In a world first, Martine Richard has won compensation for being "allergic" to wifi.

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The thought of being away from a reliable wifi connection would make most of us feel ill, but for a growing number of people, it’s the very opposite. For some, just being around wifi is enough to make them feel physically sick.

In what is the first case of its kind, a French court has just awarded compensation to Martine Richard, a woman who claims she’s ‘allergic’ to wifi, a condition known as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity or EHS.

The Toulouse court ruled that the government should pay 39 year old Richard $900 a month in disability allowance for at least three years, according to Robin des Toits, an organisation that campaigns on behalf of EHS sufferers.

The former radio producer from Marseille told the court she had been forced "to flee civilisation" and live in a rural barn without electricity on the Pyrenees because of her allergy.

"This is a breakthrough," Richard told The Times after the ruling.

Those with EHS claim to suffer from a variety of health problems such as tingling, tiredness, dizziness, nausea and heart palpitations as a result of exposure to electromagnetic field sources such as mobile phones and wifi.

The twist? Scientific studies have found no evidence linking electromagnetic exposure to the symptoms that EHS sufferers claim to experience. This is partly what makes the court's ruling so interesting - and significant. (Post continues after gallery.)

While science might not fully acknowledge wifi allergy yet, that's not to say that the symptoms people experience are being dismissed. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledges that they are "certainly real", it also makes it clear that at the moment there's simply no scientific basis to link the symptoms to EMF exposure.

"EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem," states the factsheet.

While it has remained controversial among the scientific and medical community, it's a condition that has steadily gained public interest thanks to a number of recent cases.

In an article with New York Magazine's Science of Us section, 42-year-old Dafna Tachova spoke of her experience with EHS, claiming her symptoms first appeared in 2009 when she bought a new laptop that "didn't feel right" when she used it.

“At one point I was talking to my ex-husband and I didn’t understand what he was telling me, it was like a brain disconnect. And my heart was jumping. My face felt like it was on fire. I was nauseated,” the 42-year-old attorney, who had been working with and using computers “forever”, explains.

When tests by neurologists and cardiologists offered no explanation, Tachova decided to spend three months in a remote area of West Virginia with a group who also identify as electro-sensitive. While her symptoms quietened, she felt disconnected so returned home to Princeton where her symptoms immediately intensified and she became sensitive to electricity, light, sound and anything with vibrations.

Tachova now lives in Israel and campaigns to raise awareness of the condition, saying she's frustrated by those who dismiss it as 'crazy'.

“[I think] something in the first computer caused the appearance of the symptoms. I think something was defective and probably created a strong electromagnetic shock to my body,” she says.

With the growing reliance and prevalence of technology, there's no doubt there'll be further scientific investigation into these claims - and the results will certainly be interesting.

Do you think it's possible to be allergic to WiFi?