I had another sensory problem at work today: I was taking part in a video-conference meeting and had to leave because I couldn’t follow the spoken words of a participant from the US.

I found that I was concentrating so hard on recognising each word I couldn’t work out the overall meaning of what he was saying. The effort was tiring: after about 5 minutes I couldn’t handle any more and had to leave.

It left me shaking and I had to go for a walk outside to calm myself. I tried to make sense of why I now have such problems to a much greater degree than I ever used to, but ultimately failed: I just don’t have the answer.

For the time being I think I’ll simply have to avoid such meetings. I’m due to see somebody next week for an assessment of my working environment, and perhaps between us we can arrive either at some solution or an accommodation that mitigates my sensory problems.