Irlen Syndrome

This paragraph has blue text on a blue background. (In terms of its RGB values, the text is R:0 G:0 B:127 and the background R:163 G:181 B:255.) It is set this way because I have Irlen syndrome and reading dark blue text against a lighter blue background is what feels most comfortable for me. Having text and background this way, I somehow feel more engaged with the text. I read a bit faster, with less fatigue and eye strain and with better comprehension. When having to use black on white, as I sometimes must if I am using somebody else's computer, the difference can feel so stark that I find it difficult to work and even I wonder how I ever used to manage before I changed colour schemes. Furthermore, the experience of others when they look at my modified computer display is telling. One colleague simply couldn't read from my screen – a screen I find easy to read from. Thus, your experience of this paragraph will not be the same as mine. If you find it difficult to read – even irritating – you will be part way to appreciating what it is like for those of us who find black-on-white problematic.

So, I shall revert to the standard format.

For reading books, and other materials that exist as black print on a white background, one can use coloured transparent overlays. These are not ideal. They can be cumbersome as they do not come in a range of sizes to suit the dimensions of different books. Furthermore, they quickly get covered in fingerprints. However, they help. Some use spectacles with tinted glass. These can be expensive – especially so as one's vision changes over time and one must buy a new pair.

One thing I can't simulate here is the way in which, with Irlen syndrome, text can appear to move on the page, how one word will look like another and how letters can even appear to change from one into another as one is looking at them. This, to you, may seem bizaar but for years I assumed that this was common experience for everybody.

Things are much better when using a computer. Backgrounds can be reset. Not all applications allow this and for those that do, there can be a lot of setting-up to be done before everything is just right. However, there is also a very useful program called Screen Tinter that can be downloaded for free from Thomson Software Solutions. This program allows changes to the settings that effect all applications at once. Furthermore, this program allows both the background and text colours to be changed to whatever is best for the user. Changing the text colour is something which is, of course, impossible with both overlays and spectacles.

I find that ideally, reading and listening at the same time provides the best intellectual experience when trying to engage with a piece of writing. Fortunately, one does not have to read out loud to do this. There are various text-to-speech software packages available. My favourite is NaturalReader. Although this application works as a standalone application, it also allows text to be read directly within such applications as Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer.

These are just a couple of the ways in which the advent of the computer – not least the laptop – has been a godsend. Another is the World Wide Web. In particular, the World Wide Web mentality allows for new approaches to reading and writing that can be used to extract and express ideas in more creative ways. For those of us with minds that are not perfectly in sync with standard (majority) forms of expression this provides a new opportunity to be heard. I am not a linear or single topic thinker; a numbers of ideas about a variety of things are always on the go - even, it seems, when I am asleep as I frequently find myself waking with ideas about particular topics already in mind.