Colourblindness

Colour blindness should actually be called Colour vision deficiency. This is normally a genetic problem that is passed on from a parent to a child at birth. There is no cure for inherited colour deficiency. Have you ever wondered how it must be to suffer from colour deficiency? Colour is something we often take for granted.

There are many different sorts of colour deficiency, for example Red-Green colour deficiency, Deuteranomaly, this makes green look more red. Protanomaly, makes red look more green. Protanopia and deuteranopia have the same effect of making you not being able to tell the difference between red and green. Blue-yellow colour deficiency makes it difficult to see the differences between blue and green and yellow and red. There are two sorts of this condition one is called Tritanomaly and the other is called Tritanopia.

Complete colour blindness
This means that you don’t see colours at all. This is quite rare, and you only see things in black, white and shades of grey. The problem of colour deficiency affects more males than females, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. All babies only have black white and grey vision at birth and only when they are about six months old do they develop colour. Colour deficiency can bring some social problems with it, such as identifying traffic warning signs, choosing clothes that go together or not being able to apply for certain jobs such as pilots, electricians or traffic controllers, who are required to see colour.

There are special spectacles and lenses on the market that enable some colour deficient people to see colours. On the internet you can watch many people on film, who are colour deficient, trying out these glasses or lenses for the first time. Needless to say, they are very surprised at what they see and sometimes break down into floods of tears.

Here are some famous people who suffer from colour deficiency:
HRH Prince William of Great Britain
Bill Clinton former president of the USA
Bing Crosby the famous singer.
Mark Twain the novelist
Meat Loaf the American singer.
Claude Monet the famous painter.

Artists of today cope with colour blindness very well. Painting things strange colours can be quite interesting and cause some unusual discussions.
These days smart phones have the possibility of changing a photograph from full colour to black and white and shades of grey. Why don’t you go to your window and take a photo of what you see outside then change it into a black and white painting, it’s harder than you think. Having tried this, adding one coloured object to a black and white painting, makes all the difference. Grey has the ability of accentuating the colour used.

If you have any doubts about your ability to see colour, there are on the internet many colour deficiency tests that you can take. If these prove positive you should have this confirmed by an optician. Perhaps you might even consider trying out the colour deficiency glasses!

Pilestone Red-Green Color Blind Glasses TP-025 Titanium Coated Purple Lenses Both Outdoor and Indoor Use