I come not to scold but to educate. Because apparently we have become a society that is so "me" driven we have lost the ability to consider others.
Hearing impaired people are difficult. I think we would all happily admit it and most of us know that we have to take the responsibility for our own problems associated with hearing loss.
It isn't anyone else's problem.
And yet. It kind of is.
Because it gives others the chance to actually consider how they interact with those who are hearing deprived.
The non-hearing part of our society is mainly overlooked. It was never more apparent than during the recent pandemic panic. Face mask wearing meant most non-hearing people didn't have much interaction with other people at all because they couldn't read lips and let's face it no one believes learning ASL is a must do on their bucket list. Hell, I don't even know it well, just a few random signs that might get me by in a pinch.
For people like me who aren't completely deaf, there are hearing aids. And those bring a whole other set of issues to the table. If you have them and wear them people assume they "fix" everything. Well, they don't, nothing compensates for your God given ability to use your senses.
But here is what they DO accomplish. They amplify sound.......all sound........even the sounds you don't need or want to hear. Something as small as a person patting their foot in leather shoes on a tile floor becomes the equivalent of Chinese water torture. It's a steady repetitive noise that gets louder and louder and louder. There is a reason sound is often used to demoralize people. The Branch Davidians were bombarded with loud unending sound. It drills into your brain until you have to seek relief.
One thing I can tell you for sure is this: if I can hear something you are doing without my hearing aids, you are too loud and you are leaving me no avenue of escape. At some point it becomes a fight or flight scenario and honestly are we that numb to other's around us?
I am a loud, noisy person by nature, but I work quietly. I am quiet when I write, when I paint, when I restore photographs and when I sew. And most of those are done when I am totally alone. But, I am also very quiet when I work a job. I realize I am not the only person in the room and other people deserve my courtesy. My job requires I concentrate and being bombarded with repetitive habit sounds is insanity provoking. Even removing my aids does not mean I can remove the offending sounds.
For me right now, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you and I am exhausted from it. And it troubles me that now I am faced with having to say something AGAIN or just shut it out entirely because people cannot fathom why anyone doesn't want to hear everything they are doing for hours every day.
Am I mad? You damned right I am. I am by nature a happy person and a good worker and co-worker and I'm tired of feeling like I am the one who needs to not only make allowances for my own disability but now to figure out how I can do so within the framework of chaos not of my making.
Please, be aware of your surroundings. Take a minute to ask does this bother you? Because I have a pretty good feeling if it does, you already know it. I once had to ask a person if my perfume bothered her because every time I was around her she sneezed. We aren't here alone and we need to stop acting like it.
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