i am a designer, and a significant portion of my job is sending print jobs to outside printers. this involves job analysis, pricing, quotes, pre-press, taking care of technical issues of the print process, dealing with their sales people, etc.
i had a problem with the printer i used for a job last month (really big job where the department had an unrealistically low expectation of what they wanted to pay for a job of that size, and so i went with a cheap local printer) where, true to form, the printer we went with was extremely low-cost, underbidding the job by at least $1000 less than higher quality printers, and, true to form, i wound up having to babysit the job every step of the way to make sure they didn’t screw it up.
one of the issues was one in which i’d appended a note to my online order saying, quite specifically, that the billing contact name was not to be contacted, and instead all communications about the job were to be sent to me. and here i listed my name and email address. and so of course for the first day they sent all their communications about the job to the person on the executive level whose credit card had paid for the job. another issue was basic mishandling on their part, i’d paid for a specific kind of job, their explanation on their end was not clear enough, and i wound up having to wrangle with them to get them to print the job as ordered, and as paid for.
in each instance i submitted my communications with them via either their online project management area, or via email. and several times in these communications i told them that i have auditory processing disorder, have a very hard time on the phone, and preferred that they contact me via email. and they did not hesitate to maintain their reputation and continually called, get this, the executive level director whose credit card had paid for the job, who had to interrupt her meetings to flag an underling to track me down and get me onto a phone where i could take the call. at which point i would completely fall apart because… oh hell, if you know, you know. i’m not gonna explain it to those who don’t.
i had to send another job out last week, postcards, and went with another company, one i hadn’t used before. in the very first communication i sent, i: 1) explained about needing to send me communications about the job, not the billing person, and: 2) that i was hearing impaired, and would be most grateful if they could contact me via email if they had any questions.
and i got the most solicitous emails from a csr specially put on my job, and the job went flawlessly, and he was cordial and just so nice, and not once tried to call me or stress me out.
i feel like a fake and a liar, pretending i’m deaf with these businesses, but telling someone you’re deaf just works so much more effectively than telling them you have auditory processing disorder, which, quite frankly, no one besides those who have it have ever heard the name of.
dear deaf people: i’m not trying to infringe, just trying to survive. please forgive me.
What I do with my SID is I tell people that I have hearing problems, so it’s best to work in a more visual/textual medium. I don’t say “deaf” or “hearing impaired,” just “hearing problems.” It’s the truth, it’s enough to placate (most of) the people who might otherwise make a fuss, and it leaves the lines of communications open enough to be able to work with the people I’ll be working with more than once.
Don’t feel bad. Communication is a two way street, right? And you need to work towards your audience when you tailor a message. This audience are not a bunch of sophisticates, and they need a reason that they can understand. In fact, you basically are hearing impaired (you didn’t say deaf, you said “hearing impaired”): when people talk, you don’t hear it well. It’s not at the level of auditory nerve damage, it’s at the level of the temporal lobe not processing those sounds the way that some people do. There isn’t any need to go into that kind of detail with some printer. Just use what works.
In a better world, people would just follow the instructions their clients or customers give them for communication. Christ, I hate getting phone calls (and my auditory processing is just fine, thank you – I just hate the phone interfering on my life! I’d rather deal with people when it works for me rather than when some alarm sounds). I also have a persistent problem with giving people the cell phone number, and asking people to use the cell phone number, and having them call the home number. I’M NEVER HOME. If you want to reach me, follow instructions.
Er. End of rant. Having spent a couple of days with a book at the printers babysitting production, on a couple of occasions, I feel your pain. Just tell the yahoos whatever it takes to get it done.
I side with Nebula, I have no problem telling people I have hearing problems, but I do try to keep it at that, and not go to the extreme. Hope things keep working out for you!
I agree as well; if the guilt gets to you, try using vaguer rhetoric. Glad your second print job was easier. :)
I have been telling people I am hearing impaired for years. It is true-from a certain point of view. I do really well with the phone-sound goes right into my ear, it is crowds of people talking where I lose it.
I even got tested for hearing problems as a child because processing disorder had not been coined yet. It was patently obvious to teachers and my family that I could not ‘hear’ in a crowd.
My dad is the same way, funny thing that……. :-)
~Sarah
i appreciate all your comments, thanks for the support. i was doubting myself, thinking i was infringing on deaf peoples’ territory, but the comments about me being, in fact, accurate when i said i was hearing impaired… good to hear, and i hadn’t thought of it that way. thanks.
I totally get what you mean… ask someone to slow down so you can understand and they treat you like you are slow. And how many times is it polite to ask someone to repeat themselves before you just quit, because you realized you are never gonna get what they said. And I’m beginning to think that it would be easier to say I was deaf… after all, aren’t we hearing impaired?
Just found this website (hence the late comment).
It might also be helpful to keep in mind that another common title of (C)APD is “central deafness”; therefore, if questioned, after claiming “hearing imparment” et al., you could elaborate on your claim (“The type of impairment/deafness I have is called…”) with out feeling the need to withdraw it (“Well, I’m not actually deaf…”).
Also, “the labels of ‘peripheral’ and ‘central’ are somewhat artificial differentiations, as both contribute to the behavioral or functional auditory deficits…” (quote from Gail M. Whitelaw, Ph.D.; See the web link below)
Communication disorders are a spectrum, and labels are meant to simply cluster AS MANY SYMPTOMS AS POSSIBLE (no to pigeon-hole people). So choosing a general term which is more readily understood is both honest and practical (as long as you show an understanding and respect of the more specific titles to which your symptoms do not fit).
FYI: I adopted this perspective not on my own accord, but by recommendation from Deaf colleagues at the school for the Deaf where I taught… They saw that I was nervously struggling with identity.
Web link:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/article_detail.asp?article_id=2138