People who do not speak are frequently, if unintentionally, disrespected, condescended to, or ignored — despite often having adequate cognition to understand the world around them.
Which is why it comes as absolutely no surprise that nonverbal teenager Nicole Apo has heard some insanely wild shit throughout a lifetime of eavesdropping around people who barely acknowledge her presence, let alone bother to care about what she hears.
“People don’t so much confide in me, as confide in people they actually trust while I happen to be nearby,” Apo reported through an AAC device.
“Except for school, it took my mom 12 years to even let me out her sight for more than 20 minutes!” she continued. “Do you know how much medical shit everybody has? Mom’s friends just casually talking about ovarian cysts on a weekday afternoon in front of the toddler!”
Some of the information that Apo has heard is normal for adults to share with each other, but weird for a young child to hear. In other cases, however, people had no problem with Apo being around to passively absorb actual secrets.
“Oh, yeah, teachers fuck each other a lot. All the paraprofessionals? Fucking each other!” she said, rolling her eyes.
She then said that a lot of the teachers she’s had up until now have been very quick to talk about drug habits with her in earshot.
“Everyone is doing so much blow on the weekends!” Apo shared.
Concluding the interview, Apo remarked that her dad once confessed to a buddy that he cheated on her mother.
When asked if she was going to tell her mom what she knows, she said, “I’m saving that for when I really need it.”