kraftiekortie wrote:
I'll give you one example of me being "disabled." It's pretty subtle---but really could make a difference.
I work in a library. One of my co-workers asked me to call somebody. The co-worker gave the person's first and last name. I couldn't, for the life of me, make out what the co-worker was saying; I thought she was saying something totally different. The co-worker became exasperated that I made her repeat herself three times.
In certain workplace situations, this might lead to me being scrutinized further than how I'm scrutinized now, because it seems, to some people, ridiculous that somebody would have to repeat themselves three times in order to communicate something.
My hearing is normal. I just wasn't processing what the person was saying at first.
I think this is one of the things that attracted unwanted attention at my last workplace. One of my managers, who I had to work very closely with, was a big talker, and I depend on being able to ask questions to remember what people tell me. For cultural reasons, he wanted me to shut up and listen to him, which made me unable to recall much at all. It was just one big wall of sound. So I tried messaging, which didn't work for him, but he was a manager and I was not.
The trouble is that in lower positions you are expected to adjust, but my ability to adjust was limited when I was 25 and now I am 40.
The funny thing is that auditive processing is really a small thing that can be worked around, but there seems to be a bigger emphasis on conformity in work life than ever before, even though nobody seems able to explain why this is important.
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I sometimes leave conversations and return after a long time. I am sorry about it, but I need a lot of time to think about it when I am not sure how I feel.