gothtistic-stims:

allism-mom:

dumbthinmint:

A Terrible Idea

How to solve auditory sensory sensitivity:

Step One: Whenever there’s too much noise, put on headphones blasting your favorite non-painful/triggering music loud enough to cover up the bad noises.

Step Two: Go slightly deaf over time from wearing headphones blasting loud music.

Step Three: All noises are now quieter. It’s like noise-cancelling headphones but for free and invisible!

yes i know this is a terrible idea and please dont actually take my advice this was just a joke that my autistic sensory-sensitive self found funny please don’t sue me

Okay I know this is a joke but I think Deaf people would like point out that Deafness isn’t actually all that bad.

Also my dog went deaf in his old age and it honestly changed his personality and made him much more relaxed and chill.

Doctors would never agree to permanently damage a person’s hearing but maybe noise-dampening implants or something would be a good solution to misophonia and sound sensitivities.

Consider this: reverse hearing aids

I’m not talking about ear plugs or anything, I mean an electronic thing that can literally take whatever sounds go into it and soften them. You could adjust it to zero so you hear nothing, or when you’re only having a bit of an issue you could just turn sound a little bit softer.

1. Please do not frequently blast loud music if you can avoid it, because it can cause tinnitus in addition to hearing loss, which can be sensory hell for a lot of people and make other auditory issues worse.

2. According to a quick google search and this reddit thread, this actually sort of exists, and it’s called Adaptive ear plugs (that’s the name of the concept, not a brand). These are earplugs that only deliver outside noise under a certain decibel rating, therefore blocking louder noises while allowing you the hear quieter ones. Looking at a few different sites, it seems like the prices for these are in the same range as higher quality active noise-cancelling headphones, which are enougg for most people to block out loud noises, but may not be helpful for people who also have speech auditory processing issues or some hearing loss in addition to noise sensitivity.

Update:these earplugs from adaptive mall seem to be the most affordable exapmple of this that I’ve found, and are currently on sale for $25. 

Don’t romanticize it.

When a person says that they’d just love to have my experience I just want to say, “Really? You want the frequent headaches, the ringing sound in your head that’s not really there but you’re beyond exhausted like all the time that at this point being tired is just a continuous state of being for you, and no amount of sleep can alleviate your constant dread of social situations and being in noisy places and second guessing yourself ALL THE TIME even when you know there’s no reason to but its just that being deaf is like having a phantom sense and you’re always wondering if there’s a sound there or if something’s happening here and you’re not hearing it but no worries because someone will be there to make you feel like a total piece shit for not hearing them speaking to you?”

Let me know how that goes as you realize it’s not a simple matter of plugging up your ears.

“Deaf and dumb.”

No.

Not trusting that your peers have your best interests in mind when it comes to selecting an activity that won’t cause you stress and anxiety because of your hearing, while dealing with the backlash as you are accused of not having enough faith in others, when, ironically, you’ve had to explain to those same people many times why you don’t answer the phone or why you’re over the loud, crowded bar scene or why that guy’s looking at you funny because of your accent.

And then they proceed to tell you that it’s all in your head.

I’m not fucking dealing with this in 2018. Get out of my face with my shit.

Is this my trauma?

I was up at 3 in the morning after a heavy conversation with my best, pouring forth my unfiltered thoughts and gutting my heart on paper the stream of consciousness of a deaf, black male who has to balance those two predominant spheres (along with being queer) while battling the never ending introspective thoughts that constantly make me question my self worth and whether or not my friends are REALLY my friends, or just people who pity me and are being polite while I misread all of their cues and tones, all the while addressing the fact that I have avoided confronting the real issue that my disability is an obstacle when it comes to building genuine (ergo, romantic) relationships, while people won’t actually SAY it….we all know it’s there, and it’s great that I’m like this “AMAZINGWONDERFULGENUINETALENTEDFUNNY” guy, but I’m still “too deaf,” “too black,” “too intimidating.” And internalizing THIS message, this stream of consciousness, in a way that people cannot look at me and go, “Nah, you’re being a #paranoidminority” or “you’re #attentionseeking and #playingthevictim” because we are often taught that our experiences are invalid. That it’s all in our heads. But it’s me holding up a portrait of myself that contains fragments belonging to different places while not fully belonging anywhere.

I’m not asking for pity or your opinion. There isn’t a right or wrong. It’s just me. My experiences as the results of biology and fucked up circumstances and being a clusterfuck of star stuff.

Yeah that’s my headspace.

Constantly asking yourself if you’re too guarded. Too deaf. Too independent. Or all of the above.

- dating life

“Listen, dude, I can’t fucking hear you and I don’t really fucking care at the moment.”

-sensory overload

***that feeling of wanting to slaughter every breathing person in range***

Pretend you’ve got a four year old constantly asking you to stop and look at something they’ve got in their hand. You know they don’t mean any harm, but after a while it gets annoying and tiresome to have to continuallystop and turn around and figure out what the child wants. That is how I feel when hearing people talk to me, and around me, constantly, without making sure they have my attention first.

It disgusts me how many adults in my life have tried to raise me as a hearing person. It’s their secret way of saying, “No. We don’t accept this.” And to think how I’m not the only one. It happens to all of us, everyone, in different ways. And not just deaf and hard of hearing people.

Life is either constantly looking around to pretend that you are hearing things like everybody else or isolating yourself to not give a damn. There is no middle ground.

I’m not sure if I think any of us are obligated to apologize to some hearing people for making them feel uncomfortable for five seconds when we are uncomfortable in their world for a lifetime.

Nobody ever takes you seriously. They’re all too blown away by the fact that you can speak and breathe, and do things like other people. It’s like you’re some other creature pretending to be human. They don’t see you for who you really are, and then wonder why we either overcompensate or retreat and isolate ourselves.

It’s funny how everybody wants to talk about mental illness and depression, but hardly anybody is willing to engage in a conversation upon which we discuss how deafness and/or central auditory processing disorder are oftentimes a huge contributor to anxiety and depression on so many levels. Not only are you constantly navigating an isolating world where you cannot always rely on your ears or your brain to process sound, but you have to understand how other people communicate, worry about accommodations and accessibility, strain yourself physically and mentally in order to mainstream, deal with numerous embarrassing situations that require a thicker skin than most, combat audism in your community, oftentimes family, friends, and coworkers, miss out on many activities and conversations, and struggle every day with accepting your limitations. There millions of us all over the world. Why are we not talking about this?

HOH tip

Sandwich yourself in between two hearies at all possible times when out and about to create a halo of hearing detectors.

Reblog if you have ever been scolded as a child (and as an adult) for not realizing that someone was talking to you.

I mean, I’d imagine being the actual deaf one who has to walk around not hearing things while people raise an eyebrow at him must be uncomfortable enough to deal with on a daily basis, but no, I can imagine being the asshole who has complete control over the volume of their voice as well as control over how they choose to react to someone not responding to them must be more uncomfortable and therefore deserving of more sympathy and understanding. Once again, it’s about the hearing person’s ego and their inability to accept that not everyone hears the same. Ironically, most of these people will claim they support disability awareness. There’s your proof they don’t.

I follow a lot of deaf social media groups on Facebook, and sometime I feel myself getting frustrated. We rally together and champion for more deaf awareness, more acceptance within the hearing community, and rightly so we should. But I feel that we’ve become keyboard warriors, we moan to our d/Deaf peers about the issues we face. Moaning to each other changes nothing within the hearing community. When we face a barrier, we need to challenge it there and then. For example if we don’t understand someone and they get fed up saying ‘never mind!’ It’s hurtful when that happens. We need to tell the person saying that when they say it, not 2 hours or 4 days later to our d/Deaf peers. Also talking to that person there and then will enable them to learn, understand and become more deaf aware. But we need to understand that we cannot accept that person to become 100% deaf aware straight away, when we educate them about something. Learning and changing behaviour/habit takes time. We may have to remind them twice or even 100 times. We shouldn’t write them off straight away as inconsiderate hearing people. This is something we need to change within ourselves, especially if we want other to change. All relationships is a two way street.

While writing this I am aware that not everyone has the confidence to challenge people there and then, but every time we face a barrier and not challenge it. It will keep chipping away at the confidence in our ability to navigate the hearing world, and the more we challenge these barriers, the more confident we will become.

We need to be warriors on the streets, not behind a keyboard.

I pretty much lost all hearing in my left ear, to the point that the hearing aid doesn’t really help that much. I still wear my hearing aid as I find comfort in wearing it, and yet at the same time it reminds me how much it hurts to lose my hearing. It hurts so much but I’ve come to appreciate the hearing I do have in my right ear.

I need to stop wearing that hearing aid because it’s not good for me emotionally and mentally. The hearing is gone and I need to accept that and move forward. Wearing the aid will not enable me to move forward.

I need to incorporate non hearing aids days and increase till I stop it as I’m not ready to stop it completely just yet.

One day I will stop wearing but I cannot see when.

Well, today has been a fun day! Been to see my consultant today for my 6 monthly check up. (Those who read my blog post regularly would know I've had 2 operation and face further hearing loss.) At my last check up last year everything was fine and things were looking promising, but not this time round. There have been further hearing loss, which was a blow! I actually thought I was lucky for a change! They want me to try and adjust to using one hearing aid. For me this will be hard as already feel like I’m missing a limb.

I know I’ve always said that I would be fine if I were to lose more of my hearing, but it doesn’t mean it need to be fun! I still find it hard, I get full of fear and anxiety but not towards to the hearing loss but to my future. I have no control and this doesn’t sit well with me.

Overall I struggle as to where I place my emotions - I’m angry but there’s no one to blame. I don’t want to take it out on others as it’s not their fault but at the same time it’s not mine too! So where can I place it! I’m not exactly the most forth coming person when it comes to expressing my emotions. I don’t find it easy to talk about things that upset me.

All I can do is wake up tomorrow and move forward like I always do! I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who are supportive - friends, family and those whom I have the pleasure of working with. I am not alone.

Who says being deaf needs to be easy - Its a challenge. A challenge that I will face head on!

N:*hollers at kiddo - who is supposed to be In Bed - to pipe down*

me: I couldn’t hear a thing.

N: and I can’t hear the thermometer beep. Together we make approximately one hearing person.

Girlfriend: Can you turn down the music?

Me: What???

Girlfriend and I, while watching a film: Shit, we don’t know what they’re saying, turn on ccs.

CC’s: [Speaks foreign language]

Us: Well that was helpful….

Goes to a loud concert…

Girlfriend: inserts ear plugs

Me: takes out hearing aids

Both: Perfect!