jumpingjacktrash:

autisticeducator:

hollowedskin:

notyourneurotypicalgirl:

– Your catchphrase is “what?”

– You ask someone to repeat their question then finish processing and respond halfway through they’re finished repeating it.

– You somewhat processed what someone said but your brain won’t take it.

– You mishear what people say wildly wrong. Like, wildly wrong. Then you process it and it makes wayyyy more sense than whatever you thought someone originally said.

– “Wait, what?”

– Default face is a perplexed, confused look.

– You have to deal with rude people who refuse to repeat themselves and act exasperated at the suggestion, than proceed to get angry when you won’t respond to them and/or remember what they just said.

– You can hear a car door open down the street but you can’t hear someone talking to you in the same room.

– Talking is weird.

– You’re constantly seen as a bad listener (which, maybe isn’t that far from the truth- but they assume you’re not trying), unfocused (which I tend to be, but it’s unrelated), and so on. Nobody stops to consider that maybe you have processing issues.

– You were tested for hearing issues as a kid because you didn’t respond to people or talk much, but every test came back negative and your parents were told you have perfect hearing.

– The idea of talking to two people at once is terrifying beyond imagining.

– Responding to something someone said ages ago, even with a different conversation still going, the topic has moved on, and everyone forgot about it.

– “Huh?!”

bonus round:
we can watch TV or talk. not both.

And no one without auditory processing issues understands any of this.

– you watch tv with the subtitles on even though your hearing is fine

– listening to podcasts makes your brain tired like you’ve been doing big scary math

– in a chattering crowd, all you hear is white noise