What is it like to be colour blind?

Having a colour vision deficiency is a way of life, and for colour vision deficit people, it is their life. They don’t have a choice, and they learn to adapt.

Many people think that colour blind people see the world in only black and white, like old movies. While this is not the case, complete colour blindness does exist. It’s called achromatopsia and is one of the rarest forms of colour blindness. The most common form is red-green colour blindness, protanomaly or deuteranomaly. Individuals with these conditions can still see colour. However, many colours become muddled and easily confused when certain shades blend. So, while colour blindness limits the amount of colour, it’s nothing like the old black and white movies.

Rainbows display all seven beautiful colours. However, colour vision deficits can cause a person to only perceive 2 or 3 of the colours as the others blend.

People can create magic out of any situation. Not being able to see colour can mean a life that has some issues, some surprises, and a special unique view. Depending on the person they could see it as magical, horrible, frustrating, exasperating and even a revelation.

One interesting side-effect of colour vision deficits is that often people can’t remember the colours of certain things. Their colour vision is so unreliable that they unconsciously train themselves not to pay any attention to colour at all.

There is no way to determine exactly how another person sees; our qualified Optometrists run several tests with each person to determine their type of colour vision deficit. This allows the selection of the most appropriate iRo lens. If you cannot attend one of our endorsed optometrist then we can supply Home Testing kits as these will simulate the effect of the iRo lenses and you will experience the same incredible difference they make to your colour vision.

At Colour Vision Optical, we help people with colour vision deficits unlock their colour vision. We demystify the world of colour vision deficiency and open up a whole new visual perspective.