One fun parallel - not to literacy, but to another skill at which artsy types are often better than mathematicians - is the oft-repeated, and completely accepta

One fun parallel - not to literacy, but to another skill at which artsy types are often better than mathematicians - is the oft-repeated, and completely acceptable, "I can't read minds". Lots of people can read minds. Not literally, of course, but they've put in the work (and perhaps it was work that they found easy and pleasant, much as many programmers found math) to be able to essentially tell what people want, don't want, are implying, will be offended by, etc. Yet I've certainly heard plenty of people, and especially STEM-types, making a point of pride about lacking this skill: "I'm a straight-shooter" and the like. There's aspergers and there's dyscalculia, but many STEM types who happily admit to lacking this skill are just like those whom the author bemoans - they find it difficult and uninteresting. And that's okay! But it's no truer, really, than "I can't do maths".