Colour Blindness Awareness

[Parasondox]

I was in like late primary school. It was during a visit to the opticians to get my new glasses (I'm shortsighted) where I as told to identify the number in the picture and also mention which black circle with a certain colour of background was more blurry or something like that. It was quite a number of years ago so I don't know how it went but I'm sure I did pretty badly.

When the test ended the optician guy removed his glasses, looked at me and said "Jacob, I'm sorry to tell you that you are suffering from red-green colourblindness." He then told me about it like how I got it etc.

Finding out that it's something a lot of people have and I wasn't just weird was very relieving.

Thank you for sharing. It really is an interesting matter that many people do go through but isn't talked about much. If you don't mind me asking, and honestly you can tell me to f off at any point I don't mind lol, but when it comes to things like movies, TV and games, how much adjusting do you have to do, if any?

If I am being too nosey, I apologise.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

This is a post I wrote last night about it in another topic:

Spoiler

I'm colourblind, first thing people ask when I tell them: "So... what does this look like to you?"

This gets on my nerves sooo fast. Especially since in my case it wasn't genetic. When I was little I had perfectly normal color vision, but thanks to a little bit of "boys will be boys" rough-housing with one of my cousins I ended up with an eye injury that caused it. So now my color vision is all sorts of messed up.

For me, pretty much every color is just a little bit... off. I occasionally confuse blues and purples, reds and browns, yellows and greens... and I almost always have trouble when it comes to various shades of colors. Large color palettes and gradients always are a nightmare to me. Back when I tried to play that MMO Tabula Rasa, I had to set all of my character's color options to white, because you chose the colors on a gradient and I had no idea what the hell I was looking at. To be honest, I don't even know if I chose white. Sometimes white and lighter shades of pink and gray all look the same to me.

So inevitably, the first question someone will ask me is what color something in the immediate vicinity is. If I get it right, they almost always give me a look of disappointment, then point to something else. And they'll keep freaking doing it until I get something wrong, then they'll act like it's some kind of sideshow attraction. Fuck you, people. Seriously.

Even worse is when they find out I wasn't born with it, because then they have it in their mind that I have a frame of reference as to what NORMAL people see. So then the questions start to pour in about that. Nevermind that I was like four when the injury happened, and I can only vaguely recall anything from that far back. So I really don't have that frame of reference, which also will inevitably get me looks of disappointment, and the occasional asshole that thinks I'm lying to them for some reason, like I'm selfishly keeping some kind of mystical secret of the universe all to myself.

The worst is that they seem to think my entire life revolves around it. They sometimes even treat it like it's a major disability. Not really, guys... I can still make due just fine. Just because I don't see colors the exact same way as you doesn't mean I can't see colors and learn to associate certain colors with certain things. You have no idea how hard I want to backhand the morons that ask me what color the sky is.

THE SKY IS BLUE YOU MORON!

Honestly, living with colorblindness isn't that huge of a deal. It kind of sucks having to ask for help from time to time, but it's only a minor inconvenience at most. Most people I encounter are pretty understanding of it, and are typically willing to help out. As far as I'm aware nobody has ever tried to mess with me when I asked for help. But the key word up there was most people are understanding, hence the post I wrote in that other topic.

Honestly I do think things are getting better, albeit slowly. At least when it comes to gaming, anyway. I'm finding that most games that have importance placed upon certain colors will have a colorblind option (like loot in MMOs such as World of WarCraft can be set to say the name of the rarity on the item card, which is great, since the item names of purple epics and blue rares look pretty similar to me). Many games also seem to be adding in labels for colors in character creation, and I'm finding unlabeled palettes and gradients to be far less common than they used to be.

That said, I don't want to see the palettes and gradients disappear, since I acknowledge that people with normal color vision might like those, and I don't want to see 90% of people have to give up something to accommodate for roughly 10% of players (I think that was the amount Blizzard stated with regard to WoW, anyway). But it'd be nice if they allowed the player to enter the code for a specific color instead of trying to find it on the gradient, since then colorblind players can use online guides to find the codes for the colors they want and not in any way hinder the rest of the playerbase.

EDIT:

As an aside...

If anyone hasn't taken the online color challenge [http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge]
It's a really interesting test that gives you a score on how well you can see certain colors and what part of the color spectrum you have the most difficulty with.

I took that test a few weeks back when it appeared in an article on Kotaku. I sat there, straining my eyes with my face practically pressed right up to the screen like an idiot to make sure I got it just right...

... and still scored like 250-ish.

/facepalm

 

[Combustion Kevin]

Well, I think the question everyone wants to know is, Do you have a flag? And if so, what colours are they?

you made me spew my drink, you asshole! XD I remember that thread!

OT: I rarely see games with a colorblind feature, I think it should be brought up more often.
as for me, I am not colorblind, but I do lack depth perception, since I am blind to one eye.

 

[Aerosteam]

If you don't mind me asking, and honestly you can tell me to f off at any point I don't mind lol, but when it comes to things like movies, TV and games, how much adjusting do you have to do, if any?

If I am being too nosey, I apologise.

In TV and movies it's not too much of a problem. I mainly watch animated stuff but if something the characters say is purple, but it looks like blue to me I go "okay, I guess it's actually purple". Other than that, not too much of a problem.

It's quite a problem in games though, especially ones with a colour-coordinated loot system. In Borderlands (before it got the colourblind assist update (which was months after I stopped playing it normally, thanks for that Gearbox)) I couldn't tell the orange loot from the green loot unless I looked at the high stats, so I ended up discarding a bunch of rare weapons. -__________________-

There's some other minor things I can remember having trouble with, like I couldn't separate the yellow team from the green team in the Worms games and sometimes shiny pokemon look exactly the same as their normal look.

As for adjusting, if the game has a colourblind assist option (and every game should have one) I'll obviously enable it, if there isn't then there really is no work around for me aside from asking someone. Squinting my eyes doesn't really help.

 

[Major_Tom]

Usually, I only have problems with charts and graphs. Seriously, fuck coloured charts.

I never really knew how much this affected people, well men. Something that isn't talked about much in the media but really common among men.

My sister is also colourblind. Just because it affects women considerably less (both X chromosomes must be damaged, as opposed to only one with men), does not mean they deserve to be ignored.

 

[DefunctTheory]

http://www.autostraddle.com/its-bisexual-awareness-week-here-are-five-ways-to-celebrate-255663/

Am I a bad person because I was kind of hoping the 5th way was going to be 'give it a shot, what happens during bi-sexual awareness week stays with bi-sexual awareness week?'

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Thank you for sharing. It really is an interesting matter that many people do go through but isn't talked about much. If you don't mind me asking, and honestly you can tell me to f off at any point I don't mind lol, but when it comes to things like movies, TV and games, how much adjusting do you have to do, if any?

If I am being too nosey, I apologise.

You're being much too sweet, you also need to be cold and logical and open yourself up to PMs. You totally forgot to open yourself up to PMs in the OP.

As for myself, I'm afraid I have perfect color vision, so I can't relate to those who have colour blindness, but just because I can't relate doesn't mean I can't also accept people with colour blindness as they are.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

http://www.autostraddle.com/its-bisexual-awareness-week-here-are-five-ways-to-celebrate-255663/

Am I a bad person because I was kind of hoping the 5th way was going to be 'give it a shot, what happens during bi-sexual awareness week stays with bi-sexual awareness week?'

I was hoping the slogan would be "No homo, full bi"

But yes, do your sexy duty for Bi week!

 

[Username Redacted]

Hi, I suffer from colourblindness, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

(Unless it's "What colour is this?", you can fuck off if that's the case.)

Not quit 'What color is this?' but I am curious about which form of color-blindness you deal with. How does this affect your gaming habits?

 

[Something Amyss]

My dad is colourblind. Can't differentiate between blue and green. Growing up, I got used to not describing things by colour alone. After moving out, I fell out of the habit. It leads to the occasional awkward moment.

Well, I think the question everyone wants to know is, Do you have a flag? And if so, what colours are they?

It's actually a monochrome pattern, so it can be easily identified by all members.

 

[Something Amyss]

Am I a bad person because I was kind of hoping the 5th way was going to be 'give it a shot, what happens during bi-sexual awareness week stays with bi-sexual awareness week?'

No, but you are a horrible person for inserting a hyphen into bisexual. What did bisexuals ever do to you??????

It's possible I'm joking.

As for myself, I'm afraid I have perfect color vision, so I can't relate to those who have colour blindness, but just because I can't relate doesn't mean I can't also accept people with colour blindness as they are.

Hm. That sounds weirdly familiar. <.<

 

[Aerosteam]

Hi, I suffer from colourblindness, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

(Unless it's "What colour is this?", you can fuck off if that's the case.)

Not quit 'What color is this?' but I am curious about which form of color-blindness you deal with. How does this affect your gaming habits?

I've been told when I first found out it was red-green colourblindness (so I have trouble with reds from browns and greens from oranges) but strangely it's also blues from purples. It's only yellow which I can safely go "yup, that's definitely yellow", something I can't really do with other colours. Kinda explains why yellow my favourite colour among other reasons.

I'll just repost what I said earlier about my trouble with gaming:
[hr]
It's quite a problem in games though, especially ones with a colour-coordinated loot system. In Borderlands (before it got the colourblind assist update (which was months after I stopped playing it normally, thanks for that Gearbox)) I couldn't tell the orange loot from the green loot unless I looked at the high stats, so I ended up discarding a bunch of rare weapons. -__________________-

There's some other minor things I can remember having trouble with, like I couldn't separate the yellow team from the green team in the Worms games and sometimes shiny pokemon look exactly the same as their normal look.

 

[Parasondox]

In TV and movies it's not too much of a problem. I mainly watch animated stuff but if something the characters say is purple, but it looks like blue to me I go "okay, I guess it's actually purple". Other than that, not too much of a problem.

It's quite a problem in games though, especially ones with a colour-coordinated loot system. In Borderlands (before it got the colourblind assist update (which was months after I stopped playing it normally, thanks for that Gearbox)) I couldn't tell the orange loot from the green loot unless I looked at the high stats, so I ended up discarding a bunch of rare weapons. -__________________-

There's some other minor things I can remember having trouble with, like I couldn't separate the yellow team from the green team in the Worms games and sometimes shiny pokemon look exactly the same as their normal look.

As for adjusting, if the game has a colourblind assist option (and every game should have one) I'll obviously enable it, if there isn't then there really is no work around for me aside from asking someone. Squinting my eyes doesn't really help.

Must be a pain when a game hasn't got the colour blind assist added in but still a great thing that there is assistant for some games. It's a good thing that it doesn't affect you in every part of life apart from the ones you have mentioned. Also I do appreciate you opening up about this and have given me, and maybe others too, an insight about how many cope with colour blindness.

Thank you. Also to those who have contributed to the thread, thank you also. I know the discussion isn't over but just wanted to extend my appreciation.

 

[Major_Tom]

The worst is that they seem to think my entire life revolves around it. They sometimes even treat it like it's a major disability. Not really, guys... I can still make due just fine. Just because I don't see colors the exact same way as you doesn't mean I can't see colors and learn to associate certain colors with certain things. You have no idea how hard I want to backhand the morons that ask me what color the sky is.

It's not a problem when people treat it like such, but when the fucking government does. I don't know where you live, but in my country our career options are quite limited for sometimes no apparent reason.

For example, I can drive my car without restriction, but I can't be a professional driver for.. um ... reasons. So, I can drive my car just fine, but to drive a fucking ambulance I need.. what? To see more colour? Never mind that my (also colourblind) grandpa drove an Emergency response vehicle for the Electric company for 40 years because nobody did those stupid tests back in his day. My dad (yes, almost my whole family is colourblind) could not be a fighter pilot, but a reserve artillery officer? Yeah, sure. Why not?

 

[Colour Scientist]

I think this thread needs some Colour Scientist awareness, eh?

Eh?

[sub]Anyone?

[/sub]

 

[DC_78]

Snipp

Yeah so I am monochromatic colorblind. I only "see" black, white, and shades of gray. Its not what I would call a disability, however, mainly an inconvenience.

Some scientists believe it was actually a helpful adaption in males as it makes it easier to break up camouflage in hunting. Which is true especially when I was in the army. Shame my condition limited my M.O.S. to only doing paperwork. I also see much better in dim light than many others.

I found out in Kindergarten. Got the typical "are you stupid?" stuff, but once the eye doctor got involved it became the guess the color of the Crayola out of the big box game. That I think all colorblind folks get and why we always roll our eyes when ever someone asks about what we see. For me I just say watch a black and white TV show. I have no idea if this is right, but it sounds good and is relateable to most folks so I use it.

Funnily enough I never have issues with traffic lights: Light on top means stop, light on bottom means go, the one in the middle means go faster(I kid). Only thing I am wary in my house of doing is electrical stuff and cooking meat without a thermometer. In fact I have a career in computer graphics. I design and print product labels for a company. It has been interesting for me that my designs are the ones most often chosen for their "simplicity of contrast". Basically they are alot less "busy" than my co-workers which is cheaper in mass production.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

It's not a problem when people treat it like such, but when the fucking government does. I don't know where you live, but in my country our career options are quite limited for sometimes no apparent reason.

For example, I can drive my car without restriction, but I can't be a professional driver for.. um ... reasons. So, I can drive my car just fine, but to drive a fucking ambulance I need.. what? To see more colour? Never mind that my (also colourblind) grandpa drove an Emergency response vehicle for the Electric company for 40 years because nobody did those stupid tests back in his day. My dad (yes, almost my whole family is colourblind) could not be a fighter pilot, but a reserve artillery officer? Yeah, sure. Why not?

There are restrictions here in the United States, too. One of my uncles is an electrician and owns his own company. Before he knew that I was colorblind (I have a HUGE extended family - he's one of my dad's fourteen brothers and sisters, and I'm one of like 40 children on that side of the family alone - so it's not unusual for him to not know something like that) he used to tell me all the time that when I was old enough I could work for him. I was all psyched up for it, getting to work in a family business, getting paid significantly better than what I'm making now... man, I was actually looking forward to it. Then he found out I was colorblind, and told me that he couldn't hire me, even though he wanted to, because of safety concerns. That one's justifiable... but still. It kinda stung a bit for a while.

I also found out that I couldn't be a helicopter pilot, which as a kid was my dream job.

Some scientists believe it was actually a helpful adaption in males as it makes it easier to break up camouflage in hunting. Which is true especially when I was in the army. Shame my condition limited my M.O.S. to only doing paperwork. I also see much better in dim light than many others.

They actually experimented with that pretty heavily during the Vietnam war. The NVA and, in particular, the Viet Cong regularly used guerrilla warfare tactics against our troops to slow them down and heavily damage their morale. The military theorized that colorblind individuals might be able to spot camouflaged machinegun nests, enemy snipers, hidden tunnel network entrances, punji stick traps, etc. that soldiers with normal color vision may have otherwise been ambushed by. Because of this, for a while they were intentionally embedding colorblind individuals into platoons to walk point and act as spotters. I have no idea if monochromatic individuals were used, though.

The results were mostly inconclusive. While the color of camouflage is important in its effectiveness, it's only part of what makes it effective. The actual design of it is also meant to break up recognizable patterns. Not to mention that colorblindness isn't likely to help much against camouflage made using wood, leaves, etc. in the actual environment of the pillbox or punji stick trap or whatever. So it could be understandable for camouflage to still work just by hindering an observer's ability to spot patterns. Still, some units swore that it gave them an advantage, others weren't so fortunate. In the end the idea was scrapped, and now colorblindness more heavily restricts what new recruits can be in the military.

 

[cutthecolour]

They actually experimented with that pretty heavily during the Vietnam war. The NVA and, in particular, the Viet Cong regularly used guerrilla warfare tactics against our troops to slow them down and heavily damage their morale. The military theorized that colorblind individuals might be able to spot camouflaged machinegun nests, enemy snipers, hidden tunnel network entrances, punji stick traps, etc. that soldiers with normal color vision may have otherwise been ambushed by. Because of this, for a while they were intentionally embedding colorblind individuals into platoons to walk point and act as spotters. I have no idea if monochromatic individuals were used, though.

The results were mostly inconclusive. While the color of camouflage is important in its effectiveness, it's only part of what makes it effective. The actual design of it is also meant to break up recognizable patterns. Not to mention that colorblindness isn't likely to help much against camouflage made using wood, leaves, etc. in the actual environment of the pillbox or punji stick trap or whatever. So it could be understandable for camouflage to still work just by hindering an observer's ability to spot patterns. Still, some units swore that it gave them an advantage, others weren't so fortunate. In the end the idea was scrapped, and now colorblindness more heavily restricts what new recruits can be in the military.

Hey do you have a source for this? This is really interesting because a lot of details i find about colour blind experimentation in the military is second hand and often passed down through a generation or so. This experiment is fascinating and the results kinda match up to the mixed success of colour blindness breaking through camouflage. I've found a lot of people more recently commenting that their experiences of trying to become marine snipers have been hampered because of their condition. Like you've said, it is heavily restricted now so its understandable, especially considering the results are inconclusive.


But yeah, i'm late to this thread but colour blindness has been a sort of 'constantly there but ultimately unobtrusive' element in my life. In kindy i had to have all my coloured pencils labelled and for that reason nobody else was allowed to touch them. That made me feel pretty badass. Ultimately though the main problems i have are with maps and stuff lately, because of an over reliance on colour as the only key to reading them. Sydney train maps have been a nightmare for me at least. I wrote a rant about them if anyone feels like reading that: http://cutthecolour.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/how-sydney-trains-alienated-the-colour-blind/

These EnChroma glasses look really promising though. I've heard good things from people about them: http://enchroma.com/