I do realize, the ones in my life *now* are not trying to be jerks. This is getting better since I'm seeing that they are not like the people in my *past,* whose whole game was to keep me dependent so they could feel both superior to me, and needed by me.

As an extreme example from the physical side, I recall a guy I dated once. And I do mean once. He took me out to dinner. At some point I needed the ladies' room. Since I use a cane, he apparently thought I required him to take me by the arm and lead me there. I also have night blindness, so at the end of the date when he took me home, I really did benefit from him helping me to the front door. I never heard from him again. I wonder if he found me too high maintenance and thought it was like being out with his grandmother--but the irony of the situation is, I really didn't need all that fussing over. I was perfectly capable of going to the bathroom by myself, even if I did use a cane, and although walking me to the door in the dark was helpful, if he hadn't done it, I would have managed. I would have been slower, but I would have gotten there.

From the mental standpoint, I seem to be especially sensitive to people explaining something to me that I already know. I mean some basic fact we usually learn as small children, such as "milk needs to be refrigerated" or "helium balloons float away if they're not weighted down." Or they might assume I'm SO socially inept that I need some small point of etiquette pointed out for me before the party. "Now, don't mention Mr. Franklin's birthmark. That would be rude." Or they might explain a joke they assume I didn't get. "You see, that word has two meanings."

And I reeeeeaaaaaalllllly hate it when somebody talks to me in a high-pitched voice, short words and sentences, careful enunciation, the way they'd talk to a child or a pet. Can you say "condescending"?

My tendency in those situations is to think, "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"