Is Dyslexia just stupidity? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458160&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

Durham University psychologist Julian Elliott thinks so.

has this guy ever spent time with a dyslexic person? its not an excuse for a limited vocabulary, they really cant translate a sequence of letters into an idea.

People with "true" dyslexia have trouble with directionality and phenomic awareness.

Simple word reversals are inadequate and are often used as indicators even when the diagnosis is not dyslexia.

A view of dyslexic thinking:


Reflections on Thinking Dyslexic

“When I was young, I drifted in an alternate dimension — where entities like time, space, quantity, and words held value and nuance, but were not segmented or dissected into bits. These entities were ethereal wholes.

I was happy until grownups expected me to interact with the world in proscribed and systematic ways. Gradually, I understood that my peers knew secrets about the world that I did not, navigational secrets enabling them to sail through school with ease. But I was lost. By kindergarten, I knew I was an outsider. And, the world seemed frightening and oppressive.

As I grew older, I began learning the “secrets.” But it was a struggle. The hardest required me to focus on minute detail, to perceive and remember intricate patterns and to associate these with speech, text, and mathematical concepts. The importance people attached to the exact form and sequence of these configurations — these demon letters and numbers — perplexed me, almost as much as how easily everyone mastered the rules governing these complex little patterns. Everyone but me.

Sometimes I resisted learning the secrets about the patterns. My brain seemed unable to do and hold all the stuff everyone thought it should. I came to fear the word ‘stupid’ like no other. Better to be stubborn — or invisible. I learned to be both.

Later, I discovered that the small patterns were embedded in larger patterns — models and principles for organizing language, thinking, problem solving, and daily living. At first, I was slower to recognize these larger patterns, perhaps because so many were introduced in school, where my thinking and self-esteem were undermined by the tyranny of the tiny sequential patterns.

The rules of letters and numbers are ruthlessly exact! I was happier in the gray zone of literature classes or current events, where right and wrong were matters of opinion, where concepts and ideas flourished, and where flashes of insight did not require painstaking reconstruction of their steps of origin to have merit.

Seeing Around Corners

Eventually, I caught on to the secrets — the power of patterns, big, small, concrete, and abstract. I still struggle with little linear patterns, especially numbers (e.g., 9x9=extreme anxiety). And, when I scan lines of numbers and text, the information doesn't always register. Nevertheless, at some point, a transformation took place. I saw how all the parts and wholes relate.

Now I love patterns! I navigate oceans of material with patterns, applying the tool of linear thought to render wholes into matrices with infinite configurations, connections, and perspectives — endless possibilities! I see around corners, far ahead and behind, from above looking down, and from others’ perspectives. This way of thinking enables me to explore an idea with multiple sets of criteria.

To my surprise, I discovered that sometimes I see things others do not. Some people are so grounded in linear thought they miss the multiple connections, perspectives, nuances, and possibilities. It is as if they see life’s tiny brush strokes, but miss the magic — the whole of the impressionistic painting, the harmony of that painting hanging with others, and the symphonies of paintings yet to be hung together or even painted. For me, the magic is in all those wholes and possibilities. For me, the multiplicity of possibility is the wellspring of inspired and liberated thought — be it poetic or pragmatic.

Is this “dyslexic thinking”? Once I experienced dyslexia as being lost in the dimension of wholes. Then I learned the secrets — how to read and use the power of patterns, how to use the sextant of linear thought. With these tools, I learned to navigate the dimensions of parts and wholes. Now, I experience dyslexia as a perspective, albeit with some limitations. For me, dyslexia is a way of seeing and thinking about the world and its possibilities."

Is Dyslexia just stupidity? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458160&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

Durham University psychologist Julian Elliott thinks so.

I have suffered a mild Dyslexia, the only problem now is with Ds and Bs
getting them mixed up, crazy when my first name has one in it.

I have suffered a mild Dyslexia, the only problem now is with Ds and Bs
getting them mixed up, crazy when my first name has one in it.

Were you a late speaker? Did you have trouble tying your shoes?

I had trouble with D's and B's, too.

My primary teacher wrote bed at the top of each page of my notebook 'til I got it.

And, strangely, I suppose I could never really tie shoelaces. I think that was because I was never taught, though.

I'm pretty sure I don't have dyslexia. If I do, then it doesn't affect me greatly.

=/

Were you a late speaker? Did you have trouble tying your shoes?

Tying shoes yes, i remember all ways saying things quietly before i said them out loud too, and crazy little thigs make me mad, like the word (once) that
is ON ce is not? well every time i read it it is.

When I write words, I tend to skip letters, but I leave a space for them and fill it in later. So the end result is correct, but I don't write it sequentially.

When I write words, I tend to skip letters, but I leave a space for them and fill it in later. So the end result is correct, but I don't write it sequentially.

Thats interesting, why do you suppose that is?

People with "true" dyslexia have trouble with directionality and phenomic awareness.

And then again, maybe they're just stupid.

Baron Max

And then again, maybe they're just stupid.

Baron Max

There are all kinds of stupid, most of which have nothing to do with the ability to read and write.

There are all kinds of stupid, most of which have nothing to do with the ability to read and write.

He may be right, i have virtualy no memory of my school years.

He may be right, i have virtualy no memory of my school years.

Neither do I, in fact I have very poor memory except for written and spoken words. So that makes me uber stupid.:p

There are all kinds of stupid, most of which have nothing to do with the ability to read and write.

But some of 'em do have something to do with reading and writing.

Baron Max

I think that the word 'stupid' really is too broad of a word to accurately describe people with dyslexia, but, according to my definition of it, it would be applicable.

The way that I interpret stupid is meaning that someone isn't as smart, or bright, or 'quick' as someone else. So, how do people tend to measure this? They look at your grades in school. Do most dyslexics have issues in school, at least early on? Yeah. So, then, would dyslexia fit into that meaning of the word 'stupid'? Yeah, I think so. The only thing is that most people tend to only associate the word stupid with someone who is actually retarded or mentally disabled, and they pin that to everyone else they call stupid. In my definition, which is, simply, they don't get as good of grades as someone else, it's not nearly that offensive or insulting (well, at least I don't think so), but, yeah, it's right.

Final point: Sure, the word stupid fits according to my definition, but it's so subjective to different interpretations that it really shouldn't bother anyone.

Dark520,

Being called stupid would not bother me one iota, i live a comfortable life and am happy with my lot.
Call me dyslexic, stupid, whatever, i will still chuck a few coins in the loosers
hats.

I've worked with some pretty damn smart dyslexic people (blue collar jobs tend to attract them, after they fail in school).

There was one I remember, the head janitor in a school in Iowa - so severely dyslexic he couldn't read or write more than a word or two at a time, and scrawled them. After (barely) graduating from high school, he still signed his paycheck with a "mark" - the local bank had no trouble with it.

One reason the local bank took his "mark" was that substantial sums of money were attached to it - he invested wisely and well.

One reason he was head janitor was the same reason he managed to graduate from high school (and get a boiler license, etc) - his memory was phenomenal. He had the entire school system's inventory of stuff - down to the boxes of paper clips and individual light bulbs - in his head. When the school purchased a new machine - always on his advice - he simply had someone read him the operating manual. It only had to be read to him once. He could fix every mechanical device the school system owned - including the switchboard.

I don't think "stupid" covers the matter.

People with "true" dyslexia have trouble with directionality and phenomic awareness.

I'm really bad with telling left form right. I always have to make the "L" with my left hand just to know where left is :(

If one day I encounter a life or death situation where telling left from right was a split second decision, I'd likely die from hesitation :(

I'm really bad with telling left form right. I always have to make the "L" with my left hand just to know where left is :(

If one day I encounter a life or death situation where telling left from right was a split second decision, I'd likely die from hesitation :(

Is it endemic in the US? Or just on sciforums?:confused:

Dark520,

Being called stupid would not bother me one iota, i live a comfortable life and am happy with my lot.
Call me dyslexic, stupid, whatever, i will still chuck a few coins in the loosers
hats.

Well, then my point was that why is there even a topic about this if no one cares? Err, rather, I think there should be a topic just because someone was dumb enough to go make a claim like that, founded or unfounded as it may be, but then make a huge deal about it. I don't think there should have ever been that 'big deal' though because no one cared. So, then why are we still talking about this? We all seemed to have reached a common understanding, so I don't see a point in continuing the discussion.

Is Dyslexia just stupidity? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458160&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

Durham University psychologist Julian Elliott thinks so.

hmmm... I understand his reasoning that dyslexia may mislabel certain students, however I was diagnosed dyslexic and scored high on the IQ test. So the reasoning that it is 100% false isn't accurate.

Is Dyslexia just stupidity? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458160&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

Durham University psychologist Julian Elliott thinks so.
Well, I suppose a lot of things we give different names to are really just different varieties of stupidity. Some people are labeled as "learning disabled". So they can't learn properly. If that's not stupidity, what is?

We take stupidity, slice it into a million tiny pieces, and give each piece its own name.

Well, I suppose a lot of things we give different names to are really just different varieties of stupidity. Some people are labeled as "learning disabled". So they can't learn properly. If that's not stupidity, what is?

I was labeled LD a the same time I was in Gifted. Mostly because I couldn't read until I was in second grade and showed the characteristic traits of someone with dyslexia. Later on I was told I was a "highly compensatory dyslexic" by a school psychologist.

I didn't learn how to read until I was in second grade however I had a fifth graders vocabulary in kindergarten. It was an imbalance of knowledge. I had difficulty with things on paper, but intellectually I understood things. Part of it was that I had something similar to a lazy eye, but the other part was that I could not tell the difference between was and saw, dab and bad. It all looked the same. I also have an auditory processing disorder (i can't filter out background noise and have to "see" someones face in order to really understand what they are saying). Both are related to how my brain is set up structurally.

Labeling a group of people as "stupid" is unfair. LD students do not have low IQ's, or else they would be considered mentally retarded. Some LD students may also be slow learners.

http://www.dyslexia.com/qafame.htm those are "famous people" with dyslexia.

Labeling a group of people as "stupid" is unfair.

Yeah, stupid people always say that.

Have ya' ever noticed, also, that ugly people will always say things like, "But beauty is only skin deep" and "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and all such silly, patronizing ways of saying, "Geez, she's ugly as hell" without actually saying it!

Baron Max

Yeah, stupid people always say that.


Go away.

It annoys me that people with dyslexia get given extra time in the exams I am about to take.

I can compare this to a 100m sprint, but giving the slowest person there a 10m start to make it fairer, it completely defeats the object of trying to differentiate whom the fastest is.

Is it endemic in the US? Or just on sciforums?:confused:

Most people that I have known here in the US don't have a problem with left/right. I'd say maybe 1 in every 50 people have the same problem I do. It's not that I haven't learned as a child what direction left is and in what direction right is it... it's just that my brain can't figure it out without some cue. I've actually gotten much better at it now that I visualize the "L" sign. instead of actually looking at my hands ;)

I've worked with some pretty damn smart dyslexic people (blue collar jobs tend to attract them, after they fail in school).

There was one I remember, the head janitor in a school in Iowa - so severely dyslexic he couldn't read or write more than a word or two at a time, and scrawled them. After (barely) graduating from high school, he still signed his paycheck with a "mark" - the local bank had no trouble with it.

One reason the local bank took his "mark" was that substantial sums of money were attached to it - he invested wisely and well.

One reason he was head janitor was the same reason he managed to graduate from high school (and get a boiler license, etc) - his memory was phenomenal. He had the entire school system's inventory of stuff - down to the boxes of paper clips and individual light bulbs - in his head. When the school purchased a new machine - always on his advice - he simply had someone read him the operating manual. It only had to be read to him once. He could fix every mechanical device the school system owned - including the switchboard.

I don't think "stupid" covers the matter.

Sounds almost like an idiot savant.

people with the condition (me icluded, and have been since a child) are not stupid, and that so called psychologist Julian Elliott is a quack and an idiot, the condtion hinders the children who want to learn, (and somtimes not even children) and some schools and people like that psychologist just cannot be bothered to help the people with the condtion.

I get the impression that "I'm dyslexic" is often used an excuse for underachieving. There are genuine dyslexics, and then there are lazy people misdiagnosed with dyslexia and using it as a crutch to avoid doing stuff.

It annoys me that people with dyslexia get given extra time in the exams I am about to take.

I can compare this to a 100m sprint, but giving the slowest person there a 10m start to make it fairer, it completely defeats the object of trying to differentiate whom the fastest is.

You can thank the liberals for that, 'everything must be fair for everyone and the disadvantaged should be given tools to make them better than the regular or advantaged people so that the disadvantaged can feel better about themselves.' It annoys me too. How can people see who's truly smart and deserving of the grades and benefits directly resulting thereof if they give some people advantages?

It annoys me that people with dyslexia get given extra time in the exams I am about to take.I can compare this to a 100m sprint, but giving the slowest person there a 10m start to make it fairer, it completely defeats the object of trying to differentiate whom the fastest is.


wy would it annoy you, people with the condition need more time to read and write the questions and answers.

Originally Posted by poontang
It annoys me that people with dyslexia get given extra time in the exams I am about to take.

It always annoyed me when I had to sit through the entire 2 hours or whatever waiting for everyone else to finish their answers. An hour or hour and a half of my life wasted per exam at school because the timing wasn't streamed.

most people with the condition have a high IQ they are not thick, stupid, lay abouts who dont want to learn. i would suggest that it idiot dr lives with the condition for a few days and see why he really thinks then

With the technical advances that have come about in brain-scanning in recent years, a lot of research has been carried out examining the brains of dyslexic people. Bunches of cells beneath the surface of the brain have been detected which lie on the surface in the brain of a non-dyslexic person.

These groups of cells ought to have moved to the brain's surface at the time when the brain was developing in the foetus, but failed to make the journey. They are known as 'ectopic' cells (like an ectopic pregnancy, where the egg fails to reach the womb and is fertilized in the Fallopian tube).

These ectopic clusters of cells are mainly found in the left and the front of the brain - the areas which are important for reading and writing. Another area of the brain - the magno-cellular system, which deals with our ability to see moving images - is smaller in the brains of dyslexic people. This makes reading harder, where the brain has to quickly interpret the different letters and words which the eyes see as they scan words and sentences.

---------------------------------

Dyslexia is not a disease. It's a condition that you are born with, and it often runs in families. People with dyslexia are not stupid or lazy. Most have average or above-average intelligence, and they work very hard to overcome their learning problems.

----------

Nemours foundation

It annoys me that people with dyslexia get given extra time in the exams I am about to take. people get extra time for different reasons. I get it for neurological/neuro-opthamological conditions (I have a migraine variant syndrome and intracranial hypertension(too much brain fluid)). My dyslexia is minimally disruptive now, the only case where I really have difficulties with it is upper level math/science classes and with writing research papers. The days I cannot form a sentence or am puking half of the day it does help prevent me from flunking, however there are more days I don't need it than days I do. The worst part is in order to take any test I have to spend 1 to 2 hours running around campus to get everything where it needs to be. I've had professors balk at the idea of me taking a test in a room other than theirs.

That said, if you have a legitimate disabling condition extended test time is never a "luxury". What is a luxury about having resource room access is you can get all of the tutoring you desire... Even extended test time is limited, usually to twice the standard testing time. I have yet to understand the point of most timed tests as most of the time you either know the answer or know how to figure out the answer.

BTW: if dyslexia isn't legitimate, then why do I know so many other neuro people that have it? *wonders*

I have yet to understand the point of most timed tests as most of the time you either know the answer or know how to figure out the answer.

Well, generally, if you know the subject well, you shouldn't have to take the extra time remembering how to do something and you should be able to complete the test in the given time, assuming you don't have to write some ridiculously long essay or something like that.

My beef with other people getting extra time is that we learn at the same time, we get the same homework, the same teacher, the test is asking us the same questions...fine, they can have extra time, but I want it too; why wouldn't they keep that the same?

When people go to the resource rooms, it pisses me off because I know that the teachers there generally tell the people the answers there, I've seen and heard them do it. Meanwhile, I have to sit in class like everyone else and actually think about the answer. The resource room, in my experience is a free pass to getting a good grade. Why can't I get a resource room?

I thought that the whole point of school was to be able to learn and apply it in a timely manner that is acceptable to the standards of the school. Sure, some people may have to work harder (a lot harder in some cases) but that's part of the game. In real life, do you get a resource room? Or does your boss expect that you can do the work on your own? I'm fine with a resource room to help people learn how to conform to these standards and learn how to take the test, but when it comes test-time, they should have studied/worked hard enough to take the test the same as everyone else. If they didn't, then they get a bad grade and that tells them to work harder.

Every once in a while, while I'm waiting in line, some kid with Downs Syndrome waltz past everyone and goes to get food...in front of everyone who has been patiently waiting. I'm hungry too, why can't I do that? Because I'm not privileged enough to have Downs Syndrome? Also, I can guarantee that if he were in real life and he were to do that, he would be laying flat on his back, whether it be by me or someone else. If they're not capable of doing the required thing (waiting in line) in order to get food, then they shouldn't get any. There's natural selection at it's best.

I don't see much of a difference between the two situations.

people get extra time for different reasons. I get it for neurological/neuro-opthamological conditions (I have a migraine variant syndrome and intracranial hypertension(too much brain fluid)).
So you had Pseudotumor Cerebri? Did you require surgery? Or just Diamox and weight loss?

Sounds almost like an idiot savant. He was not an idiot. He was indistinguishable, in ordinary life, from any other alert, capable blue collar guy - he just couldn't read.

His memory was exceptional, but I have known several illiterates and the majority had better than average memories. Reading and writing seems to cripple memory - or maybethe crutch effect prevents its normal development ?

If dyslexia was really disguised stupidity, then IQ testing should show a correlation between dyslexia and low IQ. Apparently, it doesn't.

Speaking from personal experience, I know dyslexics who are very intelligent.

If dyslexia was really disguised stupidity, then IQ testing should show a correlation between dyslexia and low IQ. Apparently, it doesn't.

Didn't you previously, in regard to IQ tests for blacks, argue that IQ tests were fucked up and shouldn't be used? Yet, here you are obviously saying that IQ tests are valuable tools for determining stupidity? What gives, James?

Baron Max

Didn't you previously, in regard to IQ tests for blacks, argue that IQ tests were fucked up and shouldn't be used?

Yes, in regard to IQ tests for determining relative IQs by race.

I have never argued that IQ tests are useless and meaningless. I have argued the more subtle point that IQ tests are not the be all and end all of intelligence. And, in particular, they are enormously flawed when people attempt to use them to establish some kind of racial superiority.

Sometimes, Baron, you need to look beyond the simplistic level of "Either IQ tests are bad, or they're good." False dichotomies are just dumb.

The problem here is there are MANY true dyslexics and MANY people who just never learned how to read properly and those people are also now calling themself dyslexic and this is where the problem differentiating between the two arises.

The fact is though that not being to read well is NOT evidence of 'stupid' whether the person be a true dyslexic or not.

Reading is a learned skill and if you were never taught or never practiced it then you simply will be unlikely to do it well. It has nothing to do with intelligence levels.

People with lower than average intelligence will have other difficulties aside from reading.

Sometimes, Baron, you need to look beyond the simplistic level of "Either IQ tests are bad, or they're good." False dichotomies are just dumb.

Yeah, use whatever you can, or want, to prove your point or disprove the other person's point ...but change your ideals when confronted with the same by another person using the same thing to prove a point that you don't like!

I call that "pick n' choose", James ...if the info good for you, use it; if it's good for the other guy, disregard it. That's good, James, ...and it's what most people around here do, so you're not alone.

Baron Max

Baron Max:

Yes, I "pick and choose" what IQ tests can and can't do. But not arbitrarily. I take an evidence-based approach.

Note that a lack of correlation between IQ scores and dyslexia could mean one of three things, by the way:

1. IQ tests are a true measure of intelligence, but dyslexia is not a lack of intelligence; or
2. IQ tests don't really measure intelligence, and dyslexia is actually a lack of intelligence after all; or
3. Both IQ tests AND dyslexia have nothing to do with intelligence.

If dyslexia was really disguised stupidity, then IQ testing should show a correlation between dyslexia and low IQ. Apparently, it doesn't.

Really?
Adolescents earlier diagnosed as dyslexic show major IQ declines on the WISC-III

Adolescents (n=43) previously diagnosed as dyslexic/reading disabled had markedly lower IQ scores on the newly standardized Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) than on the earlier administered WISC-R. The declines for Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs were 10, 12, and 11 points, respectively, which were twice as great as in a subset of the standardization sample given both versions of the WISC. The adolescents did not show a significant decline in standard scores from the Wide Range Achievement Test (Level I to Level II). However, only two subjects had current reading and spelling standard scores above the 25th percentile. http://www.springerlink.com/content/v6u2075256j0q752/
But I think the point being made in the OP is that any neuroprocessing disorder is a form of stupidity. It is a mental deficiency. Sure, it does not necesarily correlate with a low "g" score, but in common parlence, it's stupidity. Don't forget, Moron, Imbecile, and Idiot were once part of the Intellegence classification scheme. Of course, this was back when speaking plainly was the norm.

Is Dyslexia just stupidity? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=458160&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

Durham University psychologist Julian Elliott thinks so.Welcome to reality, spidergoat.

You see in as culture where all must be included and none be made to feel excluded – creating unnecessary social frictions and disharmonies - every genetic deficiency, particularly those of the mind, are blamed on nurture or, when this is impossible, they are blamed on some kind of syndrome or disease or dysfunction.

This way the dotards and imbeciles and all around retards can be given an excuse for their genetic mental inferiorities and all can be made to feel like no matter how stupid they are there’s always a hope that with the “correct” attention and schooling and “tests” all can score the same because….well, because we are all equal and only nurturing keeps us back or bad luck or tests that favor one group over another.

So when a little retard is born what are you going to say to the parents?
“Hey, you just passed on your inferior genes to your kid and you’ve reproduced a tiny version of yourselves. Yes he’s an imbecile!”

No, what you do is offer them hope and a word that will arouse sympathy and compassion.

When I write words, I tend to skip letters, but I leave a space for them and fill it in later. So the end result is correct, but I don't write it sequentially.
Same here, im actually pretty sure almost everyone has some writing oddity of some form or another. The label dyslexia like most labels applied within psychology only really come into being when these oddities of thought or patterns of behaviour become over-whelming and seriously start to negatively impact on your life.

Same here, im actually pretty sure almost everyone has some writing oddity of some form or another. The label dyslexia like most labels applied within psychology only really come into being when these oddities of thought or patterns of behaviour become over-whelming and seriously start to negatively impact on your life.

Well of course; otherwise no one would care about them or complain about them enough to get them studied.

THe problem is that when I can find pages like these:

http://www.dyslexia.com/science/different_pathways.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/10/dyslexia.ap/index.html

without any problem, I tend to think that the Durham phsychologist is mostly wrong. Yes, some parents like nice little labels to excuse their childrens problems. But in reality peoples brains end up wired differently, and we have given the lable dyslexia to a bundle of behaviours that come from having a brain wired a bit differently from average.
One person I know, intelligent and geeky, only learnt to read properly once they gave him tinted glasses. With the correct lenses in them the words stopped jumping up and down.

If dyslexia was really disguised stupidity, then IQ testing should show a correlation between dyslexia and low IQ. Apparently, it doesn't.

Speaking from personal experience, I know dyslexics who are very intelligent.

And speaking from my own personal experirence with people who are aixelsyd, I know dyslexics who are crooked jerks, probably to try to compensate for their relative stupidity.

Really?

But I think the point being made in the OP is that any neuroprocessing disorder is a form of stupidity. It is a mental deficiency. Sure, it does not necesarily correlate with a low "g" score, but in common parlence, it's stupidity. Don't forget, Moron, Imbecile, and Idiot were once part of the Intellegence classification scheme. Of course, this was back when speaking plainly was the norm.

Huh? All of these terms have to do with IQ scores- INCLUDING stupidity. Actually it is a refrence to "lacking intellegence". Now multiple intelligence theory aside, we measure intellect through IQ tests. However limited and archaic they may be, we have few other measures. If dyslexia is stupidity, then dyslexic people would have lower IQ scores. We have established this as not being true. I have dyslexia, and I suppositely have an IQ score in the top 1% (or .1%? I can't remember... I'm dyslexic :p )... I personally think I am a good example of how IQ tests are flawed... but anyway.

If stupidity is referring to brain dysfunction then you would have to consider people with OCD, depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, migraines, and stuttering as being stupid. Clearly all of these conditions have little or no correlation to intelligence.