I’m afraid that’s just my voice

I (24f) have a soft voice that can sometimes sound quite husky, especially when I try to raise it because it is so naturally soft. This is partially due to a mild condition I have that affects one of my vocal cords and makes my voice a little weaker than average.

I am now confident in my voice and its uniqueness. People that I am close to are used to its quietness and know to ask politely if I need to repeat something instead of asking me to speak up.

And then there are the others….

A certain breed of strangers who think they are so wise that they automatically know what everybody’s circumstances are.

It’s a routine now that when I meet this type of person and they hear me speak for the first time their first comment is. “Do you have a sore throat?” To which I clearly and immediately respond with. “No, I’m afraid that this is just my voice.”

Cue the terror. The most common reaction is that they quietly apologise and try to move the conversation on as quickly as possible but to me it is priceless each and every time it happens.

I appreciate many of these people were probably trying to be considerate but if I were insecure about my voice these interactions would be really damaging.

A good rule of thumb is that just because you notice something different in a stranger does not mean that it’s your place to rationalise it. You do not know that person well enough to know what their normal is and if something is amiss they will tell you.

With the best will in the world, I hope that these interactions haunt the other people and they stop to think the next time they think that commenting on a strangers differences is a good idea.