Invisible Handicaps
News update: I am weird. I am particularly sensitive in multiple domains that Asperger’s could have been a childhood diagnosis, if it weren’t for PTSD, MDD, and OCD artifacts thrown into the mix. It’s difficult for those who have no issues hearing to appreciate those with hearing problems. Hearing is so ubiquitous, when a deaf person doesn’t respond to an address, some people get mad. Very few people wonder, ‘did you hear me?-’ the first thought is ‘why are you ignoring me?!’ With hyperacusis, just stirring your coffee cup with a spoon is comparable to a weapon’s discharged next to the ear.
At the worst of my experience, prior to knowing what was going on, I began isolating and avoiding noisy environments. I stopped going to movies. I stopped socializing. I couldn’t stop going to work, but there was more than one conflict about the volume of the television in the breakroom. Two occasions resulted in being assaulted for turning the volume down, even though there was an empty room next door with a television on the same channel! I know, because I could hear it! The condition resulted in frequent migraines necessitating sedation. It resulted in missed time at work. It wasn’t until I had thoughts of self harm, seeking ways to make myself permanently deaf, that I sought professional help for my experience.
