It’s Not Easy Being Green: Fluorescent Light Bulbs & Irlen Syndrome

Yesterday was Earth Day and I couldn’t help but notice the spotlight on compact fluorescent light bulbs. On the outset, these light bulbs sound like a great way to be a little greener and save some cash. But...for those of us with Irlen Syndrome, fluorescent lights wreak havoc on our ability to read. They also provide a nice, BIG headache if we try to read under them for long periods of time. The Irlen Institute site goes further and states “fluorescent light triggers headaches, migraines, stomachaches, fatigue, eye strain, anxiety, and irritability.”

For most people with Irlen Syndrome, daylight is the best light source, with incandescent lighting coming in at second place. Heck, I’d prefer a candle to fluorescent lights!

There is a legislative move to eliminate the incandescent light bulb and replace it with the compact fluorescent light bulb. For people with Irlen Syndrome, this move will make reading indoors all the more difficult.

The Irlen Institute is hosting a petition to help prevent the ban on incandescent lights. Please click here to learn more and about the health side effects of fluorescent lights.

Bright Idea!: Make your computer more readable

Have you ever noticed that fonts on certain webpages can be quite difficult to read? How about the brightness of your screen/monitor? Here are some tricks I sometimes use to make my computer more readable.

To increase the size of font (and everything else) on a webpage:

Internet Explorer (PC)

• Long Way: Locate the "Zoom Level Button" at the bottom right corner of your Internet Explorer window. It should default to 100%. To increase the size of the webpage, simply click on the Down Arrow beside the "100%" and select a higher percentage.


• Short Cut: Hold down the Control (CTRL) key and press the Plus (+) key until you reach the desired size. If you go too far, hold down the Control key (CTRL) and the Minus (-) key.

Mozilla Firefox (PC & Mac)

• Long Way: Go to the "View" menu and select "Text Size." Next, select "Increase."


• Short Cut: Hold down the Control (CTRL) key [Note: use the Apple key for Macs] and scroll up on your mouse scroll wheel. To decrease the font, simply continue holding down the Control (CTRL) key [Apple key for Macs] and scroll down.

Safari (Mac)

• Long Way: Click on the "View" menu and then select "Make Text Bigger."


• Short Cut: Hold down the Apple key and press the Plus (+) key. To decrease the size, hold down the Apple key and press the Minus (-) key.

To adjust the brightness of your screen/monitor:

• If you have a PC laptop, hold down the Function (Fn) key, which is beside the Control (CTRL) key, and press the down arrow to decrease the brightness. To increase the brightness, hold down the Function (Fn) key and then press the up arrow.


• If you have a Mac laptop, press the Function (fn) key and then press the F1 key to decrease the brightness. To increase the brightness, press the Function (fn) key and then press the F2 key.


• If you use a monitor, you will need to either use the Minus (-) and Plus (+) keys to adjust the brightness or press another button to get to the monitor's menu. Once you are there, you will need to find the brightness menu and adjust it with the monitor's buttons.

Using these tools to "customize" my computer has definitely saved me some headaches. I hope they will help you, too!

Bookworm Video

For those of you who are bookworms, you'll appreciate this video. If you aren't a bookworm but know one, this video will give you a laugh, too!

A Note to Teachers: Your Red Pen

A red pen can be a teacher’s best friend, but have you ever thought that some of your students may be unable to read your marks? I have always struggled to read the color red. I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one.

It can be especially frustrating for you, the teacher, if your student doesn’t seem to understand your corrections. A simple question like, “Can you see my marks okay?,” can bring up an important point for you and also for the student (and his or her parents). Switching colors may fix the issue immediately. If you find this works, you may want to bring it up with his/her other teachers as well as recommending Irlen testing to your student’s parents.

More reading: Here's an interesting article about the psychological debate on correction pen color, called "Teachers starting to shun red pens" from The San Diego Tribune.

Bright Idea!: Simple Adjustments to Make Everyday Life Easier

Here are some everyday items I use to help me read. They might work for you, too!

The easiest colors for me to read are:

blue, black, purple (with more blue than red), blue-green, dark green

The hardest colors for me to read are:

yellow, orange, red, purple (with more red than blue), yellow-green, brown (with a lot of yellow and red)

TIPS:

Highlighters: I use blue highlighters only. All of the other colors have too much yellow pigment. When someone uses a yellow highlighter on a document, I cannot read it. For me, they might as well have blacked out the section! (Bummer: Blue highlighters can be very difficult to purchase alone. You may have to purchase a multi-colored box of highlighters and give the other colors away—Hey, they could make great stocking stuffers!)

Pens: I mainly use blue pens; black is my second choice. You will never find me with a red pen in hand. When searching for blue pens, keep in mind that there are differing shades of blue. Some may work better for you than others. Two favorites of mine are: 1) Paper Mate’s Write Bros. ball point pen in blue and 2) Uni-Ball’s Vision Elite pen in blue/black (which provides a darker shade of blue). If you are trying to find the right pen color for you, try purchasing one pen at a time. Once you find the right pen, buy them in bulk! That way you can stash them at home, at work, at school, in your car, and in your purse.

Note Paper: Most offices purchase yellow legal note pads. For me, using a yellow paper makes the background of my writing flash like a strobe light. If this happens to you, try requesting white legal note pads white legal note pads. It’s a simple switch for the office or they can purchase them just for you (both colors are the same price). The truth is, someone without Irlen Syndrome just grabs the yellow paper, never thinking that someone else may not be able to read it. Once the point is brought up, I’ve never had an employer who was unwilling to change the paper color.

Post-its: Like the legal note pads, offices tend to purchase yellow Post-it (self-stick) note pads. Because Post-it notes often come in color-assorted packs, you may have more difficulty finding the best pack for you. Often I will purchase assorted packs with blue and purple pads and then give away the colors that don’t work for me. Sometimes you can find packs in the color that works for you, like this blue pack. Searching online can help you find what you are looking for, even if they don’t have the product in the store. Office Depot has this page where you can see the results under each color and color combination.

Printer Paper: If white paper simply makes your vision go nutty (especially under fluorescent light), you might consider purchasing colored printer paper. Office supply stores often carry many colors of paper that are often used for flyers. The nice thing about this is that you have your pick of colors!

Do you have difficulty reading?

The following is excerpted from the Irlen Institute's website. This site is a great source for information on Irlen Syndrome (a.k.a. Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome). It includes sample distortions that are not only fun to check out but also one of the best tools for describing what a person with Irlen Syndrome might see when they read.

Answer “Yes” or “No” to the following questions:

Do you skip words or lines when reading?

Do you reread lines?

Do you lose your place?

Are you easily distracted when reading?

Do you need to take breaks often?

Do you find it harder to read the longer you read?

Do your eyes get red and watery?

Does reading make you tired?

Do you blink or squint?

Do you prefer to read in dim light?

Do you read close to the page?

Do you use your finger or other markers?

Do you get restless, active, or fidgety when reading?

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, then you might be experiencing the effects of a perception problem called Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, which can interfere with your reading efficiency. Now, for the first time, there is a simple method Irlen Colored Filters worn as glasses or contact lenses, that can help people overcome this problem quickly and easily.


If you found this self test intriguing, please check out the other self tests on the Irlen Institute’s website:

· Long Version
· Headaches, Migraines, Stress, and Strain
· Light Sensitivity
· Autism
· Color Light Activity

Does Irlen Syndrome affect whether or not you will become a book lover?

A recent New York Times article entitled “A Good Mystery: Why We Read” brought to mind an interesting question:

Are children with reading disabilities less likely to develop a love of books and reading?

Logically, the answer should be yes. Children with Irlen Syndrome who are not diagnosed have an especially difficult time perceiving the words on the page, let alone experiencing pleasure from reading. Like other people diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome, I assumed everyone saw the print the way I did, until the question, “What do you see when you read?,” arose in my family.

Wait, you mean the page doesn’t flash for everyone?
The words aren’t supposed to gyrate? Move in waves? Swirl?
Others don’t see additional colors like blue and yellow appear around black type on the white page?
Do you mean to tell me that others can read and read and read…and it still looks the same to them?
They don’t get headaches that can grow into migraines?
They don’t experience eye-strain?
And they don’t have to constantly reread to understand a morsel of what’s written?

Even with all of this happening when I read, I still loved it. I have always loved to learn and saw books as an endless resource for learning more. I still do.

There are many books that stand out from my childhood, but my favorite was Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I believe this book struck a chord with me because it opened up into a world created by endless imagination. In short, it showed me that life had endless possibilities.

As I grew older, I began to favor nonfiction works. I believe this is partly due to the fact that nonfiction works are easier to jump around in, as well as put down and pick back up frequently. Only recently did I delve back into fiction with a fantastic book, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Although reading has always been a struggle, lessened by colored lenses, I never stopped. Nor have I ever desired to cease the pursuit “to finish a book.” In fact, I’m currently reading Helen Irlen’s Reading by the Colors and am determined to finish it in a few days. Today, I read an anecdote from a teacher that made me smile with familiarity:

“I constantly bought books. I would read a chapter or two and then put the book down. It hurt to read, it wasn’t comfortable, and it was just too much work. Now that the colored filters have stopped the distortions, I’m reading all those books that I’ve collected over the years.” (Reading by the Colors: Overcoming Dyslexia and Other Reading Disabilities Through the Irlen Method by Helen Irlen, p. 77)

So, what do you think? Do you believe that people with reading disabilities are less likely to love reading? Or, do you think that the strategies those of us with these disabilities use give us a deeper understanding for what we read?