Allow me to try and explain?

Since I am not the only one which has these problems of seizures and migraines, I post for the enlightenment of all (well, one can hope, right?) We are a supportive group, we really are. I believe that once you know something, you care enough to make compromises to your own choices, in effort to show support. Please consider the following data:

<font color="purple"> PHOTOSENSITIVE SEIZURES
DRS. LIONEL CARMANT AND SHASHI SESHIA,
MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD, EPILEPSY CANADA

Photosensitivity is an abnormal clinical or electroencephalographic (EEG) response to light. Photosensitive seizures are provoked by light stimuli. Seizures triggered by specific stimuli are called reflex seizures.

LIGHT SOURCES AND SEIZURES

Television and electronic games are major factors that evoke seizures. Other light sources include flickering or reflected sunlight, lightning, car headlights, flickering artificial lights, arcade games, discotheque or Christmas lights, sharply contrasting patterns, and, rarely, self-induced exposure to flicking light e.g., waving a hand before the eyes.

Seizures may occur only in response to light stimulation (pure photosensitive epilepsy) or they may occur spontaneously but may be triggered by light stimulation (epilepsies or epileptic syndromes in which photosensitive seizures may occur).

Factors that contribute to TV-induced seizures include: flickering light (especially at the frequency of the electrical supply), flashes or images; high contrast between images, e.g., alternating bright and dark frames; speed of change (lower the speed, the lower the risk, e.g., less than 3 per sec); rapid color changes, e.g., red is a provocative color; faulty vertical or horizontal holds; approaching to adjust the TV set; and sitting too close (60 cm or less). A 100-Hz screen is less provocative than a 50-Hz screen but more expensive.
<font color="blue">
Here is a link to an article about seizures being caused by rapid cycling of blue with red (as hapens in a fast chat)
web page

<font color="purple">This website tells how to create safe webpages, and mentions the seizure causing combinations of red/blue and purple/yellow. web page

<font color="blue">I WON'T BORE YOU with similar links for migraines, as they are just as easy to find, should you wish to study this more.

Many of you have migraines, perhaps you understand the triggers. Many of you have SAD so you do understand the power of certain light waves, with regard to your healing.<font color="purple">

Just as we don't use bold font in chat when it bothers some, and we DO when someone requests it due to vision problems, and how my poetry posted in yellow was near impossible to read and very irksome so I reposted, why is it so horrible a thing to not use red or orange font in chat?

The bottom line here, imo, is community. We ARE a supportive community. We are those with various ills who have come together to be supported, and to support each other, by our own membership, we agree to do this.

Please think about this. Most of us here don't make requests just to be snerty, and it's really pushing the "no need to say if you don't wish to" rule by requiring an explanation of anyone's request.

Be well.

ty, sky. this helps me to understand myself (and my reactions) and the reactions of others.

kd

Thank you, Sky. It had never crossed my mind to back up my own sensitivty to colors and lights. I don't encounter it here much at all and you have quite effectively reduced the use of red fonts. Guess I was riding on your coat tails. Sorry. So I redeem myself by having expressed my concern for you before me? I hope so. I'm one of those that gets a migrain when bright colors change and they don't need to do it quickly. There are some yellows, greens and blues that will do it, too, especially when combined with red. You know, the almost neon looking ones?

Thanks for posting this bit of information.

I always wondered why...thanks for sharing! Personally, I am much more open to obeying requests when I know why. It's not that the reason matters, I'm just curious.

Hi Sky -- Thanks for the info.

How would we balance needs if one person doesn't like bold in chat and a person, such as me, really appreciates the bold because it strains my eyes less.

I'm wondering if you have any information about the trigger concerning bold type might be.

Tryin, my understanding about the bold type, last night anyway, was that DocJohn uses bold black type, and that makes it easy to spot and read his comments. When other people were using the same bold black type it just made it harder to follow. There may be something else to it, but that was my understanding. And the other one that I know some people have a problem with is all caps, because many people understand all caps to mean yelling, so when someone types in all caps it looks like they are yelling at us, whether they mean to or not.

RAPUNZEL: What truly drives me crazy, in the posting area, is when a person capitalizes only the first letter of every word. It throws my brain into utter chaos. Moreso than usual, that is.



SKY: Great info. Thanks.

Adieu

YW, all. I, too, learned even more from this, for I didn't realize the blue/red scrolling effect (which might be what makes it worse in a fast chat, since so many of us use blue.) And though we don't have the purple/yellow problem because the yellow isn't readible... I never knew about that combination.

I have, over the year, tried to figure out why sometimes a little bit of red font in chat didn't seem to cause any major brain problems, but only visual... and now I guess it was depending whether is was combined with blue font too! Kewl.

In reading that article, I also found a suggestion to the photosensitivity of my "flicker vertigo" caused by even simples things like tree trunk shadows along a roadway in early morning or early evening... it said, close one eye. I had been doing that just to try prior to finding this article! I also know to change speed up or down, so that the flicker changes... not all speeds create the same problem.

I haven't 'seen anything about boldtype causing problems other than that listed about, not being able to "find" docjohn's comments in chat... but there has been studies done on the legibility of writing in ALL CAPS and found that it is much more difficult to read, and slows the reader down extensively.

Sometimes I only capitalize the first letter of a couple of words because I'm emphasizing those words gently, instead of capitalizing the whole thing. If you prefer that I capitalize the whole thing, I'm more than willing and ready to do it!

Its ok if you do it every now and then...

Good one, SeptemberMorn!

<font color="blue"> It's So Nice To Be Perfectly Understood. I Feel I Can Always Depend On You. Because If I Weren't, I'd Have To Give Examples Every Time, Which Is Such A Drag. </font>



Adieu

Thanks Sky. I hope this makes it clearer for everyone. btw I agree with you opinion, about the community.