Sure, but "I can't do math" is a shorthand for "I can't do math beyond arithmetic, and even then, I often can't do that in my head." That is not equivalent to "I can't read." It is more equivalent to "I can't read Proust without getting bored and confused."
The author in the OP acknowledges this substitution of "I can't" for "I currently struggle with." It's complaint about semantics that misses the point, I think.
Rather than complaining when people say they can't do math, we should find out why they feel that way. I suspect a large part of the reason is that math education is pedantic and boring (memorizing axioms and doing rote calculations, when we should prove them, for example, or apply math in ways that doesn't involve trains leaving stations) and when people do speak their minds about their difficulties with mathematics, they often face snooty responses like this one in the OP, rather than a lighter touch.
One of the OP's main gripes is that many people will gleefully, happily tell you that they can't do math. Nobody will ever admit to a stranger at a cocktail party that they're illiterate but being bad at math is, for some reason, a conversation starter.
The author in the OP acknowledges this substitution of "I can't" for "I currently struggle with." It's complaint about semantics that misses the point, I think.
Rather than complaining when people say they can't do math, we should find out why they feel that way. I suspect a large part of the reason is that math education is pedantic and boring (memorizing axioms and doing rote calculations, when we should prove them, for example, or apply math in ways that doesn't involve trains leaving stations) and when people do speak their minds about their difficulties with mathematics, they often face snooty responses like this one in the OP, rather than a lighter touch.