Join us as in our mission to change lives! This year we are raising $15,000 to support our scholarship program that provides Irlen solutions to children and adults in need. We believe everyone who needs help should be able to get help, and we want to make sure everyone who needs Irlen Spectral Filters can get them. Help us reach our goal by making a donation today, or consider signing up for a monthly contribution. Even $25 per month can help someone like Neal and Hala get Irlen diagnostic testing and lenses.
NEAL’S STORY
On his scholarship application, Neal’s mom explained, “Our son has been through so much because he’s dyslexic with a 504 plan that for years hasn’t helped. Neal is in the 11th grade and has dreams of going to college. As he gets up every morning it’s always with a big list of things to do which causes him to become overwhelmed and depressed. Neal is taking the English 1 for the 6th time and English 2 for the 4th time this December and he suffers from severe test anxiety. We know that Neal needs to use a blue color overlay and does better with blue copy paper and notebook paper. We’re asking for your help today because we saw our other son Elias get tested and when he found the right colors he saw the world around him without all the chaos. So, we’re now hoping that with your help we can do the same for Neal so that he can finally find some peace in his everyday life.” After getting his Irlen Spectral Filters, Neal explained, “Today, I can finally see the world around me all due to the scholarship that you gave me to get tested for Irlen Syndrome. After I got my glasses, I became a better student, and I could read all the words on the pages. When I walked down the hallway, I held my head up high because my colored lenses had silenced the bullies that once called me dumb. When people ask about my glasses, I explain that some people like me can see the world better through different colors. It was your scholarship that helped me get another scholarship from Texas Southern University to pursue my dream of becoming a music teacher. I now tell everyone that asks me about my glasses that I have a brain processing issue and it’s called Irlen Syndrome. I want the world to know that Irlen Syndrome is real, and it can change your world if you get tested. I am grateful for the scholarship you gave me because it’s changed my life.”
HALA’S STORY
Hala is now an 11-year-old 5th grade girl from Daria, Syria. In April 2013 when, after their home was bombed out and her family’s business was destroyed from the civil war, Hala and her family were forced to leave Syria. At that time they moved to Jordan and lived as refugees. It was in Jordan that Hala first attended school (although she was only allowed to attend for half the day), and it is also when she first began experiencing headaches. In September 2016, Hala and her family were admitted to the USA as refugees, and Hala began attending school full-time. With this increase in classroom time, Hala’s headaches became worse and turned into very intense migraines. They have continually gotten worse, but only happen on school days. She is much better on weekends and during school holidays. She has been hospitalized and tested extensively for the cause of headaches (MRIs, blood work, other scans, eye exams) and no cause has been determined. She is severely affected with pain and is now taking many medications and supplements which are not helping much.
In 2019, a woman named Lydia, an Irlen lens user and a volunteer helping refugees resettle in their new life in the USA, contacted the Irlen Syndrome Foundation. Thanks to an Irlen Syndrome Foundation scholarship, and the generous contributions of Irlen Screener, Ken Schmidt, Irlen Diagnostician, Bonnie Bartels, the local Rotary club, local optician, and Hala’s supportive teachers and school administration, Hala now wears Irlen Spectral Filters. The intense, daily migraines and visits to the nurse immediately went down to a mild headache a few times a week that Ibuprofen took care of. Hala started missing very little class time and could now comfortably read. Her academic work and English language skills improved dramatically and she was moved out of special classes for English language learners and is now fully integrated at school with native English speaking students. She can now comfortably read and has started to enjoy reading and school.
Now, with help from her Irlen lenses, Hala is learning, happy, mostly pain-free, and living a life a normal 11-year-old should live.
Hala says thanks in her own words:
As a young girl who came to the US at a young age escaping from war and trying to be in a safe place. I needed a lot of help. My mom had migraine and I got it from her. Being at school always affected me, especially the light there, it was so bright. Everyday when I come back home, I had a headache, school was so hard for me. I always go to the nurse to get some Ibuprofen to help me get a little better. Also, the Migraine affected my eyes too. Sometimes I couldn’t see anything around me because of the sharp headache that I get. So, we were trying to find a way to help me, we went to many doctors, but some of them didn’t accept my health insurance because it didn’t cover it, and some of them are so expensive. We’ve been looking around for really long time. Finally after three months of searching and finding a way that could help, our friend Lydia had told us that she knew an eye specialist that could help me to get glasses to reduce the effect of the light and stop my headache. It was a little experience, but she told us that she can find a way to get donation. So thank you so much for the people who donated the money for the glasses . My advice to every person with migraine to buy those glasses, even though they a little expensive but they’re still worth it.
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