Seeing In A Different Perspective
Students tell us their story of being color blind
Senior Paige Eikel looks into color blind glasses to see certain colors for the first time.
November 12, 2019
Do you ever wonder what it is like to be color blind? To see the world from a different perspective? Imagine seeing everything in black and white. Or seeing the grass blue instead of green. There are approximately 300 million people worldwide with a type of color blindness.
Senior Alexis Bentley has lived her whole life not knowing she was color blind.
“I found out in Mr. Barker’s psychology class when we were learning about perception and we took a color blindness test as a class,” Bentley said. “One of my friends noticed I struggled to see some of the numbers on the test.”
Each year Mr. Barker’s psychology class takes a color blind test called EnChroma. A series of numbers surrounded by color shows up on your screen and your job is to figure out what number is being shown.
I found out in Mr. Barker’s psychology class when we were learning about perception and we took a color blindness test as a class. One of my friends noticed I struggled to see some of the numbers on the test.
— Alexis Bentley
Bentley has trouble seeing red and greens, both colors look duller to her than most people. She didn’t believe anyone that was telling her that she was colorblind, until Mr. Barker took her outside to try on the colorblind glasses.
“I saw the different colors in the trees and grass for the first time. I didn’t know that the bricks on the side of the school were red or that people had red undertones to their skin before I tried on the glasses.”
Another student, senior Andrew Chastain has moderate protanopia, a certain type of color blindness that mixes up the colors red and greens as well. Certain shades of red and green end up looking more brownish and purple looks more like a dark blue.
“I found out a year and a half ago when my friend showed me a colorblind dot test with a colorblind joke in it and I couldn’t read the joke,” Chastain said.
Chastain owns a pair of color blind glasses that allow him to see the colors that aren’t as clear for him. Chastain has the ability to share the amazing feeling of seeing color with others.
“I have been ecstatic to share the experience of seeing certain shades for the first time with my peers,” he said.
Being color blind doesn’t mean you can never see color. So what would you think if you were color blind? Or if you found out as a joke and didn’t really know? Take the color EnChroma test and you can find out.
