What it's like to be color blind

TheAppleFairy said:

I agree it's not something you suffer with, but hopefully some day they will be able to fix color blindness and I think the day color blind people see all the colors for the first time they will be simply amazed at the colors around them.

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I think it could be done, but you gotta think about the psychological effect of suddenly being able to see more colors. It'd be like us waking up and realizing we can see in ultraviolet and infrared. Yeah, you'd think it'd be neat, but then you realize everyone has weird purple blotches all over their bodies, their veins are stark, jet black roads crossing across their skin, plants and flowers look all glowly and weird...and...no, you probably wouldn't like it. It's not how you're used to seeing the world.

That's one thing I've noticed from looking at those colorblind sim pictures in the link above. I can see 6 distinct colors and various shades of those 6 colors in that one bush in the center of the picture. The colorblind shots? Just two, and a couple of shades off that. And green. It seems that no one with any form of distinct colorblindness can see green. With duteranopia and protanopia, it's a yellowish brown color, with tritanopia, it's a desaturated teal, just a couple steps above grey. Unless you live out in the desert or way up north, green is THE most common color around outside. Grass, trees, leaves, flowers. They've all got some shade of green in them.

To us, it's normal. Green is a pretty color, and you kinda feel sorry for people who aren't able to see it. It's the color of living, thriving things. Everything looks so much better in the summer because it's all green, rather than drab and yellow.

But from their perspective, imagine waking up one day and realizing the entire world looks completely different and alien to how you're used to. Even the colors they are able to see will take on different hues, and become more bold. It'd probably freak them right slap the hell out, and they'd hate it.

Plus, you have to consider all the extra visual noise they'll be faced with. That's the other thing I've noticed from looking at those shots. While you can't differentiate nearly as many things by color, there seems to be a little more contrast to everything, and you're able to pick out organic shapes a little easier. This is coming from someone who's had perfect color vision his entire life. Someone suddenly gaining the ability to see hundreds of thousands of more colors will find it all a random splurtch of weird.

While you won't say it's something we shouldn't work towards, I don't think it'd be the sudden revelation for colorblind people we think it is. There's a lot of psychology and mental processing behind something as simple as color.

Doctor Q said:

If I could suddenly see red, I might be totally confused and disoriented, in the ways you describe. Then again, perhaps I'd soon adapt the way George Stratton did. Another possibility is that my brain would simply filter out the new information to keep my world view the same, so I'd still be colorblind despite the physical problem being solved. My guess, without any proof, is that everything would look oddly tinted, over-saturated, and fake to me, but that I'd get used to it, like watching a mis-adjusted TV.

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Were the proper cones restored, I think you'd be able to see and and acknowledge red, and yeah, you would eventually get to it. The human break is incredibly elastic, and has shown that it'll readily accept and adapt to any new signal it receives. Case in point, it seems to be a new thing in neuroscience to call humans blocked tetrachromats rather than trichromats, because our eyes are apparently equipped to see into the ultraviolet spectrum, but the lens covering the eye blocks almost all UV wavelengths. Talk to someone who's had their lenses removed through surgery though, and they'll talk about seeing this strange whitish purple color everywhere. Even though none of us have ever seen UV unassisted beforehand, the moment our eye is able to detect it, our brains were able to decipher it.

So I think were it to happen, you'd be able to see and see red, and you'd adapt quickly from a physiological standpoint. Psychologically though, it'd probably take you a little while longer to deal with. I just got through walking downstairs to grab a drink while typing this, and I came to realize that indoor lighting, and thus anything being directly or indirectly lit by it, has an orange reddish tint to it. People, too, would look strange to you for awhile. Everyone in the world, no matter their color or shade, have a light pink to dark reddish tint to their skin. If you can't see red at all, then that means people probably appear a sort of greyish-green to you. Perfectly normal from your perspective, but kinda weird from mine. If reds were suddenly restored to you, everything and everyone would probably weird you out a bit. You're going from a situation where you've seen the world one way for however many years you've been alive, to suddenly seeing it completely differently. Though I'm far from being an expert in cognition, I think it'd take you a little while before everything starts feeling like "home" again.

Much the same way if I woke up tomorrow and found out I lost my reds. It wouldn't drive me insane or anything (well, beyond that initial freak out, anyway), but until I adjusted, I'd think everything looks strange.

Since those with colorblindness cannot see the vibrancy of some colors, I wonder if there is a higher level of depression among those who are colorblind. Anyone know anything about this?
I know that we've declared it to not be something that people "suffer" but, i wonder if there is a correlation here.

I just enabled that. I'm curious as to what it changes.

Color blindness is an abomination against our Lord and Savior and I for one do not support your lifestyle choice. You CHOOSE to be color blind the same way lefties CHOOSE to be lefties. I also think your kind shouldn't be going around marrying and having children who you pass on your deviant lifestyle to, and I am actively advocating for a constitutional amendment in my state to ban such unions.

Red-green color vision deficiency, was worse when I was a kid for some reason. Ex used to complain when I would just buy black and gray shirts.(lol) Still need someone with me shopping to help out with some colors.

Not quite, Doctor Q! Close, but no cigar!

BLUE RED YELLOW BLUE GREEN RED


You're right about the bright primary colors, but Google plays a fast one on your theory of not using the same color twice for the same letters. They pull the whammy on you when they use the same blue on the capital "G" and the lower-case "g" and they also pull another whammy by using red on the first of the two "O's and then on the "e."

I think this is a little different than what we normally think of as a rainbow logo -- now, Apple, on the other hand, with their rainbow logo of yore, followed your theory to the letter!

Here's an interesting thing I came across that made me think of this thread...

Some random scientist has serendipitously happened across a way to correct for some forms of colorblindness.

It's not a miracle cure. These glasses do nothing for those missing pigment cones entirely, and, I believe, only address those who are red-green colorblind, but it's still an interesting development.

Soon, some people will have an excuse to wear sunglasses at night.

white & gold dress

This post just reminded me of the infamous dress that was all over the internet. The black & blue dress or the white & gold dress! I see the dress as gold & white, but the dress itself is actually black & blue! I am sooo confused!!! I don't think I am color blind...

Doctor Q said:

Avalanche Biotech, a medical research company in Menlo Park, CA, is doing studies of gene therapy for color blindness, which they call AVA-322 and AVA-323.

It started with research at the University of Washington, where gene therapy was able to cure one type of colorblindness in two squirrel monkeys. It required surgery. They now have a therapy that uses injections rather than surgery and can be tested in humans.

See the news release.

I wasn't able to spot a clinical trial that's recruiting or currently in progress. If anybody finds information about it, please post.

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I am quite surprised that this is pursued with a gene-therapy approach.

it is still a very far from settled set of technologies, and although it is progressing and in-eye-delivery is one of the best scenarios, i don't think it will be approved for treatment of a relatively benign condition any time soon.
nor i think it should. the risks still far outweigh the benefit in this case

I have a birth defect in my eyes and severe colorblindness is one symptom. I've taken those dot tests more than my fair share of times. I hate them all with a passion.

But what I hate more than anything is when people think "colorblind" means you see in black and white. I can't tell you the stupid questions I've been asked:

"What color is my skin?"
"How do you drive?"
"What color is the sky? What about that bus?"

The only real downside to me is photo editing. If I make colors really pop to me they are grossly over saturated to a normal eye. I never knew what it's like to see without colorblindness so I don't know how bland I really am. Sort of like @Renzatic said, it's not that bothersome since you don't what you're missing.

The only time I've ever been upset by it was when I was younger and teachers would get mad at me because they'd be going through powerpoint and tell use to focus on the red text and it all looked black to me. Or they'd put white text on a yellow background and I couldn't see it. They'd get mad that they'd have to change their ugly PPs and some students would make fun of you. But I made my piece with it.

I am primarily red-green colorblind. I received some Enchroma glasses yesterday. So far I can't tell if they work or not. I've seen plenty of teary eyed videos of people trying them on for the first time and I had no sensation like that. I fully understand that they are somewhat of a crapshoot as to if they'll work or not though. I'll probably keep at them for the next week or so but if I don't see any difference I'll likely return them.

It's weird because I'm not even sure what to look for or if I'm looking for things correctly. My body has been trained to largely only use color as an identifier as a last resort. Am I so used to ignoring color that it'll take time to start paying attention? I don't know.

I certainly was more disappointed about the results than I thought I would have been. I knew it was only a 50/50 chance of it working if that and prepared myself for nothing happening, but the excitement of a newly colored world was there and then seemed gone. I'll certainly get over it but it's like knowing pretty much the only 'drug' that might work for your condition has just failed. It's an odd feeling.

Doctor Q said:

Are you trying them in natural daylight? That's where they are supposed to make the most difference.

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Yeah. I tried them for a few hours outside (it's scary outside!).

I've been labeled "color confused." I see color...but shades all look the same to me. Pink and red look fine together to me.

Doctor Q said:

… On the left: Steve Jobs
In the middle: Steve Jobs as seen with poor red vision.
On the right: Steve Jobs as seen with poor green vision.

I assume that these look different to most of you, but I can barely see a difference between the first two. The middle photo shows how Steve Jobs and similarly "flesh-toned" people look to me.

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cslewis said:

… am I the only one that sees the last two Steve Jobs photos as exactly the same?

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Likewise, I see no difference between the second and third … is that to be expected? (I could see all the numbers on the Wikipedia page …)

grahamperrin said:

Likewise, I see no difference between the second and third … is that to be expected? (I could see all the numbers on the Wikipedia page …)

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There's an orange-red tint to the Jobs on the right, but it's very subtle. Almost like you're looking at a black and white image with a slight color overlay.