>> If the shop/bank isn't cooperative about helping me I take my business
>>elsewhere, and make sure that the relevant head office knows why I did that.
>>This of course didn't help when I was on benefit, the famiily credit form is
>>an utter nightmare and in the end I got a friend to help me.
>Working together with my son, also dyslexic, I have found we can make
>one effective form filler. If the scribe reads out the questions, writes
>the answers as they are given and keeps the *beneficiary* on task this
>can work quite well.
>The worst thing about Social Security type forms are the long questions
>with "If you answer NO, go to Qn 17b" etc. Just pages of panic making
>detail that turn out not to apply in your case.
Oh heck, yes. I turn to question 17b (usually 3 pages away) and then
panic over whether it was 17d or 17b and by the time I've figured that
one out I've forgotton whether I answered yes or no to the orignal
qusetion. If I have to fill in a form I like it all to be on one page
so that I can see it all at once, that makes it easier to check back
on things I just wrote. This is because, probably like many
dyslexics, I have the short term memory span of a goldfish (who must
be permenantly surprised as their memory only lasts 3 seconds - you
can imagine them swimiming round their goldfish-bowl going 'wow, a
rock!' over and over again.)
I'm currently trying to build up enough impetus to fill out my tax
return - its fairly complicated because I changed my main job twice in
the last tax year, *and* I did some self-employed stuff. I can't
afford an accountant to do it for me and I'm actually kind of worried
that some omission on my part will lead to me getting a fine. The
Inalnd Revenue do over some free software to help, but you can't use
it if you've been self-employed as it doesn't cover that case. :-(
The sad thing is, I've already paid all the tax I owe (inc. the
self-employed stuff), I just can't face the form...
--Emma
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* Emma Gottesman * 'One should always be *
* Research Engineer\Mathematician * a little improbable' *
* [log in to unmask] * - Oscar Wilde *
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