Sharon and Marci,
I am an Irlen screener (not a diagnostician who does lenses) and have worn
Irlen lenses (my graduated trifocals are tinted) for a few years (four?). I
strongly recommend Irlen lenses. I've seen some real miracles with clients
who supposedly had dyslexia and clients who had terrible headaches. Personal
benefits: great relief from headache and neck stress, ability to read longer
and with less frustration, better depth perception and a "calmer" feeling
and appearance. :) I have less sensitivity to noise, too, when wearing my
lenses. My husband, a speech pathologist, thought I was rather ADD before I
got my lenses. :) My son, 15, began having severe light-induced headaches at
adolescence and has almost no headaches with Irlen lenses on.
A few things to try that will help right away: Wear a visor with a dark
underbill. For the computer, change the background color to your overlay
color (did you see the recent post about a free program to do that?) or get
several overlays to put over the screen. If you don't yet have access to
overlays, try report covers or try printing things on different colored
paper to see what helps. Larger print might also help. Or cover part of the
book or computer screen with black paper or make yourself a "window" on
black paper and move the paper down as you read; then you'd be dealing with
a smaller area of light at a time and less "pattern glare."
When you have lenses, the fluorescent lights may be a nonissue for you,
although sometimes with the "light leak" around the lenses, you might also
like to wear a visor for heavy reading or try not to sit right under the
tube.
I wear graduated prescription lenses that are tinted by Irlen. I made sure I
got lenses that were rounded up a bit so I get more coverage at the top...
as opposed to rectangular lenses that would let more light in at the top.
There are some Irlen clients who get more wrap-type glasses. I should
suggest that the Irlen Institute make this info widely known to
diagnosticians and screeners. This kind of info has been mostly word of
mouth. Diagnostician Adel Francis (Canada) has one client in Wisconsin whom
I saw once who had some type of wrap glasses tinted by Irlen. I can give you
that client's screener's name if you want to track that down.
A consideration: Next time I get Irlen lenses, I will try to get some
glasses with the new magnetic clip-on sunglasses that have a little screws
on the clipons; then I will get Irlen lenses for the glasses and get more
Irlen lenses inserted in the sunglasses clipon part for brighter conditions.
As it is, I wear regular sunglasses clips over Irlen lenses for sunglasses.
Sometimes I wear wraparound Walgreens $20 sunglasses over my Irlen lenses
for really bright conditions, such as when I go fishing or when driving with
the light to the left side of the car. Another possibility is to find clipon
sunglasses with the little screws where you can remove the sunglasses
lenses. I'd call the Irlen lab to make sure this will work. My Irlen
diagnostician told me this would work, but it seems to me the Irlen lenses
would be thicker than the sunglasses lenses now in clips. I should ask the
Irlen folks about this before I purchase my next glasses and suggest they
share this info widely with diagnosticians and screeners.
Even if you disable the fluorescent tubes (some or all) right over your desk
or in your office, that will help. Then you can bring in your own lighting.
In the U.S., under the ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, with a doctor's
or IRlen diagnostician's letter, this should not be a problem. My husband
isn't terribly light sensitive, but he gets more fatigued with the
fluorescent tubes in his new office setting, so he disabled the tubes above
his desk and brought in a true "white" Ott-type light; he did this without a
doctor's letter, just with his boss' knowledge.
I recently sent a list of accommodations on this list, but I'll post it
again for you new ones.
You're on the right track by asking for info on this listserve, although it
is a very small listserve. Call and e-mail people with your questions. Helen
Irlen herself has been wonderfully helpful to me when I've had a question.
Just e-mail her. The Irlen website is: www.irlen.com. To find a
diagnostician or screener near you, go to "testing centers." There are many
more screeners than those lists. The ones listed are "lead screeners" and
can refer you to the screener closest to you.
Julie Evans, Irlen screener www.readingandlight.com