Is there is there or ain't there ain't ?

Oh dear, once again the cat is amongst the pigeons and there are going to be fevers flyin everywhere if not, swords at dawn on a matter principle as, people take their position or sides as to whether they are actually seeing a " 6 " or a " 9 " from their perspective.

The trouble is both sides are right, it doesn't really matter whether you have 20-20 vision or a preexisting and sub-optimal refractive or focusing deficit in either both eyes or one as, if as a result there is an imbalance / instability in anyone's binocular vision they will have difficulty learning to read (blurred / double vision) and/or if they can read fluently acquiring an eye-strain / stress related injury / adaptation will predictably, in affect, disable their capacity to read fluently by an average of 20% as reported in 58% of DSE operators.

This is the very reason the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation has been avoiding the subject of disability (Dyslexia) for the last 16 years whilst, continuing to enable "access to digital text" of the 50 to 72% in the population at risk of being or becoming "functionally illiterate".

Of course, the stand-out from this is, that naturally the bottom 10% or most affected or handicapped should obviously be identified, in a more caring civil society accepting that that has not been the case for far too many who still are not recognised nevertheless, with a coincidental 50% more early diagnosis of myopic and asthenopic disease and, the WHO declaring a Global Pandemic of visual binocular disruptions in the 21st Century of near and close-up.

It is not unreasonable to see this will be serious alarming and contentious for some, as any disruptive shift in the paradigm, however positive it may be for those classified as suffering reading difficulties in education or experiencing RSI injuries / adaptations in the workplace.

Fortunately, the scientific community has and is already been working on the subject for at least 10 years focusing, excuse the pun, down onto the chain of causation in "binocular disruptions" driven by over-exposure to the near and close-up world we now live in, exacerbated by the Global Pandemic in the age-diverse display addiction.

Even before mass use of social media reached Asian children being hot-housed in education many presented with a visible eye-turn (lazy-eye / strabismus / amblyopia) a trend now also seen across the US, UK and EU in 19% of teenagers before arriving in the workplace.

The public health burden along with pressure from the scientific community has perhaps now reached a sufficient critical mass for governments, including UK, to pay attention and more importantly prioritise action as, 2000,000 children joining the preexisting 30% of UK population classified as functionally illiterate having expediently sustained a position of denial especially, since their own medical review (Better Display Screen RR 561) commissioned the HSE & published in 2007 but, maybe 2008 was a distraction ?

Anyway, in the meantime Digital Leaders, Abilitynet, Pico Education and the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation have continued working on "ACCESSIBILITY for all" acknowledging over-exposure to sub-optimally adapted or user customised display screens, as any other over-exposure to any hazard predictably increases repetitive stress risk of harm or injury to the human operator, presenting in emotional, physical and/or mental non-communicable ill-health.

One of the more alarming statistics is that those with preexisting visual deficits, whether diagnosed or not or prescribed with corrective glasses, will be at a 4 to 7 fold increased risk of eye-strain and, thereby predictably will, unless mitigated, experience early onset Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) or Screen Fatigue.

So, whether in denial and continuing to ignore your own presenteeism in the workplace, in affect self-harming or, have children frustrated in school by their inability to fully participate in a text based learning environment just perhaps, you might now recognise or accept that there maybe a correlation between frustration, performance, productivity and, stress related disruptions, or putting it another way, sensory impairment limiting "access to text" ?

If so, you are welcome to participate in the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation research and development program titled "Digital Health & Literacy Campaign" and try, rate and share our FREE 'Score My Screen' test and Display Screen Optimiser (DSO).

Score My Screen at: https://screenfatigue.me.uk/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180305093024.htm