Okay, I’ve been holding off whether or not I wanted to tell you my story for some time since my last post. Let me give you a harsh reality what I’ve gone through growing up. By the time you’re done reading my post, you will realize your situation is nothing… I mean NOTHING… compared what I’ve put up with.
A little history:
I was born hard-of-hearing (85% in BOTH ears) and started wearing a hearing aid in my left ear - my “good ear”. When I was in Juniro high school, my grandfather decided to have DOT put up a Deaf Child Area sign on my street due to numerous close calls of being hit by a car. One day, the neighborhood kids on my bus started calling me hurtful names about my handicap all because of that sign.
I know my grandfather meant well and I’m glad he had it put up.
The name calling went on for a week or two. So hurtful, a good friend of mine’s older sister stood up for me and told them off. Did it stop? No. Anyways, my dad went and visited every kid’s parents who was involved in the name calling. They were shocked and unhappy their child did such thing. Except one parent who stood up to my dad and said “And what are you going to do about it?” This parent didn’t give a crap if his kid called me names or not. Unfortunately they no longer became my friends - not my choice, theirs because I snitched. Did I cared? Hell, no. Something needed to be done.
Thankfully in high school, there were kids from wealthy families who respeced me and my handicap and never bothered me. They were better kids than those in my neighborhood. Many were jocks. I couldn’t ask for a bunch of stand-up class of kids in my grade through out my high school years.
Did the ignorance stop there? Far from it. I still dealt with stupid comments but learned to ignore them. Fast forward 30 years later. I was working part-time at BJ’s Wholesale Club. The stock employees had not one, but 2 stereo blasting loud on the same radio station. Keep in mind, BJ’s has high ceilings and sound bounce off walls when loud. They hurt my ears while dustmopping the floors.
I went over and turned them down. next thing you know someone turned them back up. This went back and forth for a few minutes until one of the low level manager came to me and asked if I was the one turning the radio down. I told him yes.
He said the one wrong thing to me and that is to tell me to “turn off” my hearing aid.
Big, big, mistake. I dropped my dustmop and got into his face within inches and asked him if he really wanted to “go there” with me. I told him he was extremely lucky I didn’t jump him and beat the living crap out of him. I also told him I dealt with enough folks like him insulting me as it is growing up. I gave him a choice ; kepp the stereo volumes down or I go home sick - it’s his choice and what’s it gonna be? He had no choice but back off. Did he apologize to me? Absolutely not.
After that incident, I reported him to HR and the store manager. Did they reprimand him? No, because it’s all political and he was a part of the “good 'ol boy” network within management.
Just a couple years ago, my sister told me she’s heard hurtful stuff abut me over the years growing up. I didn’t ask nor cared to find out. I had an idea because I dealt with more crap than you did.
Middle school is a funny age group - your body’s changing, voice changing, you’re hitting puberty, and tons of peer pressure. Deal with it the best way you know how. Ignore them. The more you ignore them, the more it’s gonna get boring after a while. As I said before, man up, have thick skin, and grow a set. Soon, all this shall come to pass.