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My first experience wearing a mask left me disoriented and in tears. I have lip read about 30% since I was a child. I also am small and wear glasses. The mask covered most of my face. My glasses fogged up. I couldn’t negotiate the environment (target). I felt a bit like a bat without sonar. Then checking out. I had to ask repeatedly for them to speak the fuck up. So humiliating. I didn’t shop again for a year. Then I had to take my daughter to the DMV for a driving test. I couldn’t hear anything. I got yelled at in front of the entire room by a worker with a chip on his shoulder who assumed I was ignoring him. The whole mask thing was so traumatizing for me I stopped leaving the house. We moved to a state where it’s no longer an issue but if under duress I am forced into one now I get quite rude about asking the masked person to speak up.

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