Although we all see the same things that around us every day, the way each person sees those items can be quite different. What one person might call “green,” another person might actually just see a greyish color. There are three main types of color blindness that exist: tritan, deutan, and protan deficiencies. Depending on the level of the deficiency, the level of actual color blindness may be different. It is actually believed that 99% of people who are classified as being color blind are actually color deficient.
1. It’s a Man Thing
In looking at the prevalence of color blindness in the world today, about 1 in 12 men are color blind in some way. Women, on the other hand, are color blind at a rate of about 1 in every 200. The most common way that there are color deficiencies in a person’s vision is in the red-green spectrum. There are some famous people who have this issue. Even Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is color deficient in the red-green spectrum.
2. Changing Perspectives
In the US military, during the days of World War II soldiers who were color blind were coveted. Because they didn’t have the ability to see green well, they would be able to see through the camouflage that enemy soldiers were using, either for their uniforms or against aircraft flying overhead. Today, however, the thoughts of color blind soldiers serving is very different. If you’ve been diagnosed as being color blind, then you can’t serve in the military any more.
3. It’s My Good Eye
There’s a type of color blindness that is called “unilateral dichromacy.” This means that a person may be color blind in one eye, but their either eye may see in full color. For people with this condition, colors tend to appear muted when they are looking at something with both eyes. If they alternate one eye to the other eye, a unique change in perspective occurs because the colors will actually shift in their vision.
4. I’d Like That Well Done
One of the biggest struggles that people in the red-green color blind spectrum face isn’t driving, but in cooking. Because meat is typically a red or pink color when it isn’t properly cooked, it can be virtually impossible for people who are color blind to tell for certain if their meat is done. For this reason, having meat thermometers available can be quite useful to avoid certain food-borne illnesses that may be in that meat.
5. Let’s Count to 20
Only a fraction of people in the world today can see no color whatsoever. 99% of people with color blindness, in fact, have just the red-green blindness. As people get older, they will begin to have their vision begin to degenerate and this can sometimes replicate the effects of natural color blindness. Some drugs can even cause color blindness.
Most color blindness isn’t problematic. Only a few jobs require a complete spectrum of color to be seen, which means anyone with this condition can live a long, fulfilling life… even if they have achromatopsia and only see in shades of grey.
