This is a no win situation unfortunately.
Unless you are the average normal "jo blo" then you are looked at and treated differently. For those of us that don't have a physical disability but fight really hard to act normally, we are considered normal so when we have issues with surrounding noise etc, it does not go down well, especially at work. these days, even in Oz where unemployment levels are the lowest for decades, you still fear for your job if you identify anything unusual.
I am a professional contractor and if I said that i had a brain tumor, how many organisations would employ me - retorical question but the answer is zip. Mind you, I do strategically position myself in an interview to make sure that my good ear is closest to the interviewors.
I never tell anyone at work that i have what i have for fear of the old zaparooneey.
My family is sympathetic to my issues but my youngest daughter told me she thinks I use my condition at times. In context, thats when we might have a family disagreement and my head can't stand yelling so I disappear. Whenever human voices are turned up, my head explodes. My good ear tends to way over compensate for my bad ear. My daughter will always ask me how my day was but because i mask my plight, she never really knows. Some days I will only work a few hours and spend the other time under a tree or something.
perhaps, we shouldn't mask our plight (at home anyway), will that help? who knows. people like Deb, who ssuffer severe brainwrecks are not in a position to mask it although I reckon she does for a great deal of the day. I don't want the sympathy vote, just a better understanding - like you Kathleen.
the solution at wwork is to have a bosss thats had an AN removed.
Laz
