Here are some of the adaptations I have found helpful in dealing with the light sensitivity:

1. For PC laptops, you can dim the screen by holding down 'FN' (bottom left) and tapping the F6 key. If you need to brighten it back up, do the same thing with the F7 key.

2. Download and install f.lux (just google it), It's free, very quick, and it takes the blue light out of your computer screen, making it give off a softer yellow light that I find to be much easier on the eyes. It automatically sets itself to go to yellow light only after sunset, but you can change the settings so that it always screens out the blue light.

3. Even though I always wear sunglasses at the computer, 1 and 2 are usually not dark enough for me. I purchased a bunch of colored plastic folders from Office Max (transparent) and have cut them out for various uses. I put a blue one and a yellow one on my computer screen to screen out even more light. These plastic sheets can also be used for reading, though I find that it's hard for me to read with anything darker than a very light color. Along the same lines, you can purchase colored printing paper--I find light blue to work pretty well--to reduce glare and eye strain from black-on-white ink and paper.

4. If you have to work with word documents, go to the 'page layout' tab. From here, you can change the color of the document. I find that it makes a HUGE difference if I change the document color to gray and work with black on gray (compared to normal black on white); it is much, much darker, though it can be hard to see the cursor. You can also change the text color, and it is worth experimenting with different combinations to see what works best for you.

5. Sunglasses, obviously. I wear glasses, which makes it tricky. I have a pair of clip-ons that are lighter. I use them for driving at night, since I can still see the road and other cars fine, but it helps to block out the headlights. I also use them just in general in settings that are somewhat dark, but not quite dark enough. I also have a large pair of "Locs" that I ordered from Amazon. They are very dark, have a wide earpiece that blocks out peripheral light, and they fit over my glasses. I eventually had to add black duck tape to the bottom corners because I was still getting too much light. For fluorescent lights, I need to both wear my clip-ons and the Locs (with tape), and the lights still hurt my eyes.

6. I always wear a hat to screen out light from above.

7. I do as much of my typing as possible with my eyes closed.

8. I downloaded text-to-voice software that works pretty well for "reading" articles, documents, etc. Anything that can be highlighted for cut and paste can be read aloud to you by these programs. Natural Reader is a decent free program, but the computer voice is very choppy. If you're willing to spend a little money, you can get another one called Text Aloud (basic version is free, and similar to NR), that allows you to download much better voices.

9. I'm working on getting voice recognition software installed (I think there is already some basic software on my computer), but am waiting for an external mic to be delivered (internal mic isn't working).

Those are the main modifications I've made, aside from the other obvious stuff such as limiting computer and TV time, limiting outdoor time, limiting time under fluorescent lights--basically spending as much of my time as I can in a dark environment (though it's usually helpful to have some ambient light when I'm working at the computer, so my pupils aren't too dilated).

Pete