I have a central auditory processing deficit, and like many people with learning disabilities I find that the symptoms of the condition are problematic in several areas of my life. Currently I am trying to develop coping strategies for when I’m dating or otherwise getting to know somebody and I don’t hear important pieces of information, like when my date has an important event coming up. Not accurately hearing and thus not remembering these things and other important pieces of information sometimes gives people the impression that I’m not paying attention or don’t care, and it can even make some people feel a little offended. What I want to know is how other people cope with this—do you simply tell the person about your condition early-on in the dating process to avoid any misunderstanding? Do you have a less direct way of going about it, like saying you just have a bad memory? Or are you just apologetic when something comes up, and hope for the best? I think that other learning disabilities can come into play here too, like ADHD, which I also have…
A lot of people use the memory on their cell phone, to make notes and use the calendar on it to note important events. Also they have an alarm feature, to remind you of them.
But with not accurately hearing? One thing that you can do. Is to restate what they said, to confirm that you got it right. Where restating it, also helps to remember it.