>>295950 (OP)I don't want to shit up this thread as I'm not low IQ on paper, but reality seem to prove otherwise.
Based on my psych I'm supposedly above the average in the 120 range according to his dumb test, but I'm genuinely retarded, slower than my peers.
I went to get checked out for this reason too, crap working memory and attention issues were my chief complaints.
They tested my memory and I had less than half of the average score.
I somehow can't figure out basic shit, can't follow instructions at work unless I'm shown the specific situations and be provided with a detailed guide of sorts that I can follow whenever I forget.
A lot of things that are just "understood" implicitly by my colleagues goes over my head and I can't figure out solutions that don't fall into the predetermined categories.
And this is at a rather low skill job. I got some autistic behavior patterns allegedly, but not a full diagnosis as I couldn't afford more sessions. Maybe it's that.
I've read that premature born kids grow up partially retarded, but they sometimes have parts of their brain compensate, so some skills or abilities are above average or exceptional. (I was born more than a month premature.)
For me it was foreign languages, although I'm sure my ESL writing here will prove otherwise.
Somehow as a kid I just picked these up from TV and games, I had multiple B2 Complex (spoken and written) language certifications at a really young age because of it.
Yet I couldn't describe why or how, like I didn't know the grammar, but used it correctly. My peers would ask me questions and they thought I was being an asshole to them when I told them I can't help them out… I really didn't know or understand it either, so how could I explain something I don't know?
Which resulted in me almost failing the language classes despite having the same certificate as the teacher, because I couldn't memorize shit like conjugation tables.
Same shit happened with maths and physics although "intuition" only carried me through high school. Somehow my brain just spat out the answers, but when asked to explain I failed. They thought I cheated, but I didn't, was forced to "solve" problems in front of teachers and ended up getting half marks because I got it right, but couldn't it the proper way.
Once I had to learn to do proofs and such it was over.
It feels like I have absolutely zero control over my mind. Whenever I have or had to sit down to "study" it was like my eyes glazed over and trying to force myself to read out loud on repeat did nothing.
I could read the material a hundred times and remember nothing at all. Some things my brain just does on its own, some it just refuses to process at all.
The helplessness felt in those situations, when something insanely simple by normal standards just REFUSES to enter my head is devastating.
I struggle following along with conversations, my boss and some coworkers pointed out that when talking to me sometimes they feel like I just stop being present and it feels like I'm looking through them.
It's because they tell me so much and I get lost, can't follow anymore and then it's just shutdown time for my brain.
The second something I can't do is there, no matter what I do or how much I want it my mind just doesn't compute it.
I hope this does not come off as some kind of brag. I just wished to share my own struggles. If I had the money I would get retested, because I really do still feel like I'm impaired.