by an anonymous father in Sweden

Our daughter Johanna (not her real name) went to school in the Falkenberg school district in Sweden. During the spring of 2006, she was in third grade and experienced headaches and profound fatigue several times a week. We suspected the school’s wireless network since Johanna’s mother is electrically sensitive and recognized the situation.

We talked to the staff at the school, but they did not dare do anything. We talked to the principal, who also did nothing.

In February of 2007, Johanna got more acute symptoms during a presentation using a wireless projector. We then removed her from the school. A trench war followed the next year and a half between us and the management of the school, while we awaited a verdict from the Ministry of Education.

In the summer of 2008, Johanna was forcefully moved to another school which did not have a wireless network, but also had little to offer our daughter educationally. This happened without the Ministry of Education doing anything to help.

We then contacted an independent Montessori school in Varberg. We were well received by the teachers and management. There was no disbelief or attempts at explaining away the problems, like we had been treated to in Falkenberg. This school already had other students with similar issues and people worked together to solve the problems. A few months later, the last part of the school’s wireless network was taken down and replaced with a wired network. Now they are also replacing all the cordless DECT phones as well.

We all agree that Johanna does well there. In her first year there, she only had headaches twice that I know of. One was while visiting the movie theater, the other while attending a lecture about health (!) where the speaker had brought a wireless laptop. Otherwise, we no longer see any signs that she is more sensitive than the other students.

This article was originally published in the 2009/4 issue of Ljusglimten, a publication of FEB, the Swedish organization for people with EHS.