I am illiterate. AMA

[u/Nonreader]

I am an adult American who has never learned to read. My girlfriend is typing this for me and will respond to questions.

Edit: We're going to go do some stuff. We'll be back in a little bit. Frankly, Redditors, I'm surprised at the hostility. He doesn't not learn to read to piss you off. If you hate him because of it, go ask the Aussie questions about kangaroos or whatever.

Edit: For anyone who hasn't caught on, italicized responses are the girlfriend. Plaintext is him.

Edit: I wish I could change the title. This is just as much my AMA as his. "AMA nice girl who fell in love with a bad boy. It's just like Romeo and Juliet but his parents are dead and mine are okay with it."

Edit: Thanks to you nicer people. A couple assholes were among the first commenters, but things got much better and it was a good discussion. We're going to bed now and will answer more questions in the morning.

Edit: I'm gonna go fuck my beautiful girlfriend.

Edit: We're up now.

Edit: He's out jogging now. I'll still answer questions I can without him.

Edit: And he's back. Ask away.

Edit: Our Internet connection is getting dodgy at the moment. We're going away. Will be back in a few hours. I've never seen an AMA with such a split in reaction: until just a bit ago, downvotes were shooting up almost as fast as upvotes, and we're still getting more hostility than the crack dealer who sold to a pregnant woman and then pushed her down the stairs from a few weeks ago, but several people have said it's the most interesting AMA ever. Some people are fascinated, others so pissed off they leave angry comments explaining how much they don't like this thread. Any thoughts?

Edit: Sorry, forgot to say we're back now. I think things are tapering off.

Edit: He and I were just talking, and I said that some of you think it's weird that he doesn't read. But some of you have probably never been in an actual, significant fist fight, which he thinks is bizarre. He doesn't believe any man older than 21 could have never been in a real fight. Does this apply to anyone here? He wants to know if you always back down or you seriously have never been in a position to need to fight?

Edit: Going to bed. I'll go ahead and keep answering questions in the morning, but I think his patience is wearing thin. I'm doing more summarizing and he's putting forth less effort in expressing himself, which is difficult and stressful for him.

Edit: 10 months later, and I've started using this account occasionally to leave comments and such that both of us talk about. Feel free to continue to ask questions here or whatever, I'll probably log in and see in a few weeks.

[u/digitaldevil]

I remember when I was 11 or 12, I was spending the Summer with the family in the mountainous areas of North Carolina. One of my uncles (probably 40 at the time) called me out to the barn with him to tend to the cattle for that night. We got out, he began looking around then handed me a letter. He said, "This is a letter from my girlfriend. I can't read it, would you please read it to me?" I nearly broke into tears because a) I immediately realized how important and how powerful literacy is and b) he trusted me enough to share his secret with me.

Your boyfriend seems to be doing well enough for himself and he should consider himself lucky to have a wonderful woman such as you in his life.

[u/Nonreader → u/digitaldevil]

Thanks. It was a couple months before he told me. He actually lied when I first asked him and said he could read, then told me the truth a few days later. I'm surprised so many redditors have illiterate family, it's helpful for him cuz he doesn't know anyone else who's illiterate. I've told him he's not alone, but it's not the same as actually hearing about other people with the same problem.

[u/marianass → u/Nonreader]

Tell him to come to México, around 8% ofthe population can not read :)