We all kind of want to be X-Men, right? To have something really cool and special about us that puts us ahead of the pack?
Well the good news is, most of us do have something really awesome and cool that we can do that pretty much nobody else can. We may not be X-Men, per se, but we might as well be some sort of superhero in our own stories.
u/Mordechi95 asked:
What rare condition, trait, or ability do you have?
Here were some of the answers.
I See You
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Being color blind (red/green) and have 20/10 vision.
Your camouflage doesn't fool me.
A Limited Diet
My sister-in-law has Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). Your mast cells are blood cells that react to foreign bodies and environments by releasing mediators such as histamines to prevent your body from experiencing anaphylaxis. This has only been recognized as a diagnosis for about 10 years. She is allergic to most foods. A year ago she was able to eat 3 things: chicken, blueberries, and green beans - all unseasoned. She can no longer eat green beans. This is genetic. Her dad can eat 30 foods, and her brother 10. She gave birth to my so-far healthy niece in November. Fingers crossed!
This isn't limited to foods. She told me of people who go into anaphylaxis from the heat or from cigarette smoke in the air.
Natural Selection
I have the gene rs8177374(C;T) which reads
"resistance to several diseases"
" less susceptible to infection with malaria, tuberculosis, bacteremia and pneumococcal disease. "
I'll take it.
Harvey Dent's Coin Toss
Identical twin with an autoimmune condition my twin didn't develop. Kinda unfair, if you ask me, and also a little unusual. But these things are like a coin toss, I guess.
My twin and I, being identical, are essentially identical in our genetic make-up, from what I understand (not a scientist). My mom has psoriasis (though she's been in remission for 30 years) and that predisposed both of us to autoimmune disease, which is where your immune system gets confused and attacks your own body instead of an infection. In my case, it attacked the joints at the base of my spine, causing inflammatory arthritis. And the kicker is, my twin didn't get it.Of course, there are other factors that go into this, like environment, stress levels, etc, but holy unfair Batman.
Blind, Yet Now I See
Being colourblind, I can detect some thing's better than normal vision people. For example, camouflage usually stands out. I spot wildlife creatures, animals, birds and insects a lot easier than normies. People are usually impressed I spot these things and they often struggle to see even when pointed out. That said, I don't see red stop signs and traffic lights very quickly. Red usually blends with green foliage. (Aside: speaking of green, I just learned this week after almost 40 years that peanut butter is not green, it's brown. It still looks the same colour as grass).
Fooling The Pup
I can bark like a dog, so realistically that I confuse dogs.
Once, when I was in the passenger seat of my friends car, I stuck my head out of the window and barked at this random poodle taking itself for a walk.
We had to drive off real quick because the dog got mad and started chasing us.
I can also do pigeons, seagulls, cockatoos, cats and annoying children.
Unicorn BB
I have green eyes, which I learned recently is the rarest color of eyes to have, about 2% of the population. This has brought about theories that I was adopted, because both my parents and sister have brown eyes. Green eyes have occurred before on my mothers side of the family. I was also born on February 29th, which I share with roughly 0.065% of the population. I'm guessing the percentage of green eyed leap day babies is some crazy small decimal.
One Buck McGee
When my teeth grew in as a baby I only had one front tooth. Straight down the middle. Like Patrick from Spongebob. They did some blood work to make sure it wasn't anything serious, but everything came back negative. Did x-rays when I went to the dentist for the first time and there was only one adult tooth as well.
Once I lost my baby teeth I got braces and they used a spring to push my tooth to one side and put a fake one in its place. There's no explanation for my missing tooth. it's just an anomaly ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Distort My Reality
I have Irlen Syndrome! It's a perceptual processing disorder which affects my brain signals when responding to certain amounts of light, causing distortions when I read. I wear blue tinted glasses to read and see, to avoid distortions when doing everyday things. It's not necessarily "rare" but not many people know about its existence because schools don't test for it like they do dyslexia.
Actually, most of the people diagnosed with dyslexia have a 50/50 chance of in reality, having Irlen syndrome. That's what Helen Irlen told us when I was diagnosed at age 7, we met her in person and she explained everything. Read up on this topic, it's really interesting to learn about things that aren't talked about as often.
Maybe You ARE An X-Man
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I have a photographic memory when it comes to numbers. I remember my fifth grade teachers birthday and every phone number ever told to me, math problems from high school, my library card number from when I was a child... It can be stressful at times!
Also survived meningococcal meningitis without any complications so that's cool.
Fast Rock Incoming!!!
Apparently I have naturally very fast reflexes. I found out when I started boxing at 15 and the instructor pointed it out and did like his own little test. The only notable thing I can remember happening is I caught a rock that someone threw at my group of friends. That's not the interesting part tho the interesting part was that I barely even looked at it. According to my friends it was going really fast. Idk not that cool but I can impress people at parties with it
I'm Baby
I have no permanent upper canine teeth. I have all the others, just those two are missing.
Found out at age 32 when the right canine came out in an apple at 1am. Freaked out, sat up all night holding this tooth in place in my mouth, hauled ass to an emergency dentist appointment in the morning. They took an X-ray and the dentist came in with this puzzled look on his face and was like "Umm...did you know this is a baby tooth? And you have no permanent one to replace it?"
Now I have a bridge on that side and am twiddling my thumbs waiting for the left baby canine to fall out as well. No dentist in my childhood caught this, or if they did nobody ever thought to mention this to my mother.
How I Be
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I can't get fat. I have the same diet that would probably result in morbid obesity in most people, but I'm 6'3" and weigh 70kgs. I never get more than 75kg, never less than 65kg. I get my cholesterol checked fairly regularly, and it's extremely low (to the level that I've been asked if I'm vegan by doctors looking at the results because my blood is so clean). It just how I be apparently.
Signals Ain't Comin Thru
Dyspraxia. It is a coordination disorder that means I can't always move my body in the way my brain wants it to. It is like clinical clumsiness. I don't have a severe case luckily. Mine is more gross motor movements rather than fine. For example, I can't skip, snap, or catch or hit a ball. I frequently drop things because I can't apply the correct amount of pressure. Also, lots of bumping into things and spilling. It isn't just body movements, most spatial things are challenging for me. Finding my way around a new place, reading a map, and estimating distances are hard. It took me ages to learn to drive, but I was medically cleared to at 19.
I help myself in lots of different ways. Mostly I just ask for help if I'm having trouble doing something. Embarrassing as it is, changing a lightbulb can be hard for me. So is running. So I try to be early and write directions down on a sticky note that I put in my pocket in case I get lost.
Information Superhighway
I'm a highly GT/TAG individual, so I can learn anything at least twice as fast as the normal population. But alas, it has its own difficulties. I have a hard time doing homework, and I have failed a class a couple times because of it, yet I do stellar on tests (for example, I got a 75 in WHAP(I really did not like that class) for the first semester, yet I got a perfect score on the midterm) It's a curse and a blessing at the same time.
Yeah, Good Call Avoiding That
I am one of the 2% of the population on earth that suffers from mirror touch synesthesia, a synesthesia where vision and sense of feeling is blended together.
This is the reason I don't watch horror-movies.