I was somewhat hard of hearing for the last six, or so, years. I often found myself asking others to repeat themselves, and I always found it hard to hear someone whispering. In August of '06, the hearing in my left ear suddenly sounded different, as I answered the telephone. I went to the doctor, who ordered an MRI. I was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma.
Since my diagnosis, I've been suffering from severe depression - the tumor is the least of the causes, though, yet it is the reason I am constantly made fun of - at work. I work for a large corporation in Cleveland, Ohio. Since my diagnosis, our Office Administrator has called me 'deaf', 'dumb', 'retarded', and more, on numerous occasions. On a few occasions, she has stood right next to me, pretending like she is 'talking', yet no words come out of her mouth - on the first occasion, I asked 'what are you doing'? She said 'Ha!Ha! You so deaf, you couldn't even HEAR me!!' She does this to entertain the other workers. The department manager will use sarcastic 'sign language' when she speaks to me (although I don't have a problem hearing when someone speaks directly to me) - if she were to say 'Kim will be calling the client', she would (all the while) roll her two pointing fingers in the air (around in circles) - directly to the individual (Kim) sitting next to me, then pretend as if she is picking up an invisible telephone, dialing numbers on it, and placing it (the invisible phone) up to her ear. This is so embarrassing to me. On other occasions, during corporate meetings, for no reason at all - she would suddenly ask someone (for no reason),'is Vicki wearing her hearing aid today'? After diagnosis, I became the office joke. At work, I am treated as if I should feel guilty for even living.
After dealing with this treatment on a daily basis, I notified my corporate Human Resource Department. I asked to be transferred to another department because I could not deal with this treatment. The HR Director advised me 'that is not our policy', and recommended I seek a job somewhere else. Since I would consider AN surgery within the next year, I don't believe I want to seek another job due to the fact I would lose my short term disability benefits (to cover the weeks following surgery) since I had been with this company for several years. When the two individuals (that I complained about) found out about my HR complaint, they took me aside, in private, and 'scolded' me. After that 'meeting', I've become isolated. I am now completely ignored by the Office Administrator, and my manager now treats me worse (she reprimanded me in front of other workers for my 'sending a coworker a work-related issue - with no sense of urgency - to her (company) email on her day off).
I am recently divorced, and raising my two year old son on my own. I always try to stay positive, but it's so hard when I'm treated like a dog everyday. Nearly everyone in my department received large salary increases, and/or job advancements - yet nothing was ever offered to me. I am a responsible, hard worker. I treat others respectively. I don't even have much time to consider my options for surgery, or to even find a brain-tumor specialist. I would like to know if anyone else out there has ever experienced this type of treatment after diagnosis. Any help would truly be appreciated.
