Can’t see through the looking glass

#FocusonLife campaign to highlight the importance of children’s vision

The College of Optometrists has today (28 April 2021) re-released one of the best known and most popular works of English literature fiction – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – with entirely blurred text and illustrations to highlight the importance of children’s vision.

The new release, named ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: The Blurred Edition’, was commissioned as part of a public awareness campaign after research, undertaken on behalf of College in September 2020 amongst 2,000 British adults, revealed that up to 23 per cent of parents didn’t take their children to get their eyes examined.

Each word of the Lewis Carroll classic, including the original illustrations by John Tenniel, are out of focus. As Alice herself thinks: “What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?”

For parents who said in the survey that they did get their children’s eyes tested, the most common reasons were due to children commenting on things being blurry, not being able to see the board at school, and sitting too close to the television (18 per cent). Noticing that their children don’t enjoy reading was also a reason for nine per cent of parents. When it came to their own eyesight, 31 per cent of survey respondents noticed their vision had worsened during lockdown, and 40 per cent believed their eyesight had “markedly deteriorated” in the past two years.

Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, clinical adviser for the College of Optometrists, said: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: The Blurred Edition hasn’t been published for people to read, but instead for the public to consider what it could be like for a child living with deteriorating eyesight. Reading is so important for a child’s development, but to read well, you need to be able to see clearly.

“We’re committed to encouraging people to get their sight checked regularly and we hope this blurred classic will help illustrate what it’s like to not be able to see everything in focus. We need to alert people to the importance of taking care of their children’s eye health as well as their own.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: The Blurred Edition’ will be displayed in the College Museum. Although the museum is currently closed, when it re-opens, visitors can look through the illegible pages of blurred text themselves to understand the importance of eye health and eye examinations.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: The Blurred Edition can be downloaded from the College’s website here.