Please use the microphone at public events (I have an auditory processing disorder and can't understand you - even if you shout really loudly from your seat)

Still recovering from this morning’s three-hour training session. Huge echoey room. Lots of masked people talking, some of whom were shouting their comments and questions from their seats instead of using the microphones.

When we were asked to share a time we felt excluded, I went up to the mic, mentioned my auditory processing disorder, and said I feel excluded right now by the people who weren’t using the microphones. “If you want me to hear you, you will have to use the microphones.”

Afterwards several people thanked me, saying I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hear. Another colleague asked, “What’s the name of the disorder you mentioned?” and shared that they were experiencing the same symptoms, and didn’t know the disorder had a name.

So maybe some good came from my grumpy comment.