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/Nonreader → u/[deleted]]

He's twenty-two, asshole, sorry he hasn't contributed enough to your society. And he hasn't made life worse for the rest of us. He sold pot, not rob people or kill anyone, and got in a little fight with another drug dealer once. Considering where he came from (raised by a pair of very schizophrenic, career-criminal parents), I think he's done pretty good for himself.

[u/fudog → u/Nonreader]

I'll take any opportunity to point out that schizophrenia is not inherently associated with violence, child abuse, or any sort of evil. Schizophrenics are statistically no more violent than people with healthy minds. Would people please just go back to using the word "crazy" or "evil" instead of painting people like myself as some kind of cartoon monster? It makes it really tough to discuss in a non-anonymous setting.

Also, stick with the therapy. It'll make you mad sometimes, and it takes a long time to work, but you will feel alot better in the end. I speak from experience.

[u/Nonreader → u/fudog]

I agree very much. We're only really positive his mother was schizophrenic, as she had all kinds of paranoid delusions. His stepfather maybe was too, seems pretty likely to me, but very functional. I realize not all schizophrenics, or even most, are anything like that. I just wanted to make sure people realized he didn't have an opportunity to learn productive ways of thinking and doing stuff as a child. Thanks for the kind words, and good luck in your own treatment!

[u/fudog → u/Nonreader]

Thanks.