I am partially colourblind. That means that I have difficulty distinguishing colours. I can see something is A colour, but I do not know what colour. To make matters worse, I fall in the low vision category which makes my vision and my ‘seeing’ colours even harder.
My question to you, my lovely reader is, ”have you ever thought how hard life is when you cannot distinguish colours?” From the most simple thing like buying a nail varnish to following the red line that leads to the X-Ray machine on the floor of a hospital. It’s tough.
In today’s post I am not going to focus on how colour affects my life. Nope. That will be in a later post. I am going to focus on people’s reactions to my saying I am partially colour blind.
Typical reaction
- Really?
Some people respond to my saying I am colour blind by asking me, ” Really?”. This is the response I hate the most, because do you really think someone would make up being colour blind? I mean is it ha-ha funny?
- So, what colour do you think this is?
My second (un)favourite response is, ” What colour do you think this is?” and to make matters worse, people start pointing at things and say, ” So, what’s this? And this? What colour do you think this is?” Why? Why do you need to know what colour I think something is, when there is an 80% chance (number chosen randomly), I will get it wrong?
- Let’s yell
Another typical response is the ‘yellers’. These ones aren’t that bad. I have found myself being yelled at because someone thinks I cannot hear either. Even if you scream the colour at the top of your lung, I still ain’t gonna be able to ‘see’ it.
- Oh! That’s so sad. You are missing out
Yeap, there are those who feel sorry for me. Don’t feel sorry for me mate. I am fine. I manage. Am i really missing out? I ‘see’ colour, just not the way you see it! Pointing out that I am missing out, is not really helping either. Stop making me feel bad about myself. Help me or ignore me, but don’t feel sorry for me.
- The helpers
Luckily, there are people who do not judge or feel sorry for me. These are all the lovely ones, who say , ” OK! So this is a blue top or that is a brown bag, but it is not a nice brown so maybe you should go for that one”. They tell me what something is, and they give me advice. ❤ ❤ Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I am sorry this is a rant, I am trying to raise awareness. Next time someone says that they are colourblind, give them a helping hand….
1/12 men are colour blind and 1/200 females are colour blind. Check out colourblind awareness org’s website for more information.
Talk soon
xxx
My Pink Rambles 
Thank you for this blog post! My grandpa is color blind and can no longer drive because of it. Due to the fact that it’s hereditary, I may also become color blind in the future. And I agree, this issue does need awareness brought to it!
Amanda | thedeerandthewolf.com
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Hi Amanda,
Thanks for leaving a comment. Whenever I post something about being colourblind,someone leaves a coment and shares an experience. You are right,we need to raise awareness. I had difficulty watchin the election results in Greece last night cause i could’t see the maps!
Thanks for reading!
Joanna
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My reaction must have been either the first or the second … so in any case I haven’t done so good .
Anyhow.. good to know Jo.
BTW… Fill in the “during the winter time” where you are in
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Thanks C,
Thanks for noticing the winter thing.and yeap now you know and you can help me out xx
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Hi Joanna,
I’m a huge fan of your blog and I just wanted to let you know I have nominated you for a Liebster Award. You can find my post here: http://www.dearlittles.net/?p=335
Keep up the awesome work!
McKaye | http://www.dearlittles.net
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Hi McKaye!!
Thanks so much! That’s great!!! I only have my blog for a few days so I am glad you like it! I will keep in touch and let you know when I write my blog post about the Liebster award. thanks again ❤ ❤
Joanna
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why do people judge? My uncle has color blindness but I never questioned him about it… I don’t think it makes that much of a difference… it’s like, having a different hair color… would you question someone why they have blonde hair just because you are brunette? lol people sometimes are so inconsiderate..
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Hi Arianne,
I think people don’t really understand colour blindness and they react in very different ways.It can be out of ignorance or incosiderance :(. Lucky your uncle has you. You have someone in the family which makes you feel for us colour blind gals and lads 🙂
Joanna
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Loving this post. Love the description and the list of reaction. My uncle who is also color blind would appreciate this.
Xoxox gems
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Interesting post – and I think my reactions would have been near the top of your list – sorry. But it’s useful to know that’s not the best way and to offer help, which tbh we should all know already
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Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for reading. No need to apologise. I wanted to raise a bit of awareness and now you know how we feel with certain reactions.
xx Joanna
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When I met my boyfriend for the first time I was so shocked that he was partially color blind. He told me what he hated the most was when people would ask him “what color is this?” because to him it looked like a different color than to that person.
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Hi jasmine,
I know. That’s one of the typical reactions :(. I get it all the time. It feels like someone is trying to test me with test questions that are in a different language :(. Thanks for stopping by.
Joanna
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I’m sure people don’t mean to be upsetting or annoying, but I can see why you feel how you do. I have a friend who cannot smell at all and I often feel for her because she misses out on smelling flowers and perfumes, etc. It sounds like you cope well with your colour blindness and have a great attitude and that’s the main thing.
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I’ve only known one person who is color blind, but they could still see some colors. Is that possible? Thanks for your honesty with this topic. I’m not sure if people realize how insensitive they can be…
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Hi Maureen! I am partially colorblind. I can see colors but i do get confused from time to time!
Joanna
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My grandpa is colorblind (red green), I know that the condition is much more uncommon in women than in men, you’re the first ever woman I’m ‘met’ with the condition. My grandpa has a lot of different strategies he uses, and I think it’s awesome and really cool to hear about the different techniques he uses to identify colors when they need to be identified.
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My husband is color blind, but he doesn’t talk about it too much with people outside the family. In fact, he mentions it so rarely even to me that I am always shocked when our daughter comes downstairs in some crazy outfit when he dresses her! 🙂
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I really have never met someone colorblind so the statistics are surprising to me. Although, maybe people just haven’t mentioned it. 🙂 Thanks for the explanation about the condition.
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I actaully had this conversation today, with my husband. He said he thinks he could be color blind of green, so I started pointing at things and asking… Whoops! At least I didn’t start yelling 😉
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Yup!!! Yelling sucks. There are loads of online tests he can do to check is he is colour blind. The Ishihara colour vision/colourblind test is very popular. If he cannot see the numbers/shapes on it, then he can go to the eye doctor :).
Thanks for stopping by xxx
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