Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Concussion: Seeing Red


I've been writing short articles about my concussion and what it is like to live with the after effects so if you have co-workers who have suffered a head injury you might better understand what they are going through.

Here is one more item that you might need to be aware of or make accomodations for; people that have suffered a major concussion often have trouble with the blue light generated by computer screens or phone screens. 
If you have a coworker that has suffered a concussion, you might need to allow them to install a blue light filter on their phones, tablets,or laptops if they are company owned.

There are a lot of free aps that allow you to block the blue light like the one below.
It might look funny to everyone else, but I can attest that without this filter I cannot look at my phone screen for more than 30 seconds at a time. If I try to look at it without the filter it causes the head pain I have described in other posts, some dizziness, and disorientation.

I happen to work at a company that has tight control over what can be installed on their devices they lend me for work. When I have to look at those devices, espicially the laptop, I have to use a pair of blue light blocking glasses. These are commonly available and are not expensive. With these glasses I can work on my computer for about an hour at a time without the side effects described above. Without them, about 10 minutes is all it would take before the symptoms set in.

So if you have coworkers that need an accomodation because of a concussion then try these two methods to help keep them productive and a happier employee.

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy