Dyslexic moment #1

Just had what I'm now going to refer to as a dyslexic moment - for those of you who are dyslexic I'm sure your know what I mean! But basically it's when you are suddenly confronted by information that your brain can't process quickly enough - and you kind of freeze or have a mind blank, although you try to style it out. This often happens in the most every day event/ occasion - I'm not talking about huge amounts of information, it's often just something so simple that can throw you.

So my dyslexic moment today....on the phone trying to make an appointment with the doctor.

Receptionist: 'yes tomorrow at ten to ten'
Me: 'that's great thanks'
Receptionist: 'what's your name? how do you spell your last name?'

Now this is where my moment happens, I'm trying to write down on a piece of paper the appointment time, but ten to ten - I'm struggling to visualise it (I'm differently a visual learner and unless I can see it, it doesn't go in my brain). Now if she had said nine fifty - that easy to visualise:

9 and a 50 = 9:50

But 10 to 10 just wasn't turning into a time in my mind. Adding to this her follow up question- I'm now trying to process numbers and turn them into a time while also having to spell out loud my name - it's TOO MUCH INFORMATION.

Please don't think I'm blaming the receptionist, I'm not. Its a normal conversion that happens millions of times a day around the world. I'm just trying to highlight how something so simple can throw a dyslexics mind. And once it does it came make it frighting or intimidating to put yourself in that situation again - and that's another problem. Experiences like this can put you off, I hate making phone calls where I know I'll need to either provide information or write it down, yet I would prefer to speck on the phone than to have to write an email - the conflicting world of a dyslexic!

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