It goes unseen. A lot of people assumed that everyone with an ID speaks like Forrest Grump and acts like Gilbert Grape but the truth is that ID's are a spectrum that vary from person to person.
"Did your past career affect your future jobs?"
Not when I was young. When you could just hide such information by not telling anyone. I suppose now-a-days it would get in your way if you wanted to be a teacher or a nun.
"Was it something you told romantic partners?"
Yeah, none of them seem to mind.
"Did you ever tell family members, at the time or later?"
When I was a stripper I confessed to my sister when she asked me what my career was. She was understanding and my brother found out later. Neither of them seem to mind and now we both think it's funny.
"Were you ever worried about people finding out about your career?"
Not really. It wouldn't be ideal with impolite company but when it's friends and mutuals then I'm fine with it.
VIP rooms are for the fancy clubs. Not the dive bar one I worked in.
There isn't any other type of intellectual disability. You may have got them mixed up with learning difficulties which do have different types. A intellectual disability is its own thing entirely. An intellectual disability is when someone has problems with learning and processing information.
Non of the other girls were interested in me. At first it was nice being just being around such nice girls but over time it became torture. Imagine being a starving dog and being surrounded by tasty sausages you can't eat. There was that but also it was only supposed to be a temporary thing to begin with.
My song was 'If you think I'm sexy' by Rod Stewart. Funk and soul was pretty common as well as some disco. I remember hearing 'Ring my bell' by Anita Ward, 'You sexy thing' by Hot Chocolate, 'Twist and Shout' by The Beatles and 'She's a lady' by Tom Jones a lot.
Just an apartment. Nothing fancy.
Female
I don't know what it's like now but back in the one I worked in back in the day, certainly not. I would have had it all.
It was fun. I Got to drink on the job and hang out with hot girls. How could you ask for more?
For me it was more of a personal thing. I had known about the place for a little before hand and became obsessed with the lovely dancers there. Thank god they didn't have HR I would have been in so much trouble. One in particular I couldn't get enough of. I still think about her all these years later. She was such a sweetheart.
Acting interested did the trick.
Basic things like spelling and maths are really hard for me. I also have struggles with speech. I struggle with things like sounding out words, pronunciation and I also have a lisp.
Another big thing I've had to overcome is the sigma. There's a lot of sigma when it comes to being mentally challenged. This is why every word for it eventually becomes an insult. This has happened to words like "rêtrd", "moron" and "spd".
My parents was very disappointed in me for having to go to special ed classes in school. I remember one night in particular when I overheard them talking about me. They talking to each other about how embarrassing it was to be the only parents with a kid who had go to S.E classes. How I would always be a burden and who had no opportunities in the real world. I remember how I just cried my eyes out for hours after hearing that.