🎄Dim The Lights
This week-navigating light sensitivity during the holidays. PLUS-your accessible holiday gift guide and resources for the week ahead!
Welcome back to another week of VI news, resources, and tips to get you through the holiday rush. I hope that everyone had a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving break.
With the holidays in full swing, it’s more important than ever to keep VI in mind!
With crazy school schedules, holiday parties/events, and rapid weather changes…it can be hard to remember how sensitive some of our students can be during this time. As teachers, we see a lot of dysregulation and over-stimulation in our kids during these months, especially in our students with Albinism.
Students with albinism can experience what is known as photophobia.
Photophobia and photosensitivity are terms used to describe adverse reactions or intolerance to bright lights, strobe lights, or flashing lights, which can include eye fatigue, eye pain, headaches, nausea, seizures, dizziness, discomfort, or other symptoms.
So why do the holidays matter so much to those who are photosensitive?
BRIGHT LIGHTS.
Though they’re great to look at, it’s important to be mindful of how those lights can impact our more light-sensitive students, especially those living with Albinism.
Holiday Photophobia Survival Guide
So much of the holiday season revolves around looking at bright and shiny things. From Christmas trees, reflective wrapping paper, Zoo lights, and even snow on the ground…the bright lights can be too much to handle for those WITHOUT light sensitivity.
To combat this, here are my tips and tricks for surviving the bright lights this holiday season.
😎 Sunglasses (x1,000,000)
I cannot stress this enough. Sunglasses are not only for summertime, especially for our light-sensitive students. Winter is JUST as important, if not more.
You might think of sunglasses as most useful during the day, but during the holidays, wearing them at night might not be a bad idea.
Obviously, we want to make sure that you’re still able to travel safely with your sunglasses on. So when/where is it safe to wear your sunglasses at night?
Zoo lights (when walking with a guide)
Drive-thru light displays
Christmas Tree Ceremonies
🌅 Light Displays BEFORE Dark
When you think of light displays, you think of nighttime. Right?
But if you can get there early enough before the sun goes all the way down, you might be able to go through the display without worrying about the eye fatigue and exhaustion of looking at all bright lights after dark.
(You might also beat the traffic too. lol)
⏲️ Frequent Eye Breaks
Now, more than ever, it will be important to increase the amount of eye breaks that our students take throughout the school day.
During the school day, eye breaks can range from 30 seconds to 5 minutes every so often after visually demanding tasks. BUT what is even more important are the eye breaks AFTER school is over.
Set a timer for 15 minutes, hang out in a darker space in your home or office, and just rest for a little bit.
This small amount of time can have a huge impact on your overall exhaustion, mood, and motivation for the rest of the evening.
💡 Dimmable String Lights
When decorating your own house or classroom for the holidays, remember to grab some string lights that can be dimmed/adjusted throughout the day as needed.
Typically, LED lights have a dimmer setting for 75%, 50%, and 25% brightness. If you don’t have any or can't take the time to find some, look no further because I have done the work for you.
This is a strand of 200 LED lights going for just over $20.00 with a prime membership. ⬇ ⬇ ⬇
🔗 LED Dimmable Christmas Lights
💬 Just. Ask.
Last but not least…
Just ask them if things are too bright.
As we know, our students are the experts on their disabilities.
Something that isn’t bright to you might be to them. So, it’s vitally important that we open up larger conversations with our kids about how the holiday lights and decorations are affecting them and how we can do better to make their environment less photosensitive.
🎉 50% OFF EVERYTHING
Starting this week through New Year’s Day, the VI In Mind storefront is running a sale on EVERYTHING! That’s right! Everything is 50% off until the day after Christmas!
Here is what you might find:
CVI Letter/Number Flashcards
SIM Braille Flashcards
Holiday Light Pattern Activities
✨FREEBIE! | Holiday Hunt Scanning Activity
Get into the holiday spirit and practice your scanning skills with the new FREE printable ‘Holiday Hunt’!
Find Holiday Hunt and more in my TPT storefront!
How can I help YOU?
What low-vision or CVI resources do you need for your classroom?
Leave a comment or reply to this email, and let me know if I can help out!
I make all of the resources that I create for the students that I serve. If you need something you don’t see, I’d be happy to make it and add it to the storefront. 🥰
For both of these resources and so much more, be sure to head over to the VI In Mind storefront only on Teachers Pay Teachers.
👀 What’s NEW in VI News
🎅🏼 Santa/Winter Celebration Letters
The deadline to submit your request for a letter from Santa is approaching. Every December, the National Federation of the Blind helps Santa send letters in Braille to young blind children across the country.
What if you don’t celebrate Christmas? NFB also offers Winter Celebration Letters as well! The deadline to request your letter is December 16th.
🎄 10 Accessible Holiday Activities
Perkins School for the Blind is a wonderful go-to resource for TVIs and families. This holiday season, check out their list of accessible holiday activities for all ages!
🎁 2024 Holiday Gift Guide for ALL!
Wondering what to get someone with low-vision or blindness this holiday season? Perkins School for the Blind has you covered with a holiday gift guide that embraces inclusion and helps you pick out the right gift for someone in your life who is visually impaired!
👋 Thank you for reading!
That’s all for this week! Although we couldn’t cover everything in this newsletter, I have plenty of content coming your way in the next few weeks and months. Stay tuned! If you have suggestions for topics you would like to learn more about or that you feel deserve more attention, please reach out or leave a comment. If you enjoyed today’s content, please share it and (if you haven’t already) subscribe!
Great tips this week!