Colour-blind-what they see

[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!

[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 ). 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.

[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.

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!

[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.

[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.