Prevalence of Vision Loss Due to Over Exposure to Sub-Optimal DSE Settings
Nigel Dupree
Project Director at S.M.A.R.T. Foundation - also known as: Legin Nyleve, LeginNyleve and @l3gin on other Social Media
Little did Mum's know how accurate there predictions that sitting to close to the TV would come to pass in the 21st Digital Century although todays Mum's seam to have forgotten the advice and now using screens as a replacement for the tradition dummy as a pacifier.
Initially it was adult VDU operators suffering debilitating vision stress and eye-strain accepting by 2007 by far the majority of operators occupational health was affected but, expediently ignoring and carrying-on regardless of self-harming, exhibited in presenteeism until the repetitive stress injuries enforced an escape from the stressors by taking sick-leave.
73% of DSE operators reporting MSD's including 58% reporting vision stress now just referred to as Screen Fatigue or later Computer Vision Syndrome after the 2016 WHO International Classification of Diseases listed the visual impairments under the heading of "Asthenopia".
Having recognised those suffering visually impairment, Neurodiverse or Dyslexia experienced a '4' to '7' fold increased risk of early onset vision stress and binocular eye-strain by comparison with average neurotypical reading fluently on-screen between adhering to 20-20-20 rule ideally with longer screen breaks every '90' minutes to mitigate binocular eye-strain presenting in eye-muscle fatigue and the predictable risk of exacerbating "Contrast Sensitivity", blurry, blurred or worse double vision.
So whether concerned about the 2010 Equality Act, section '20' or later 2018 Accessibility Regulations The WCAG 2.1 introduced a minimum level of "Colour Contrast Validation 4.5:1" on Websites for the visually disabled expediently ignoring the maximum of "21:1" to prevent the insidious level of screen-glare of dazzle found to affect up to 70% of the population.
Unfortunately this has been exacerbated by the introduction of OLED screens dependent on PWM for perceived screen dimming causing "flicker" in addition optimising "Colour Contrast Calibration" of the user operators equipment / devices.
Bizarrely, rather than making custom "Reasonable Adjustments or Accommodations" for Product Safety of the equipment this has been omitted in favour of making adjustments and accommodations to the operator and calling that PPE that, far from preventing repetitive stress injuries, provides free prosthetic screen glasses to mitigate "vision-loss".
Needless to say, the 1993 UK DSE Regulations having been proven completely ineffective by 2007 and not included in the 1998 PUWER Act (Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations) without effective intervention it is looking like the WHO prediction of half the global population being effectively one-eyed and monocular by 2050 let alone other prediction surrounding obesity by 2050........
So, as 50% MORE children presenting with visual disruptions in the 21st Digital Century when I/we at the at the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation UK developed a Model Social Enterprise for Community Projects working with Regional Development, Youth Offending, Education, Social Services and New Deal for excluded and offending children discovering the majority of Kids, adolescents and older teens were functionally and digitally illiterate.
However, when we took the "subjective" Irlen and Wilkins Colour Selection process and introduced AI driven on-line screen "Reading Test" and developed initially a 101 administrated "Colour Contrast" assessment whilst developing the Display Screen Optimiser on-line and later patented it for commercialising in the workplace to subsidise use in education.
Free DSE Vision Risk Self-Assessment - "Score My Screen"