I am red/green color blind which means I see many solid colors the same way everyone else does. The more that certain colors are mixed together the more likely I am to see them differently than someone who isn't color blind.
To someone who is colorblind, the world looks completely normal to them because that's the way they have always seen it. It's not until I find myself arguing with someone over the color of a car or a sweater that I realize that I'm seeing it differently and that (maybe) I am the one who is wrong. I hate being wrong, even when I know I'm wrong.
After going through school vision testing in grade four I was informed that I would never be able to fly an airplane or work at an important computer job such as an air traffic controller. What they should have told me, is that I would never work as an Interior Decorator and I should avoid shopping for clothes alone.
Lately I've had quite a few emails from people asking me for my opinion on their website, since my color perception is distorted I am worried that I will give them the wrong advice. This is why I've decided to come clean and admit that I am color blind.
I have absolutely no problem being red/green color blind, I just hate asking for help or admitting that maybe I don't know what color I'm looking at. Therefore I avoid projects where my color judgment is needed, such as creating a website logo, changing color schemes, etc. And what I think may look cool, may actually not be as cool as I think. It also takes a few tries to fill out those number verification thingies when I'm leaving comments on blogs.
I've had a lot of help from my family and friends in choosing the colors of my websites, and I do appreciate it very much!
How the Color Deficient Person Sees the World
Do your see the number 2 in the circle?
If you are color deficient you will not be able to see the number.
Take more color vision tests. Visit Colorvisiontesting.com to find out more about color blindness.
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18 comments:
Guess what? I am colour blind as well! Nobody (including myself) knew I am colour blind until I took that "colour vision test" when I was 12 years old during a school medical checkup. I could not read a lot of the numbers and all my classmates found it amusing and I thought so too. The doctor met up with my dad the next day and told him everything. So then, I realised I am colour blind. It didn't really matter to me anyway. I think I have problem differentiating red and green, and sometimes dark grey and dark green, and purple/light blue. I love doing web design, graphic editing, and being colour blind, I usually prefer to do it for pleasure and not for work 'cuz it's not easy to pick the right colour for someone's design. If I am creating an art for myself, I can easily choose colours as long as I feel they blend well with each other. But there are times I hate being colour blind 'cuz I often give wrong colour details to people... I feel handicapped.
Get out of here! My first colour blind blogging friend! What a conincidence that I posted this article and your link around the same time today!
I don't feel handicapped I just feel confused, lol. I would never dare design someone else's website...no way.
I'm the same with the dark green and grey. Olive green and brown look identical to me.
It's nice to know that I'm not the only colour blind blogger out here, lol.
I'm thinking by the way you spell colour that you may be a Canadian too. I use American spelling because the majority of my blog readers are from the U.S. (including my mom in Florida).
Too Cool, thank you so much for leaving this comment! Have a great day!:)
I am a Malaysian! We use British-English spelling.
Sometimes, I'd make fun of my friends by purposely guessing the wrong colours (for eg. saying the colour is white, instead of the actual black.)
Okay I suppose Malaysian would make sense then too, lol.
That's funny that you do that to your friends, I'll have to try that, lol. I don't tell too many people about it because they start trying to tell me the colour of everything, ROFL. Then I have to explain the whole thing and it's just easier not to. LoL.
Have you read the book called, "The Island of the colorblind" By Oliver Sacks? It was an investigative study done on some isolated communities of Islanders born totally colorblind. On Pinelap,these people describe their world in ("Rich luminance and shadow") I imagine your senses for other things are heightened. Very interesting writing. Thought you might like it. Came here from Princess Haiku's site.
Oh wow, thanks for mentioning this book. I've never heard of it before. It sounds very interesting. I imagine that if you were completely colorblind you wouldn't know what you are a missing. Well not until someone tells you anyway. Everyone has their own perception of the world they live in, some people have perfect vision, perfect hearing, etc. and yet seem to miss out on the world around them. Color blindness is just another difference in perception.
Have a great Easter! :)
Christy,
I like your statement: "Color blindness is just another difference in perception.". LOL..
I am red-green color blind as well. I failed exactly the same test (image above) when I was 14 during my school days. Are you talking about numbers.. What numbers ???
In computer world, I am not blind as the color numbers are coded in RGB (red/green/blue) and my sense of colors is actually better than those who are normal. I mix and match colors well even in real live.
My mother is carrier and we ( my brothers and me - 3 of us) are all color blind and of course including my mom. The only thing I hate was when arguing about colors with my wife coz I always get the color wrong.
Blue/Green blindness is common apart from red/green. Thanks for the links.
Hi Mattsofi!
You mean you didn't see the number in the circle? Just kidding. They say there is the number two there so I believe them I suppose.
That's good that you are still good with colors. I have a few issues with certain colors myself. Some colors mixed together appear grey and that's annoying.
Geez what are the odds of your brothers having it too, holy geez.
My mother has it, yet I read that it's the father that passes it down. And you said your mother passed it along as well, (Hmmm....genetics).
I'm thinking that if there is enough of us out there we should hold a colorblind convention, decorate everything in red and green, or even grey, ROFL.
Thank you so much for your comment, I am so glad I wrote this post, the comments on it have been fantastic!
im red/green colour blind. i was told a few years ago but i forgot about it since it didn't feel that important until i went to art school and i FAILED due to the fact i couldn't paint a tree properly - the leaves were brown and the truck was green apparently. and i also couldn't manage to blend a 'realistic' skin tone. the teachers thought i was being abstract. so i usually stick to colours i know i can trust. no murky colours just black, white, a certain light blue, red. Colours i can 'trust'.
today i actually had a problem. i bought some wool. some brown wool. the colour i have problems with. i bought a ball of what i assume is green but looks completely dull brown. and also a ball i thought was brown but turned out to be purple. im always too ashamed to ask the salespeople what they see because a few times i did that they looked like i was a complete idiot asking if the dull brown tie i was holding was infact green.
but dad is green blue colour blind and he cant tell the difference between at all.bright blue and bright green look exactly th same to him. i feel a little grateful that im not that bad.
Hi Ffarff,
I can totally relate!! It's very annoying isn't it. I don't like to ask anyone for help ever, especially sales people, so I usually try to shop with my husband or daughter so I can ask them for help.
The worst thing for me right now is that I can't see the colours on my Writer's Reviews blog. My family chose them for me based on what I said I wanted and I just can't figure them out. I'm wondering what the heck everyone else is seeing ?
It sounds like you mix up the exact same colours as I do, and I even failed grade nine art! LoL.
Thanks for sharing your story:)
I recently found out I was color blind, though I found out to late. I was going to school to be an air traffic controller only to find out three quarters into it you could not be color blind as a controller, so I went to the eye doctor and found out the bad news. I kept fighting and I ended up going up to to the University of Washington Medical and found a way to correct my vision with a special red tinted lens. Unfortunatly the government would not allow me to use this lens even though it worked. Talk about a bumber, that happened yesterday.
Hi Anonymous,
That's horrible!! They should tell you before you even start the course, like have some sort of vision screening process. That sucks. And to think you picked one of the few things that you can't do when colorblind. Well good luck in whatever you decide to do, I hope that the education you've received can go towards another career choice. Take Care!
Hi Christy,
I'm a 46 female and I'm colour blind too. I can't see shades at all. Beiges, lighter browns, light purple, greys and most greens all look olive to me... A funny story is that until 5 years ago or so I thought that all of those striped tiger cats were green. Someone asked me what kind of cat I had and I answered "A little green tiger cat". The person said "huh?" and looked at me like I was nuts. After a few minutes I learned that they are actually brownish or greyish, but definitely not green. Well, he's green to me :-) Joanne
Hi Joanne,
Sorry it took me so long to respond to your comment, that's such a cute story about your little green tiger cat, lol. That's why my cat is pure white! So I can see what color it is, lol.
(just kidding) :)
I have the same problem with browns and greens, I get them mixed up all of the time too.
Hey !
I'm a visual artist (photorealism) and I have red-green blindness. I can't see the number two in the image, but nobody has ever complained about my color selections.
I only hear comments like: "wow, how realistic colors." Even those that are not color blind might estimate colors incorrectly. They might not be able to realize greenish tones of the evening sky at all for an example. Backgrounds can trick understanding of normal persons aswell.
I just took a pile of color blindness tests online and this dot test (circles with colored dots) is the only one that makes me fail. i get everything right in other tests.
I am quite pissed now because I once wanted to be a barber, but officials didn't let me to go to a barber school because my papers said that I am color blind. Take a look at me now ! I am a master of photorealistic art and I never fail . Well, now afterwards I am satisfied with the fact that I didn't become a barber.
I'm a colorblind female and just found out the difficulty preparing my 5 year old son for school has not been my own, but in fact he is also colorblind. colorblind adults should have their children tested as soon as possible to avoid difficulty in early years of education. some seem to view this as a disadvantage and once again I see things so different. my sons sees through camoflauge easily. hidden object games are also easy because he is not distracted by all the different colors. he has rapid hand eye quardination. his eyes are in most ways gifted. I can't wait to take him snorkeling in the caribean so he will see all colors once he is under the water.
I am pretty sure it isn't as high as 20% of all males are colorblind. It is more around 7%. It's still fairly rare.
20% would be 1 in 5 males are colorblind.
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