Colour Blindness

[Katharine]

Does anyone have any experience of Colour Blindness?

Our elder son, Jeremy, phoned to ask whether there was any in the family. My little grandson (2 last week) has suddenly started calling red green - to his parents' consternation. Now I am not the slightest bit worried, Jeremy himself persisted in calling all animals (including soft toys) cats until he was a lot older than 2. I know children play with language.

However, it did get me thinking about colour blindness, I realised that I know very little about it. If you are colour blind, does it mean that you see both green and red, say, the same? This would obviously lead to confusion sometimes it is called red and sometimes green.

I'd be grateful for any elucidation.

[marty]

Katharine

I'm afraid I'm unable to read your post as I cannot determine between black & grey....

Only joking. My understand is that there are several types of colour blindness but that the trouble is encountered when two colours (such as red & green) are brought together. It is then that they merge and to the colour-blinded viewer become indistinguishable from each other (to some they just appear brown apparently). It is now that I must admit to the most heinous of crimes whilst at school. Matthew Holmes was colour blind and kept his physics (red) & chemistry (green) files together on his desk. I once swapped the labels over and he went to class with the wrong file so Matthew if you are reading this I'm very, very sorry!!!

For further info please go to the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness

[shoz]

I found this site quite interesting....

http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html

[J.R.]

Marty is quite correct.

There are varying degree's of colour blindness. When I joined plod, I was diagnosed as having a very mild colour blindness, but not enough to bar me from entering the force. Red and green are the two primary colours that are involved and cause the real concern.

They used to use pictures made up of hundress of different coloured dots, and you had to find a hidden number or letter in the picture, though I'm sure, with the advances in medicine, the tests are far less prehistoric today !.

[Ash]

I'm red/green and slightly blue

This didn't stop me going to Art School though... In fact I tended to use it as an advantage in my more abstracted work.

I can see and identify bright versions of these colours, but simply cannot identify green and brown when placed together... (and sometimes mauves and purples cause me problems)

Oddly you can compensate, generally green appears brown, so therefore logically (and nothing to do with vision) is most likely to be green ... this sometimes works.. If I think something is brown, oftentimes it is actually green... Not always.. Its usually a fair bet that it is green though.

I know wood is generally brown... So I call it brown... I "see" it as brown because I know it is ... This has nothing to do with my vision though... It could appear anywhere from red to green if I use my eyes.

Many believe colour blind people see in black and white... Not the case.. All colours appear as normal, it is just a problem distinguishing them.

IE, I know leaves are generally green, as is grass... Logic dictates this. Even though I may percieve grass to be brown, I still know it is green....

Generally it is subtle hues that cause the problem... Or colours that are together but tonally very similar..

Colour blindness is very rare in women, it is also quite common in men with blue eyes...

[englishangel]

Marty is quite correct.

There are varying degree's of colour blindness. When I joined plod, I was diagnosed as having a very mild colour blindness, but not enough to bar me from entering the force. Red and green are the two primary colours that are involved and cause the real concern.

They used to use pictures made up of hundress of different coloured dots, and you had to find a hidden number or letter in the picture, though I'm sure, with the advances in medicine, the tests are far less prehistoric today !.

No, this is one place where the "if it ain't broke don't fix it", approach works.

[J.R.]

I'm red/green and slightly blue

This didn't stop me going to Art School though... In fact I tended to use it as an advantage in my more abstracted work.

I can see and identify bright versions of these colours, but simply cannot identify green and brown when placed together... (and sometimes mauves and purples cause me problems)

Oddly you can compensate, generally green appears brown, so therefore logically (and nothing to do with vision) is most likely to be green ... this sometimes works.. If I think something is brown, oftentimes it is actually green... Not always.. Its usually a fair bet that it is green though.

I know wood is generally brown... So I call it brown... I "see" it as brown because I know it is ... This has nothing to do with my vision though... It could appear anywhere from red to green if I use my eyes.

Many believe colour blind people see in black and white... Not the case.. All colours appear as normal, it is just a problem distinguishing them.

IE, I know leaves are generally green, as is grass... Logic dictates this. Even though I may percieve grass to be brown, I still know it is green....

Generally it is subtle hues that cause the problem... Or colours that are together but tonally very similar..

Colour blindness is very rare in women, it is also quite common in men with blue eyes...

You must get a lot of funny looks when you walk into a pub !! Does the 'blue' part refer to your jokes ?