It's a recurring theme in my life. I'm in my fifties, but this has been going on since my teen years. I suppose before then, it would have been almost normal behavior, but I still got treated like this even after that age. I have depression/anxiety, and I walk with a cane after an accident years ago. (I wasn't driving, and it wasn't my car.)

I am not stupid.
I am not mentally challenged.
I am not incompetent.
I am not helpless.

I've been treated for most of my life as if I were all of the above. This means people have done all of these things:

* Speak to me in a clear, slow, high-pitched voice with short words and sentences.
* Grab what I'm doing right out of my hands to do it themselves because "you'll probably mess it up," or "I don't want to wait all day."
* Go looking for me in case I got lost, when I'm not even due there yet.
* Call to make sure I'm awake, five minutes before my alarm would have gone off. "Oh, you set an alarm? Well, I didn't know...."
* Repeat the same information several times, and STILL write it down for me just in case I forget.
* Assume I don't drive, and/or act surprised when they find out I do.

What I want to know is, what am I doing that gives this impression to people? Nobody is ever surprised that my husband can drive, or my sister, or my mother, or my neighbor. What's the big deal that I can? I'm not THAT disabled. Why do they assume I am?