Color Blindness and Its Effects

When people hear the phrase “color blind”, they tend to speculate about the limitations and capabilities of this condition. The term can often be misinterpreted as actually not being able to see color, however this is not the case. There are various types to this condition, all of which allow the person to see color in some form, while struggling to differentiate between them. To illustrate, if there is a pack of thirty-six different colors, color blinds, who can also be called color deficients, will only be able to see twelve of them. The colors that the people see depend on the type of blindness that they have, there are three types: Deuteranopia, Protanopia, Tritanopia. The lack of knowledge that individuals have on this topic can be very frustrating to people born with this abnormality. For this reason, it is very important to have an insight on how these people live their daily lives around this condition, and distinguish the differences as to the majority of earth’s population.
Being color blind does not restrain people from living a complete and happy life. However, they might struggle with some daily life activities which people with normal eyesight wouldn’t. For instance, they are not very good at cooking because they can’t distinguish if what they are cooking is ripe, or even raw. As stated by, the Color Blind Awareness organization, this may close some doors when they are considering any job options as a chef. In addition, police officer and firefighter are some of the most famous jobs that require being able to distinguish colors and have normal vision (50 Facts about Color Blindness). They also have trouble playing sports because it is difficult for them to differentiate the colors of each team's jersey (Living with Colour Vision Deficiency). Yet, there are many people who are great athletes in spite of their disability. A perfect example in ASFM is Joaquin Derby, a student who has attended various ASOMEX tournaments as a headline player.  Another typical problem that people with this abnormality experience is matching up the colors in the clothes they wear. Luckily, this problem can be easily fixed by asking another person to help them (Living with Colour Vision Deficiency). According to “Dangers & Limitations”, people with red-green deficiency, might be in danger when driving because of the traffic lights. On top of that, color deficients also have trouble reading the weather due to their lack of identifying colors. Even in some countries, having normal vision is required in order to get your driver’s license. All of these limitations depends on how mild or severe the condition is. The boundaries set by color blindness can be easily solved or at least diminished, however they may still affect the daily life of many who suffer from this abnormality.
Living with color deficiency affects each individual differently. Everyone who lives with this condition has their own thoughts and opinions regarding this topic and the life they’ve had living with this condition. Sebastian Derby, an 18-year-old boy who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico is part of the 8% of men who have red-green color deficiency (Facts About Color Blindness). It was in Kindergarten when his teachers thought something might be wrong after he drew his family's faces all green. While many of us who don’t get to live the reality of being colorblind think that all there is to it is negative, Sebastian disagrees. He is proud to live up to everyone else's standards and even said that “a major upside in being colorblind is that I see the world, quite literally, in a unique manner. I am able to capture colors in ways that regular people can't.” (Derby, Sebastian. Email interview. March 28 2017.) In his family, he and his younger brother, Joaquin, both have the same type of color deficiency. Both of them find it hard to speak of a ‘con’ that comes with this condition; however one thing they agree on is the frustration that comes with everyone asking them what color is basically every single thing they see. Besides these two brothers, Juan Pablo De La Garza Evia, a 12th grade student at ASFM also suffers from color blindness, the same type as Sebastian and Joaquin. Juan Pablo has lived with this deficiency all of his life, and it is somewhat ironic how he suffers from this because he is a painter. In the interview he explained how lucky he is to get the tools to thrive and be able to keep doing what he loves even if his condition doesn’t let him see the real color. (De La Garza Evia, Juan Pablo. Personal Interview. April 1 2017.) Being color blind doesn't’ mean having a disadvantage in life.
Now a day there are various ways to minimize the effect of color blindness in a person. Glasses such as: ColorMax, ColorView, ChromaGen, ColorLite, and Enchroma, allow the individual to improve general color recognition, make the colors clearer and brighter, and be able to see shades of color not seen before” (Cure & Correction). Still, these glasses don’t work for everyone. For example, Joaquin isn’t able to buy this glasses because they won’t work for his type of color blindness. However, color blind people who have used them don’t know if they are happy with them at the beginning. This is because they are used to seeing the world with different colors like they always have. Most of them turn out ending confused (Cure & Correction). “The reason of 99% of the people who are color blind is because of genetic defects” (Solutions). Therefore, in order to cure this abnormality completely, the genes would need to be repaired (Solutions). As reported by “Cure & Correction”, there is no cure for color deficiency at the moment, although two monkeys have been cured with no side effects. Hopefully one day this can be done on humans too. Understanding how the perspective of color deficients vary for each one needs to be clear. Some might struggle living with this more than others. This is why people need to be aware how colorblindness is not a disease, rather an abnormal condition. Everyone is different and being colorblind is just something else for them to embrace. There is nothing wrong with being different.