But You Look So Normal | Open Ears
▻http://openears.phonak.com/2014/03/03/but-you-look-so-normal
It’s easy to pretend that I am just like everybody else until someone blurts out a subtle, but painful statement.
“But you look so normal!”
Those words were uttered to me in the library after another student lost her temper because I could not hear her whispers. My response to her irritation was to pull out my hearing aid, wave it in her face, and say, “I’m sorry, I’m hard of hearing. Could you repeat that?”
“But you look so normal” is not the first instance of prejudice I have encountered. Plenty of schools have refused to accept my loss, have tried labeling me as ADHD, and forcing drugs down my throat. The word “retarded” has commonly been tossed my way on days when I repeatedly miss words.