Would you rather be illiterate or have no legs?

Illiterate by far. No more reading your posts

At first I thought this question was a no-brainer, that I'd rather have legs. But after thinking about it a little, the question becomes much more interesting to me.

If the case is that you can still learn to be literate, the obvious choice is to have legs. But if it means you have no possibility to ever read or write, I'm now thinking I'd rather have no legs.

I learn best from reading and writing things down, and I think I communicate better in text, too. I love learning new skills and that would be hard for me without using text. It's very sexy to have legs and I'd miss mine a lot, but I chose to be literate... I think.

Edit: I hope this is okay to do, but I made a magazine on kbin for these kinds of questions. I think would you rather questions are so fascinating and fun to discuss. Maybe someone would like to come post one or discuss? https://kbin.social/m/would_you_rather

Okay, here's my fucking soap box. Didn't mean to write all of this, but here it is.

Some of y'all have no idea what it's like to go through life in a wheelchair... Or to deal with the American medical system as someone with disabilities. You're disabled, so you can't work. Now you have to spend years proving you can't work, while not working, and not getting disability. So, y'know, enjoy living in your car without a wheelchair, because you can't afford one... If you're lucky enough to have a car.

My mom has been disabled since birth. She's 62 now. She got her first power chair 7 years ago.

I'm not saying being illiterate would be any better, that would also be a disability in our society (because disability is, despite what many people think, as much a social construct as an actual reality, and illiteracy shows this better than a lot of things). But this kind of question is, frankly, pretty offensive to any one who's had to go through a world that is built in a way that is hostile to their body. Being wheelchair bound means less options for apartments (because, for the majority of disabled people, you're a renter, you can't afford to own a home). You're stuck with the choice of not being able to rent an apartment because there's no elevator (even a lot of ground floors have too many steps for a ramp), or renting a second story or above apartment with an elevator, and just accepting that you will likely die in a fire with no way to escape.

There's so much to this y'all aren't considering. Needing another human when you need to transfer to a shower, or the toilet. Having to call and ask employees at stores to come outside to you instead of going in if you're unable to transfer to a chair yourself, or get to your wheelchair. Being unable to drive because you can't afford the conversion kit. Being unable to leave your home without help.

This world is designed for one particular body type. You can't just slot into it with a different type and go along like you would have before. You should be able to, but you can't.

Which is all say, just, consider what it's like for people with disabilities, and do what you can to make it better. Agitate, vote, shame and name, and if you're ever in a position to change things, do it. There are so many small changes we could make that would make the world better for those with disabilities. Accessible places are usable by everyone, "normal" places are only useable by one body type. There is no reason for it to be this way. Ramps, roll in showers, heightened toilets, grab bars, hand rails at three different heights, elevators with emergency generators and fire walls on exterior walls with a fire exit on the back. These are things that could be standard and would make the world accessible to all.

Assuming you were completely illiterate it would VASTLY limit your interaction with the current world and ability to work than having no legs.

I am not even sure it is a contest here. Having no legs would absolutely limit my physical mobility but there are accommodations and workarounds for that. I can 100% do my current desk job with no legs, play online games etc.

Being completely illiterate would heavily isolate you and your ability to grow and learn. You would have to be verbally / visually be taught everything yet somehow not ever learn how to read or write?

Illiterate. I can learn to read again.

Would you rather post a ridiculously offensive question or just keep your thoughts to yourself?

I'd rather have no legs.

Yes, I could learn how to read/write. But so many of my passions require high aptitude in those regards, so it'd take way too long to get up to speed. I'd also not be able to perform my job.

On the other hand, prosthetics and bionics are taking leaps and bounds. There likely would be little I'd have to give up physically, if I had access to that tech.

I'll take no legs. I already don't use them anyway, but I read all day long.

Illiterate because I can learn how to read. Can't learn how to regrow legs.

Illiterate. I could always get the audio book.

No legs. I would dedicate my life to develop cool prosthesis

Depends, how much money do I have and where do I live?

The real mind blower in this situation is that once you are literate you can't turn it off.

You have no way to stop reading this while looking at the words.

Your brain is permanently wired to automatically translate this into language that you understand for the rest of your life whereas if you want to have no legs you can just cut your fucking legs off.

Even if you were to lobotomize yourself, that is no guarantee that you would lose the ability to read.

The only way that you can guarantee that you would lose your ability to read words is to kill yourself. And you shouldn't kill yourself because you won't survive that.

You will die if you kill yourself, and that is bad.

I said all of that to say think it would be super fun to learn how to read all over again.

I'd rather have no legs. I could manage to live with a physical disability without too much shame or hassle, but I couldn't cope with not being to read and write (and learn, and communicate properly.) You know what they say: knowledge is power. A person without legs can get an education and do something with their life, but someone who is illiterate is doomed to work menial jobs (or resort to crime or prostituion, idk.) I think it would be akin to a mental disability, not only it would make life harder on a practical level, but it would also make you the target of hate and manipulation from others. I'm aware that physically disabled people endure hate, too, but not as much.

Learning to read would be easier than getting new legs, so I guess that be the better choice

Depends what country I'm in.

A developing country with poor education and lots of agricultural/manual labour jobs? Illiterate.

A developed nation with good education and knowledge work jobs that can be done even without legs? No legs.

A developed nation is also likely to be more wheelchair accessible, which is how I'm assuming I would get around.

I cannot discuss on the basis that I gave up my literacy for legs. 🦵 🦵

Seriously though... I think I would rather be illiterate. I could learn how to read, and in the meantime there are assistive screen reader apps and apps that let you scan something to read it aloud.

While there are bionic legs and I would love the chance to have tall robot legs 🦿🦿, I haven't done enough research on the long term effects of walking around with two fully bionic legs, or how much leftover leg is required to attach a bionic leg, etc.