Colour-blind-what they see

[shootingstar]

If anyone is colour-blind here, share with us your experiences. Wonder if that slows down any fast-moving cyclists in thick traffic.

Tool which I haven't had time to try that gives you a filter how the colour blind sees different web page designs. http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=147521

I did know of someone, a guy who was red-green colour-blind. He suddenly told us while he was driving the car.

I noticed there was another topic on being thankful ....well, I am thankful to see the full colour spectrum (and just to have my eyesight also).

[Biciclista]

because the color blindness gene is a sex linked recessive gene, most who have it are men. (Because they only have 1 X chromosome, which they got from their mothers) Women have two x's and rarely inherit this gene from both parents; that's the only way they can be colorblind. If they have 1 colorblind gene and 1 normal, the normal always wins.
I don't imagine you're going to find too many women here that are colorblind.

[jobob]

heh, you're assuming that all the posters (and lurkers) here are women? :D

[bike4ever]

It definitely runs in my family - two uncles (Mom's side), my brother, and now my middle son. All have varying degrees. My brother once attempted to install a car radio when we were in high school. He got the wires reversed and blew all electrical in the car! Boy do I have stories of him growing up.

[Biciclista]

no, I'm assuming that most posters/lurkers are women.

[shootingstar]

My brother once attempted to install a car radio when we were in high school. He got the wires reversed and blew all electrical in the car! Boy do I have stories of him growing up.

Gee. The guy that I know, is a civil engineer. And since our dept. does handle engineering drawings, often these drawings have coloured markings..sometimes critical because they are hand marked with colour markers or Autocad lines, to show very recent design changes that must be implemented right there-- out in the muddy areas outside.

Wonder how he copes..or he's asking alot of questions from other folks ..if they are around and can interpret the engineering drawing on hand.

[singletrackmind]

My dad is but that's it for my family including my son who was just tested this year.

[NbyNW]

DH is red-green colorblind. When driving he thinks of lights as top-middle-bottom rather than red, yellow, and green. And he takes cues from how other traffic is moving. He says sometimes a stop sign can be hard to see if there is a lot of foliage around it. On the bike he is way faster than me on flats and downhills, but mostly when we've ridden together it is in light traffic conditions. I don't think it really affects his ability to negotiate through traffic; he just has pay attention to what's going on around him . . . . like the rest of us.

[Aggie_Ama]

I had a physics teacher that was and his wife arranged his closet so that clothes would match the ones they were hung by. He also only wore things that matched khaki, it was quite interesting. DH's cousin is color blind but I don't know anyone else that is. I read somewhere that up to half the male population is color blind.

[Biciclista]

half the male population is NOT color blind! according to the Howard Hughes medical institute, 7% of men have some form of colorblindness, but less than 1% of women do.

[Aggie_Ama]

half the male population is NOT color blind! according to the Howard Hughes medical institute, 7% of men have some form of colorblindness, but less than 1% of women do.

Well I am pretty sure it was some article trying to scare you into buying hi-viz stuff saying no one could distinguish you from pavement in anything but X Color because half the men on the road are color blind. Probably should have stated that I didn't trust the science behind that stat since it was in a sales article.

I wonder though if it isn't higher than 7%, my husband knows several people who are other than his cousin. To me 7% seems kind of rare but I am not in a statistic mood this morning. Out of 6 men at work they have one color blind and one that can see the colors but has trouble distinguishing until they are very close. Makes it interesting since they work with plants and color is an integral part of their work. Maybe they are just a special bunch and it is odd my husband knows so many people that are. We all kind of thought my physics teacher was a freak for being color blind but then again he was kind of a weird guy.

[sfa]

7% doesn't seem THAT rare. It would mean roughly one out of every 14 or 15 men have some kind of color blindness. Put in terms of people driving on the road, that number seems high enough to me for me to stick with high viz colors!

My experience with people with color blindness is pretty limited. I've known only two people who have red-green color blindness. Both of them learned to compensate early on, which makes sense--if it's the only way you've ever seen the world, then the world doesn't look strange to you.

Sarah

[Aggie_Ama]

At least one out of 15 drivers I see is already an idiot, now if they are male they may be color blind too? Oy! :p:)

[GLC1968]

My father is red-green color blind. My mother first learned of it when she asked for a pair of red jeans for Christmas one year (back in the 80's :D). My dad went shopping alone that year and when she opened up her green jeans on Christmas morning, she told him 'never again'. From that year on, my dad was only allowed to buy clothing for my mom if I was around (or if she'd already picked it out!).

And yes, he sees traffic lights as top/middle/bottom. He had to do some adjusting when he moved to FL and discovered that many of them were hung horizontally! ;)

[Aggie_Ama]

Your mom didn't know until the 80's? Knowing your approximate age, that is a long time to not have figured it out. LOL. :p

[GLC1968]

Your mom didn't know until the 80's? Knowing your approximate age, that is a long time to not have figured it out. LOL. :p

I'm sure he'd told her that he was color-blind, but I don't think she really knew that it meant that red and green were the same color for him. I guess it took the shock of a pair of lime green jeans for it to really sink in! ;)

[lunacycles]

I have a hard time with those intermediate blue and green shades. I often think blue is green, and vice versa. I also frequently think grey is blue. Sometimes I think black is dark blue. I am not sure if I am colorblind or just color-challenged. I think I see the color correctly, I just don't know what to call it. My friends enjoy making fun of me as a result. Regardless, it is a fashion nightmare.

[smilingcat]

The other extreme is tetrachromacy. i heard about it years ago so I had to look it up. And yes its in Wiki. interesting. And no it does not allow you to see in ultra-violet nor in infra-red region. Just more variation in color like we just don't have enough.

When I was growing up, I knew a boy who was partially color blind. It seems like you can have partial color blindness. It's not all or nothing. If one of the primary color cone is weak, your ability to distinguish between red and green is reduced. I don't remember what the boy told me about color red and green... I think he said it was muted and looked very much alike.

[hikeandbike]

I have a form of color blindness. I can't see shades. Light blue, light green, light yellow all look white to me. My car apparently has some dark blue in it but all I see is a deep forest green. What is weird is my brother, we share the same mom, sees colors just fine.

[shootingstar]

Very interesting these other forms of colour blindness or whatever. I had no idea.

Wonder how it affects artistic renderings for anyone with colour blindness and doing art involving colour.