Category: Advocacy

Devices and Vision – Two Perspectives

https://wordpress.org/support/update-php/ Optometry Times posted the following article as part of the Back-to-School Vision Awareness blitz that occurs every August 23, 2022. Like the pervasive use of the tired ‘20-20-20 Rule‘ to alleviate visual strain, the VisionMechanic took umbrage to the…

Learning Without a Seatbelt

In 2007, the Government of Alberta introduced mandatory seatbelt laws. This was not openly received by everyone. Nowadays, it seems a critical error in judgement to allow children, or indeed anyone, to take a high speed ride in a sea…

Nearsighted White Kids?

(An excerpt from the Preface to Nearsighted White Kids) When I informed a former professor of the pending title of my book, he didn’t even blink before offering, “Why call it that? Those are the kids who do just fine…”…

Too Many Examples

(An excerpt from the Preface to Nearsighted White Kids) It’s common for books such as this to offer living examples of the thesis, in this case, examples of children who have struggled needlessly, or failed to thrive, for lack of…

Challenging the So-Called 20/20/20 Rule

Happy to be able to contribute to this latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Optometry. “The ‘20/20/20 Rule’ – When Good Intentions and Axiomatic Habit Displace Best Practices” https://opto.ca/document/cjo-volume-78-issue-4 https://opto.ca/sites/default/files/resources/documents/cjo_w16_lores.pdf  

What can we do about child vision?

Every week brings in new children to my clinic; children who have hit a dead end with family doctors and paediatricians, as well as with the schools. I run a child vision development clinic, and we see children with apparent…

On the Pursuit of Visual Happiness

On the radio, A FATHER GIVES HIS MILLENNIAL SON ADVICE ON WHAT’S IMPORTANT IN LIFE: “If school is making you miserable, the quit. Do what makes you happy, you only live one life.” We are comforted by the idea that…

AAP Vision Screening Recommendations

Less Than Meets the Eye: When ‘Expert’ Advice is False Economy Pediatricians receive only cursory training in assessing children’s visual function, and only minimal exposure to ophthalmic disease. This is reflected in the visual screening recommendations by The American Academy…