I read this post yesterday and I went back to find it to write a response.

First, let me clarity when I give advice, I speak my mind, saying what I would do if I know what I know now but were in your shoes. It isn’t intended to make you feel better, but genuinely a matter of “this is the easiest way to reach my goals”.

First, let’s address the problems you can fix, and ignore the ones you can’t. You say you’re 76 IQ, but to be honest you wrote a more comprehensive post than most people can. In any case, check out this video by a guy who claims to have 70 IQ and how he holds down a job at McDonalds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjDXvXACIEA

Why a job at McDonalds? For a few reasons:

1. You already live with your friend. You’re not about to be homeless. This is the best time to start working.
2. Getting a job means getting experience working. You might not think much of it now, but that’s step 1 to getting a job at a company with a union, or a company that will offer you full time for health insurance
3. Getting a job will preoccupy your time. You can’t quit drugs and alcohol if you’re not distracting yourself with something else
4. A new job means meeting new people and learning new things. You might find another path yourself
5. McDonald’s will let anybody interview and start working. So you can get this job

Second, you need a long-term plan. This is why I mentioned a full time job with a union: it doesn’t matter if it’s an Amazon Warehouse or a Walmart, a union will look out for your best interests. They will give you a livable future and be the backbone you need for support, since it seems you can’t turn to your family for that.

Getting a job at a company with a union is harder, but that’s why you do step 1 first. When you have experience and a reputation working, these doors will always be easier to open up.

Download Tinder and find someone.

Prefacing this by saying this is in no way directed towards you/meant to undermine your post, but IQ really is racist pseudoscience. “Low IQ” is always used as a cudgel against people who otherwise do not come across as unintelligent (such as yourself, imo) to discredit them. I’m thinking of a lot of instances of young Black people who have been subjected to the criminal justice system and their demands for autonomy being dismissed with BS “low IQ” claims (despite the fact that they come across perfectly eloquently in their writings).

I don’t have personal experience with addiction so I can’t give targeted advice there, but I know there is support out there to help people overcome addictions. If you’re worried about getting a job, definitely you can learn a trade, find an apprenticeship or something like that. I do also have a diagnosed learning disability btw, and didn’t finish high school because of it, and in my opinion the only ways that has held me back is through school systems refusing to accommodate for my learning style. I’ve had no problem self-teaching myself skills aligning with my interests like programming. I’m not saying that applies to all intellectually disabled people, but evaluating your intelligence by school performance is a really shit way to do so especially if you have any kind of learning disability or neurodiversity. Some years at school I would get Cs and Ds, some years at school I would get straight A*s; is it more likely that my intelligence wildly fluctuated between years, or more likely that there are so many circumstantial factors that affect academic performance far more than inherent intelligence?

You vastly overestimate the competence of the workforce in general. If you show up on time, work hard, and work to improve over time (don’t expect to be perfect! Just learn from mistakes!) you will be a coveted employee.

Hopefully this leads to improved feelings of self worth.

Reminds me of the YouTuber Mat Armstrong w/motto “Hard work beats talent.”

As others have said, pick a trade. Make bank. Get some friends who value you for you. F everyone else. Not literally lol

I wish you can find yourself more comfortable with yourself going forward. It sounds to me that your previous environment wasn’t the most nurturing for your school needs, and you shouldn’t let this mindset carry over anymore.

With your new freedoms (salary yeey) and environment (roommate, adult life) you’ll be able to re discover yourself and your expanding limits. I think you’ll be surprised of what you’re actually capable of.

You write very well, and communicate coherently. I don’t get a “low intelligence” vibe from the structure of your post. Although the negative focus suggests an unhealthy fixation.

It sounds like you might have good emotional intelligence. I think you can find something you’re good at, develop that natural talent into a strong skill, and just give yourself to that.

Also remember that negative thinking creates bad outcomes. I know it’s not your fault, and your negative thinking comes from negative experiences, but you’re clearly demonstrating a kind of intelligence in how you communicate.

Short answer: yes, there’s hope for you. You’re so young. You have time to find what you’re good at and give yourself to that.

Everyone’s thinking it, I’m just saying it

stop with the fucking drugs already

It can be very demoralizing, but remember that IQ is only a part of intelligence, and grades in school matter a lot less than you think. Also C’s and B’s are respectable grades. Focus on the things you are good at and enjoy doing. Do you like animals? There are people who pay for grooming or dogsitting. Maybe you have a good sense of humor and can make it as a comedian. Perhaps you like outdoors and plants?

Please don’t give up and lean into your strengths.

You’ve already got some good advice but in no particular order:

1. You are much more articulate than a lot of people. You can read and write better than a lot of people.

2. You’ve been at least emotionally and physically abused

3. You know how to work hard.

4. ADHD is somewhat treatable with medication, at least improvable.

What that translates to:

1. no it isn’t too late, especially if you keep working hard.

2. the things you blame yourself for likely isn’t your fault. Therapy, when you can afford it, should be a priority.

3. working hard is so important for employment. Most jobs don’t require high intelligence. Working hard with a good attitude and working with people is so much more important for most careers.

4. learning disabilities suck. ADHD is hard. You can still learn coping mechanisms and find ways or a career that fits better with it.

Life is hard. It’s harder for you than most. It can still be worth living, but it will be up to you to find a way. I think you can.

Maybe a long shot, but as someone with ADHD and self diagnosed autism, I would encourage you to look into the possibility. I struggled in school all the way through, constantly told “if only you applied yourself”, the problem was I was already working harder and didn’t realize the system wasn’t designed for my brain. Really the world in general isn’t designed for anyone neurodivergent, but your life still has value, you just need help figuring out how the whole unexplained thing works.

I think part of your problem is you’re comparing yourself to others that are different to you. It’s like thinking you’re lesser because you’re not a tall basketball player, when you’re not meant to be a basketball player. IMO if you can hold a steady job to pay yhe bills that’s probably the first thing. Then a good way to get off the drugs is to focus on exercise and eating healthy. If you can keep that up for a year theoretically you should feel a lot better about yourself. Maybe get into reading books as well. Even the most trashy of books.

First off, I’m so sorry you had that much pressure put on you in school. Your father should have helped you and instead he needlessly made things harder. One thing you should keep in mind is a saying I see every now and again: “Comparison is the thief of joy”. You’re not your brothers or your sisters and that’s okay! You may have the same parents, but that doesn’t mean you have to be clones.

Distancing yourself from your abusive father was a good move and I applaud you for that! Parents who don’t accept their own children, especially including their quirks and flaws, don’t deserve them. It sounds like he wants you to be someone else, but tough shit: you’re not them, you’re you. And you have zero obligation to become this perfect person in your dad’s head.

And to answer your question: yes, there is hope. You got out of a bad situation and it sounds like you’re still recovering. For now, forget math, grades and employment and just focus on getting better. Good grades and a stable job don’t mean jack shit if you’re miserable anyway.

Survive out of spite. Fuck these assholes. Fuck this way of life. Fuck this “civilization”. Fuck them all.

first of all, there are people that relate to you, and cherish you and love you. i was quite happy to see that most people here were supportive of you and overcoming this bad moment on your life (because that’s what it is, a moment. it won’t last forever). you have value in yourself and there’s no greater justification in living than knowing that you deserve to live and be who you are simply because you exist, and you are, period. you yourself amount to many important things and if people don’t value you for who you are, screw them, who weren’t able to cherish that beautiful complexity on yourself.

that being said, you need help. and the first thing to tackle is, like others have said, overcoming your addiction. there are several ways of getting help on this: many community centers, even in the united states, keep narcotics anonymous groups on their premises. serious groups will have a way with providing you with medical assistance, which will be needed;

• if, and only if, you are comfortable with going to a place of worship, they often receive meetings of n.a. groups, and serious priests, pastors, rabbis, imams, nuns and monks can give you some direction on where to find help without asking anything in exchange. stay away from sects such as scientology;
• from there, you can get the psychological and psychiatric help that you need to better cope with the adhd, being able to live with it and improve your learning and social skills;
• social services can help you find a job, qualification and help you if there’s any trouble;
• take advantage of everything that’s free in order to better yourself, such as courses and books that are available at your local libraries;
• and most importantly, a day at a time. you will find some difficulties, especially with divesting your old ways, but stand for yourself first and foremostly. some days will be harder than others. learn to forgive yourself and others for things that did not went right, but you don’t have to accept anyone back into your life if they didn’t changed their ways that have hurt you so much. here and there you will take falls, but find the strength to start over, and over, and over. you’re not perfect, but that’s ok! who is, anyway?

Your English is perfect. There is no indication of low intelligence from the way you described your issues. B and C grade are pretty average and indicates you can learn with hard work. I think what you might be experiencing is anxiety and that is causing you to think you don’t have skills or intelligence. I am not from US so I don’t know what kind of help might be available for you there, but I would suggest you to look for a job with something you like to do even though the pay might not be great and then eventually your interest will take you further in your career.