Irlen Syndrome Awareness Week (ISAW) 2018 was a smashing success! Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world took to the streets and to the Internet during the week of October 15-19 to share about Irlen Syndrome with the world. There was so much going on during ISAW, that it’s impossible to write about it all here, but we picked some of our favorite ISAW events and activities to share with you here.
ISAW Stats Were Staggering!
- Posts on the Irlen Facebook page alone reached over 150,000 people
- 15,000 people were actively talking about Irlen Syndrome on Irlen Facebook pages and sharing Irlen posts with others
- People from 44 countries participated in Turn Out the Lights
- 125,000 saw iTV’s news story about Irlen Syndrome (WATCH)
Cool New Graphics
Some of the most shared information about Irlen Syndrome during Awareness Week came in the form of cool new graphics. Did you see them?
A Sampling of Local Events
Parade of Lights in Chico, California: Irlen Visions, Susan Hughes Diagnostician
Northern California Irlen Ambassadors began Irlen Awareness week by walking in the Chico Parade of Lights 26 adults and children participated and we rode scooters, towed decorated wagons, dressed in purple, covered with twinkly purple lights. Their walking song was’ I Can See Clearly Now’, and in the middle of every street a loudspeaker told the thousands watching all about Irlen syndrome.
Teacher Gift Boxes: Jan Parish
All ready for my daughter to take to school tomorrow for Irlen Syndrome awareness week. She wanted to use different colours and add the different tags to highlight how colours can affect people with It. the boxes contain some sweets that the teachers can enjoy whilst reading about Irlens on the website.
Screening Students and Educating Educators in Ghana
Padmore Quansah and his team of Irlen Screeners from Campaign for Learning Disabilities spent the entire week visiting area schools, educating teachers about Irlen Syndrome and Screening students.
Colorful Clients in the UK
Some clients went all out to show their appreciation for color in a big way!
BBC Radio
Irlen Diagnostician, Jean Felton, helped spread the word on BBC Radio (LISTEN HERE). Interview begins 8 minutes 45 seconds in.
Lecture at Kuwait University – Dr. Sameera Abdulwahab
Faculty and students at Kuwait University got educated about Irlen Syndrome.
Client Pizza Party – Channel Islands, UK
Irlen kids and their parents got together in the Channel Islands for a community building pizza party.
Mayoral Proclamation – Grand Junction, Colorado
By proclamation of the Mayor and City Council: Grand Junction supports Irlen Syndrome Awareness Week.
Awareness Lectures at Schools and TV Interviews in Jordan
Dr. Saheer Shakhshir shared the variety of awareness activities taking place in Jordan, ”
In addition to the below activities at different schools, an awareness lecture took place at Terra Santa School by the screener Juliana Boulos Zabaneh with 116 parents attending.
A screener from Montessori School, in addition to many awareness lectures held at the school by the screener Taghreed Qarqash, her latest was at a village in Jordan.
Dr. Karam Siam did many awareness lectures the latest was at Universal Schools.
Christena Abu Zalaf is a screener from De La Salle school had an interview with JTV about Irlen Syndrome. She did an awareness lecture at Gina educational center.
Huda Muhammed is a screener from Al Bayan School who did an awareness about Irlen Syndrome at a language center. She distributed a self-test paper to grade 4 students and made an assessment for those who had the symptoms.
Lana Mdanat Sweis and Alaa Mousa Atallah are screeners from Al Samiyah School held an awareness talk at the school and encouraged students with Irlen syndrome to explain about how it helped them.
On Saturday October 13 I have done an awareness talk at a new school American Excellence School which was established only 2 years ago. The audience were 26 teachers and two of them were excited to be trained and become screeners.
At the Alliance School, the screener Ghadeer Hamarneh distributed tags to the teachers with a different symptom written on them. She created a bulletin board with different materials of Irlen Syndrome and distributed different colored papers to students to read using them.”
Bowling in Illinois
Irlen Diagnostician, Julie Yepsen, hosted a bowling party to celebrate Irlen Awareness Week and have an opportunity to share Irlen information with the people of Central Illinois.
Information Tables in Australia
Sharyn Gormley set up shop in Rotary Kmart Markets to share her Irlen message with the public.
An Awareness Picnic and Lectures in Egypt
Rasha Anwar led her Irlen Egypt team in a variety of ISAW activities, including a family picnic in Cairo.
Informational Talks in Palestine
Irlen Screener, Tharwat Hijjawi, conducted a meeting with a group of parents and teachers in MES Modern English School in Nablus, Palestine.
Information and Fundraising in Massachusetts
The Irlen Syndrome Association of Massachusetts hosted a public information session at Morse Institute Library, complete with lots of Irlen information, fun activities for kids, free food, raffles & giveaways.
Media Attention and Awareness Events in Texas
The Texas Irlen Association was extra busy during awareness week, giving presentations to the local Lions and Rotary Clubs, student-to-student awareness in San Antonio, a TV spot in Dallas, and a newspaper article in Austin.
These are just a small sampling of all of the individual efforts that went into making this year’s Irlen Syndrome Awareness Week a huge success! So many other individuals and organizations hosted informational sessions, offered discounted or free screenings, and shared your stories with friends, family, and the rest of the world via the Internet, and for that we thank you! We can’t wait for ISAW 2019! Be sure you join us.