This week, I have a special blog entry that really was months in the making. After casting out a net to look for colour blind people I could interview back in August, I got a response from Sam, a colour blind student. After a two month hiatus, we finally sat down and had a conversation over zoom on his experiences with colour blindness. I hope this interview will show people that these experiences are shared by many people around the world and that more could be done for the colour blind.
Q1: Do you know what kind of colour blindness you have?
“I do, actually, as recently we did the Enchroma online colour blind test. I don’t know if you’ve seen it? So, we did that and the results from it said I was deutan mild.”
Q2: When did you find out you were colour blind?
“I think it was around 4 years ago, at the opticians, with the book with the circle (Ishihara tests). Now everytime we go to the opticians normally we do the test and it always comes back as colour blind.”
Q4: You said you always get the test done regularly?
“Yeah, normally everytime we ask, as normally it is a different optician or a different person assessing you, so we always try to get a different viewpoint, but it's always colour blind.”
Q5: Do you have any frustrations with the condition?
“Not in daily routine, like not going about life as such, but an example I can remember was when we bought new sofas downstairs in the living room, and I am convinced that they’re black, and still think so to this day, but my family think differently, and apparently they’re brown. Also navy blue and black, if I’m putting away socks or something I will sometimes find navy blue in the black draw.”
Q6: Do you notice you have colour blindness often, or is it something you only notice when it's pointed out to you?
“It’s not an everyday thing that I notice, but I’d say at least once a month it will come up in either conversation or noticing that, that’s different or that's changed or I can’t quite tell what something is, so it comes up every now and again.”
Q7: Have you found any ways to work around your colour blindness?
“Personally, I haven’t, I know there are ways but I haven’t taken action to do anything about it, because I am very mild. I don’t think it is a massive thing that impacts my life much, so it's not a massive disadvantage, but thinking of Enchroma again they have their glasses and things.”
Q8: Do you struggle with doing any tasks in or out of school?
“Personally, I haven’t had any instances where I have had to choose colours as much, so not really if I’m honest.”
Q9: Did you have any frustrations before you were diagnosed?
“I didn’t actually, because before your diagnosis you don’t really know you’ve got it. So if you disagree with someone on what colour something is, you just think it's an argument, but when you’re told, you start to look for the differences a bit more.”
Q10: Do you find that people you meet have a good understanding of colour blindness?
“Definitely not, no, the second someone hears you're colour blind it’s: 'What colour is that?' and point or they hold up something obvious and ask what colour it is. Definitely something the majority of people aren’t educated on as such.”
Q11: Do you have any good stories of people asking you dumb questions about your colour blindness?
“Nothing that sticks out or something too significant. It's always when you meet someone new, it’s: 'What colour is that?', or asking what a tree looks like and the grass are common ones. For example my school has this blue cladding on the outside and everyone asks: 'What colour is that?' ”
Q12: How would you describe the colour of some common things you see like trees, the sky, the grass?
“I’d say, because obviously I haven’t seen the difference, as I don’t have those glasses, to me I don’t know the difference, trees are like the darker colour green, the Autumn trees are cool as they are always bright and orange.”
Q13: Do you ever wish you weren’t colour blind?
“I don’t have a massive problem with it. I just think 'who would want it?', but if I didn’t have it then great, but it doesn’t get me down or affect me too much.”
Q14: Have you ever felt like you’ve missed out on something?
“I don't know how it is anymore, but things like the RAF and things to do with piloting, if you were colour blind you weren’t allowed to go into those jobs, where you have to be able to distinguish between colours very quickly. My grandfather was in the Navy eventually, but first applied to the RAF to fly planes in WW2. However, he couldn’t pass the colour blindness test, so had to work as a signal decoder in Sri Lanka instead.”
Q15: Do you think having colour corrective glasses will make a difference in your life?
“100%, I definitely want to try them now after hearing your recommendation and after hearing positive reviews. I think it will be a good investment.”
Q16: Do you feel that people with normal vision take their vision for granted?
“I have to say yes, but don’t we all really? People who are blind could say the same. It’s not that they need to appreciate they can see colour, but maybe a bit more understanding for those who can’t.”
Once again, a big 'thank you' to Sam who let me interview him (I hope you are reading this!). I hope you all enjoyed reading this and I hope this shows people that I am not the only one who has experienced similar things with colour blindness. As always please feel free to contact me below or share my blog.
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