has been serious problems with drugs, and the crime that goes with it, but this is something that is less of a problem now. The reputation continues though. Add to this because of my long hair, hey I'm a Hippy, I suspect that the officer assumed a stereotype and that I must be up to no good. Had I not been in the next county it is likely that it would have been a bobby from my local force and perhaps I would have been recognised, even so what I was doing was legal and it was only that the officer did not want to loose face that caused him to escalate the matter. He was not going to just let me go back to the wildlife watching, he had wanted me to just go home. Therefore he escalated it to me having to prove who I was.

While I know that our government wants to force us all to have ID Cards, I am personally against this. First it will not stop crime or any of the other things ID Cards are said to help with. Second I just don't trust the government to keep the information I would need to provide for this ID card system secure. There have been a number of breaches and data losses by the UK government already. Third, I just don't see why any state agency like the police needs to have the power to stop anyone going about their lawful business.

While I don not fear our government, they have this perverse relish for wanting state control this, that or the other. And we do risk having our civil liberties eroded. The problem arises if we should ever have a government that is really odious such as the British National Party. If we then had ID Cards then the system could then be used for real oppression. Just as happened in Nazi Germany, and as happens today in Zimbabwe.

While we don't yet live in a fascist state, we are in danger of slipping into a police state. Unfortunately all governments will demand more powers, often to tackle real problems, but removing our freedoms is never the way to solve any problem. Also there are large portions of the British population that are deeply prejudiced and there is always a risk that a blind prejudice could become a government policy of a vote hungry politician.

My experience was of an over officious individual, perhaps with a good dose of prejudice, wanting to stamp his authority on a situation. The fact was that I was not doing anything unlawful. The only thing that made my activity odd was that I was doing it at night.

I do think that we need to be vigilant about what powers we allow the state to have, but while we don't yet live in a fascist state it could happen if we don't hold the government to account.