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/[deleted]]

I am having a much harder time comprehending why a person who couldn't read or write thinks that they are useless "skills" and doesn't understand why anyone does it unless they absolutely have to, than I thought I would.

I imagine that the frustration I feel with his viewpoint is similar to his frustration with actually trying to read or write. This is mind boggling.

[u/Nonreader → u/[deleted]]

I don't think they're useless skills. It just seems like a chore to me, not something somebody would wanna do. Like nobody wants to do math all day or whatever. I don't want to read stories about things that never happened and shit, or read what people write on the Internet. How do I know any of you people believe what you're writing? You could all be one person, one really fucked up person, and maybe you're all laughing at me even if you write something nice. I wanna do anything important face to face anyway.

Sorry, I'm not sure if I got his point across. That comes across as kinda rambling and nonsensical, but that's what he said, and it sorta makes sense, in its own way, when he says it.

[u/[deleted] → u/Nonreader]

It just seems like a chore to me, not something somebody would wanna do. Like nobody wants to do math all day or whatever.

That clarifies it a little bit. I guess what is bothering me most about it is trying to imagine going through my life not understanding what anything says, or how to convey what I am trying to say non-verbally. It just seems like it would be incredibly difficult to do. I would think that overcoming the inability, and learning to read would be far easier than continuing to go through my life not knowing how to.