Being Mistaken for Deaf

[Desiree W]

So, I’ve mentioned a while back about me zoning out. I’m often in a world of my own inside my mind. Even many years ago some people thought I was deaf, because I wouldn’t respond when they were speaking to me sometimes. It’s not that I didn’t hear them, I just wasn’t listening to everything. I didn’t and still don’t mean to be rude. My mind just wanders on its own sometimes. Especially when people talk a whole lot, I REALLY zone out even more. Have any of you all ever been mistaken for deaf?

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Mistaken for not caring but not for being deaf, and I think that being mistaken for being deaf is better

 

[Adora]

Yeah when I’m out I usually go deep into my own thoughts and I sometimes don’t hear someone trying to talk to me and do tend to zone out unintentionally aswell,as for the hearing I was actually seriously thinking onetime that I had some hearing problems because another thing I have is that it’s hard for me to filter out background noise and hear someone talk which adds another layer to the issue.

 

[Butterfly88]

Yes, it seems sometimes people mistake my earplugs for hearing aids and start yelling at me.

 

[Progster]

Yes! A former boss once called me to the office and insisted that I should have a hearing test, because there must be something wrong with my hearing. I then realised that the problem wasn't that I don't hear well enough, but rather that I hear too well - I hear every single sound and can't filter it out.

Another time, British Airways staff thought I was deaf, because I have a habit of pointing my ear towards people in order to hear them, again because I can't hear them over background noise. They didn't even bother to ask me, they just assumed that I must be deaf because I was doing this.