My son and I were both born tongue tied. Back in my day, one was given a frenectomy, as a routine measure of dealing with the issue. We had to fight to get him his frenenctomy, as he was losing weight and could not bottle or briast feed. He had minor speech impediements as a child, but speech and learning disability therapy helped.
When someone has issues with reversing or mixing up letters, it is called dyslexia. When it's numbers that are transposed, it's called dyscalcula. When it's writing something down all mixed up as in taking notes, that disorder is referred to as dysgraphia.

I have ptsd. I get nervous, violently sick to my stomach, and anxious because of the issues that brought it on. ,
I take meds and have counseling for it. Sometimes it feels like I am incapable and broken, and that is very frustrating. Especially when my responsibilities and plans are compromised.

Asthma.

The amount of oxygen that is passed to my lungs when I breath is less than normal.

That means that:

a) I get fatigued and tired faster than other people,so I can't run as fast or for as long as others,and can't carry very heavy weights,even if my muscles can lift them.

I can't yell. Due to less oxygen coming in to my lungs,the output is also less. The higher you are talking or yelling,the more oxygen passes through your mouth each second. Having limited oxygen bandwidth through my system, I can't yell as strongly as other people. Some times I talk to people and they don't seem to hear me.

There could be a good chance people understand better than I do but one thing that sort of keeps me down is making looser connections between things (I think?) while being a bit of a pessimist. I don't even know if this makes sense or describes it right but... something like that.

Edit: I'm not really a negative person anymore, but I'm still weird

when i was in school i was one of the best runners in my year. i could complete a 1600 meter run quite easily. i could over lap almost all of the others. but i then got a job and a person i was working with smoked almost all day. i have never touched a cigarette at all but the guy i worked with caused me to get asthma. i now cant run 100 meters without breathing heavily.

i get asthma attacks very often.

last week i was about to get on a bus but it pulled away. i had to get that bus so i ran the next stop was over 200 meters away. luckily the bus stopped at a set of lights so i beat the bus to the next stop. when i got on the bus i couldnt breathe properly for about 15 minutes.

I have a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder which affects my life to the point where I find it impossible to hold on to a longterm job (or relationship for that matter.)
I used to have loads of low-paid jobs you dont need any diploma's for, as the disorder was at its worst when I was a teen and studying just became impossible. I went to college, but didnt finish it.
About five years ago I got disability benefits and now I dont have to search for a new job anymore every six months, because I got burned out on the old one.
This has brought a lot of peace and stability in my life and I can say Im now quite a bit happier now that Im no longer involved in that kind of stress.

The problem is that it is an invisible disability. Im not dumb and have a good vocubalury and physcially Im fine, so people sometimes assume that I can work but just dont want to.
This is annoying as I really dont want to explain everything every time, to people who often wont understand anyway.
People sometimes say to people that suffer from depression to 'snap out of it' because they cannot relate to how debilitating a depression can be, they cant understand why someone cant 'snap out of it.' With my disability its the same thing only its even harder to explain to people.

These days I have an unpayed volunteer function where my limitations are acknowledged. Its understood that on bad days Ill just phone that I wont come in today and its also only 15-20 hours per week. So there is a lot less stress involved than there would be at a 'real job' while Im still doing something useful and can be among other people.
Im a lot happier now than I was a decade ago, as long as I dont mind that I have no money and that a lot of people just dont understand.

I am anti-social in real life and can have a very hard time talking to people or going to places with a lot of people I don't know.
Despite that a lot friends and coworkers constantly ask me if I want to do X or Y and look at me with confusion when I try to explain this to them.

I think my tongue is kind of long and my teeth have too much of an opening in the front. I think it makes it harder to make certain sounds like "s" that get mixed up with "th" and it gets kind of difficult to talk fast. I can read a lot faster than trying to pronounce words out loud I read, although part of that could do with hardly ever reading out loud. I was supposed to get braces before but never have because my family was kind of bad with that.

Since people mentioned handwriting and teaching lefties in this thread: when I learned to write I would write with very neat print. I think it was because I tried to mimic the type print as much as I could. I'm not a lefty though.

I'm usually quite hesitant to make appointments or agree to go places with anyone as well.

When I joined my university's computer hacking group on a whim last semester, I was initially overwhelmed when I found out that I would have to travel several hours across my state to attend a hacking competition in what would be this past February. That caused me to have a very strong desire to back out of it before I gained any serious obligations to the group. For some reason, though, I managed to calm my nerves long enough to just stick it out and even have some fun.

Still, now that the competition has come and gone, I've begun to distance myself from the group again and avoid taking on any further obligations. When the leader of our group asked me whether or not I'd want to attend the competition again next year, I just told him I'd think about it.

He seemed a bit confused, concerned, or even disappointed when I said that, so he asked, "Didn't you enjoy it this year?" Of course, I did kind enjoy it, so I answered him "yes," but when he asked me whether or not I'd like to go again, I told him that I just prefer not to decide those things in advance. After that, he remarked that I seemed impulsive, so I just told him, "I just like to play it by ear."

And I was pretty satisfied with that explanation, so I think I'll stick with that from now on.

Oh I know all to well cause I'm kinda the same but instead of of having an anxiety attacks I have a REALLY bad temper and a short fuse. If I blow my top and become enraged (either by getting frustraited or annoyed) it's damn near impossible for me to cool down quickly. For reasons like this I like to avoid things that might trigger me into getting angry. This is the major reason why I don't want to date a woman who has kids---I can tollerate kids if they're well behave but if they're brats----no way in hell.

First, I just wish to thank everyone in this topic for sharing personal experiences I hope it has helped you all in the same ways it has helped me.


Sadly, many of my issues in life have never been diagnosed mainly because my mother was raised a very Polish woman who believed in going to the doctor once every blue moon or unless your dying. The only thing I was diagnosed with as a child was ADD. I have plenty in common in the man or woman I will quote below. I've always had a tolerance however for kids. There are always times I will get angry but I end up calming myself down very fast because I remember what it is like coming from a family that put's their hands on their kids when they are just upset at the world,


Me and you share a lot in common. I've had ten years worth of low paying jobs where my personality has negatively each and every job to where it caused me either to resign or get fired. Typically, I resign after a year. I've only had one decent job to where I would still be there today if they didn't off shore to India. Many people tell me I perhaps suffer from this disorder and though I sometimes cannot understand it. I understand I've been living in a situation to where I cannot get long with people to where it affects my relationships. Plus, I just have to look at my mother to know we are the same and we need help.

Since I am out of work again, I've been working up courage to try and go to a free clinic and see what could be done.

The "invisible disability" what you mentioned is why I've posted this and wish for people to share their experiences.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have pretty bad asthma, although I have somehow gotten used to breathing little air (which makes me feel kinda badass)

Something that nobody gets about me, however, is my severe nut allergies. I get taunted with peanuts constantly, in turn making me somewhat paranoid. It's scary knowing several people in the cafeteria could end my life as I know it at any time.

One leg of mine is shorter than the other and I also don't walk much + my legs are shorter than most of my friends.
So whenever we're walking somewhere they are always in a faster pace which means my legs will start hurting if keep the same pace.
I try to tell them subtly that my legs are tired and stuff because I feel ashamed that when I walk 100 meters my legs start hurting and they slow down but then out of instict they slowly speed up to their normal pace, and since I don't want to be a burden I keep quiet and try to keep up.

It's something a lot of people in my life fail to understand, that my legs aren't working like theirs and that I can't walk at such fast paces and long distances as they can.
When it's summer I'm gonna force myself to start going out for a walk every day to try to adjust or improve my muscles.
But right now it's still winter and there's ice everywhere so I ain't going out for a walk to slip and break my neck.

My left calf is larger than my right one by about 4 inches in circumference. It does not hinder me but it is noticeable. I dont wear shorts very often, usually only to swim.

Whew. Finally got through this thread. As much as I cringe at how some people probably mock the idea of a "misunderstood anonymous" thread, it is good to know that I'm not the only one who's struggled with employment because of mental disabilities that no-one believes.

I'm on the ol' Asperger's Syndrome bandwagon (which seems to cover about a third of the people on this thread! lol). Been fired from two consecutive jobs now because I didn't work fast enough. And one of those had the gall to say that my skipping down the hall was a safety hazard! It was a mid-step hop, it's not like I was frolicking along with wild abandon! The horribly weak economy doesn't help. Plus job interviews are always fun. Much as I try, I always come off like a rabbit in the headlights. Oh, and about the left-handed thing - not a disability, but definitely a handicap. You try finding a gameboard with a thumbstick on the left. I've been hunting one for ages, but it looks like my only option is to mess hack a logitech and attach the thumbstick on the other aside. Grr.

One more thing that annoys me, and bless her heart, my wife just reminded me of it. She just came up behind me and, giving the screen a slightly disgusted look, asked me what on earth I actually do on there (I'm on these forums quite a bit in anticipation of ESO). That attitude, that simply because you think an activity is pointless, that no-one should enjoy it, bugs me no end. Yes, occasionally I go OTT and neglect stuff I need to do, but that aside, what's the harm if I want to spend my spare time collecting every single weapon/pokemon/furby in a game? I hate when people look down their nose at me for that.

lol I'm in the same boat as you

I know the feeling. I too have a Speech Impairement and it is hard for me to talk and such. Heck, a lot of times people will make fun of me just because they think I said something else or something like that. It gets annoying.

I also have Asberger's Syndrome if that counts. At least I think I do cause we are reading a book about someone else who has it and such. About 90% of the thing I can relate to in some-way...

it took me 6 years yo be daignosed with asbergers, they said that there was thousands of other people being diagnosed for other things.

i was really annoyed because i had no help when i was in school, the teachers thought i couldn't be bothered with anything.
when it was time for the exams, i was diagnosed so the teachers said i could have 5 more minutes in my exams.
i didn't need the extra 5 minutes because i would always finnish my exams early

Does depression or possible bipolar disorder count? Because if so that's what I deal with. A lot of people don't understand how hard it can be to even get out of bed.

Yeah, you know what? I think this is total BS, and yet I've heard so many left-handed people say this. I'm left-handed, and I have never had any problem using scissors. I use them every day at work. I've sat there and watched left-handed people completely failing to use scissors, only to pass me the scissors and I have absolutely no problem with it. I really don't get what the issue is.

Not exactly crippling but I'm near-sighted in one eye.
I'm also part-colourblind so often choose clothes combos that others think look awful. As for decorating I have to let others choose the colours.

Of course it counts, take a look at a huge chunk of this thread! lol
If you're not sure, I'd recommend talking to your local doctor. I got a lot of brilliant help and support. Don't let them tell you you're too old either, I was 26 before I even started.


Yeah, I came up against so much resistance to my getting a diagnosis. Even a lot of doctors still don't understand it. As evidenced by them giving you extra time for exams. Academia is what we excel at! One doctor even told me that I couldn't have Asperger's, because I'd got a first-class degree. Urge to kill, rising...


Depression counts more than anything else on this list! I'm really happy the OP made this thread, with daft questions like that! lol
My wife struggles with it so much. I'll be honest, even I had my doubts at first. 5 years of marriage have really opened my eyes.

This, whenever someone says left or right I have to check my hands. My driving instructor told me it is actually quite common.

Depression and bipolar do count. My sister has bipolar and multiple personality disorder, and advlt asperger's. She may be officially schizophrenic, but that diagnosis might have been debunked. I never see my sister's other personalities, but my mom and her have names for them. The normal one is Norma.

She doesn't get hateful with me, but isn't too polite to my mom in many cases. She's been nicer lately, though. Even if she didn't have the disorders she had, she'd still be naturally not the most friendly person. Love her to death, but hate when she says bad things to my mom.

I have depression. It used to be so bad that I was walking around feeling like I was dying inside. My mom was scared to get me help for it and didn't know if it was just the result of being a teenager. It is hard to tell if a teenager has clinical depression, so I understand why she wasn't sure about getting me psychiatric help. My anxiety is making me more depressed than usual, but I am able to get out of bed.

I'm unable to stay still, somewhat due to ADHD and somewhat due to my constant need to have mental stimulation and always requiring something to keep me busy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX23I890Umk

My coping mechanisms for my disorders are mainly gaming, learning, using a computer(yes, using computers is somehow very comforting), learning about computers, and making sure my sense of humor is always active. I probably would be far more mentally unhealthy if I didn't consider having a sense of humor a virtue. I consider having knowledge of my problems to be important and make sure I learn as much as I can.

My mom always said busy hands are happy hands and staying busy actually does help. I'm taking walks around the house as a way to calm down my anxiety now. Doesn't fully calm me, but it works.

Kind of glad it is common in the comforted way, but wish it wasn't a problem for others. Of course, I wish no one had to suffer. I remember playing Pokemon Emerald and asked my mom which way was left because one part of the Battle Frontier involved knowing directions.

I got a big http://oi45.tinypic.com/zn4q2t.jpg who often runs straight to where I am at the minute I begin having an anxiety attack. She might seem like a huge brute, but she actually is extremely gentle with me. She'll even simply lay by my door to protect me. She's also like an Anxiety Signal who makes sure my mom knows I am having an anxiety attack.

Yeah, that bone she had no longer is around. A cane corso has really powerful jaws, so that bone was more like a stuffed toy to her. Listening to metal and aggressive electronic music like industrial and aggrotech are the other methods of calming I use. Black metal is the kind of metal I listen to most, but most metal helps. Industrial and aggrotech like Hocico, Flesh Field, Clock DVA, and Circle of Dust are really soothing for me.

Listening to Ceremonial Castings and headbanging to their music helps me feel less depressed. How can I feel depressed when I'm listening to awesomely brutal black metal? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orpCuO_IgAA

If my posts are fairly personal, I tend to link to music since it explains things better than I can.

I have a speech impediment, which people literally do not understand. I have trouble with "-ar" sounds, like in "hard " or "all". My sentences are also poorly articulated. They sound more like a line of syllables than they do like words. I think I got the latter problem from hurting my jaw a couple times when I was younger, but it is hard to tell.

Agreed, I'm a lefty, why is it even being discussed in a 'handicap' thread?