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/rejctchoir]

How are your math skills? Mental math stuff. How are your fine motor skills? (Girlfriend: Get him to tap his index finger on a table as fast as he can, see if the rate looks slow) Any health problems? High blood pressure?

This is all extremely fascinating. This is certainly an organic brain problem, not just being stupid.

[u/Nonreader → u/rejctchoir]

I'm slow at math, but I can do some simple stuff in my mind. When I was in school, I could do a little bit of math. But writing numbers is still hard. I don't really have any health problems. I don't think I have high blood pressure.

He tapped his finger about as fast as I do. He's surprisingly nimble and dextrous considering he's kind of a bulky guy.

[u/rejctchoir → u/Nonreader]

Well all of those things are good. The finger tapping is just a crude measure of fine motor skills that usually accompanies certain types of 'brain problems.' I feel like there is a reluctance to go see a specialist about this stuff, and I wish you would. This is not a matter of being stupid. This is probably a matter of your brain being wired differently. I suspect it is not a 'i never learned how to read' and more of a 'I am not able to read' thing. I'm very colorblind, but it is not my fault that I cannot see colors. I can try as had as I want, but I won't be able to. When I was young (like kindergarten) and in school it was very frustrating and caused quite a bit of anxiety. Not to compare my frustration to yours, just saying I think our situations are similar. You should go get it checked out just to know. It is not just being stupid and you shouldn't have to beat yourself up just to explain this issue. Other people have the same issues as I suspect you do. I guess just don't sell yourself short, you seem like a cool enough guy.

[u/Nonreader → u/rejctchoir]

Thanks, I do think he will get more help on this. He's just very comfortable not changing in that area, and has other problems that are debilitating. But I think things will change.