I recently realized my hearing was more diminished than normal, and my doc confirmed both sides were almost totally plugged with wax. He prescribed five days of carbamide peroxide drops to soften things up, and I get them cleaned out today. The drops basically sealed my ears shut, so for the past week I have had perhaps 10 percent of my hearing or less. I volunteer three days a week at a local state park visitor center, and it has been a real challenge to try to communicate with people whose voices I can scarcely hear. It is very disturbing to watch people speak to you and no sound is coming out of their mouths. I am sure they got tired of me apologizing for my near deafness -- or they might have thought I was "challenged" in some way.
The experience has been a blessing, in that it has given me insights I did not have before into the world of the hearing disabled. You sure learn to watch faces and lips!
My town of Alamogordo is the home of the New Mexico School of the Blind -- and has been since 1903. As a result, I often see young blind people being coached in how to make their way around town using a cane and their other senses -- skills they simply must learn in order to have any kind of independent life. Sometimes it touches me so deeply that I get choked up.
I may contact the school to see if they ever have events where those of us with sight can spend some time blinded. This also reminds me that it can be a very enlightening experience to spend a day trying to get around in a wheelchair.
Those of us with all our senses and mobility intact take a very great deal for granted. I am humbled by this realization.

Good post Bill! If I may add, this also applies to people with less obvious "disabilities" eg. ADHD, Autism spectrum disorder,Schizophrenia etc.It can be very tough distinguishing between these disorders and someone just behaving like an a..hole!
Peter.

Great post.

We should all be thankful for stuff we take for granted.

Mike

Bill as a starter,as a kid my grandmother would put hydrogen peroxide in my ears on a regular basis. I do it to this day;it WILL bubble all the crud out of your ear channels.To quote Linus in lieu of old wives tales,he said,"Some of those old wives were pretty smart". Number 2,I have not talked about this before because it was a private matter + no one needed to know.+ Im not tooting my horn. When I got divorced (the 1st time)I was pretty devestated.Along with trying to run my business I also now had to raise 3 small kids (3 kids would not work into her new lifestyle).Anyway,short way around the barn,I knew that to save myself that I had to do service to others.So on Sunday mornings I would tote my 3 year old with me (the 2 older boys would be fine until I got back)+ there was a lady who would watch him while I did my radio show. What I did was read the newspaper verbatim over the airwaves to the blind.It was very fulfilling.Eventually I had to stop as one can only play ping pong with yourself for so long.

Peter, excellent point. My late sis-in-law was severly schizophrenic and very easily misunderstood.
Randy, that sure was a positive way to deal with post-divorce stress! Good on ya!

Yes, Bill, thanks for posting. Sometimes we all need a dose of reality and humility.