"No such thing as a green dog..."
Part II
About five years ago, an optician in England claimed that he
had found a remedy for color blindness. Not a cure, of course,
but a remedy. He didn't know why or how it worked, but it
seemed to be effective. He developed his idea and began to
sell tinted contact lenses to enthusiastic customers.
Suddenly, the world came alive for them. About 80% of those
who tried them decided to buy them and of those, seven out of
ten found there was a signifcant change in what they saw. One
of these first customers was initially fitted with a red lens,
which made people think he had an eye infection. Now he wears
light colored amethyst (bluish violet) lenses for the night
and darker ones by day, and says his world is suddenly a much
brighter one.
The attitude of opticians is negative about this contact lens
system and the minority who have heard about it do not promote
it because the colored lenses do not fit in with the accepted
knowledge of how color sight works. As Harris, the
manufacturing optician says, he himself also does not know how
it works, but he feels it is effective. Besides which, the
relatively few (in proportion to the thousands of color blind
members of the population) satisfied customers who have finely
tinted contact lenses tuned to their particular form of color
blindness say they enjoy seeing color the way most people see
it!
Many color blind people, although not all of them, have an
aversion to bright light. I did not know this when my own
daughter was small, nor as a matter of fact did I realize at
that stage that she was color blind. Sunglasses are an obvious
solution to that problem. If a child has a definite aversion
to bright sunlight, it may be an indication of color
blindness. To compensate for this, they often have better
night vision than other people. One further advantage that
color blind people have over others is that camouflage does
not fool them in the least. In the army, or in tracking
someone or something, a color blind person is in demand.
Normal sighted people have difficulty in distinguishing colors
by night. Color blind people always have difficulty. They have
been told that grass is green and the soil next to it is
brown, but they do not perceive it. After some years, they
discover that there is no such thing as a green dog and they
learn that no man ever sports a green beard.
Directions in workbooks are very confusing to color blind
children. A child is instructed to draw a line to the red
ball. But the other two balls are also red, as far as he can
see. Sometimes he guesses right and sometimes this perfectly
normal and intelligent child draws a line to the brown or
green ball.
Newspapers printed especially for children are often
impossible for color blind children to read. If it is blue
print on a purple background, for example, the letters are
indistinguishable. Black print on a green background or on a
red background is also difficult for some types of color
blindness.
A passenger finds his suitcase has not arrived. He goes to
claim it and is asked what color the case is. He has no idea
because he does not identify it by its color. He can describe
the size and the make and the blue strap which he tied around
it for extra identification but the girl behind the desk asks
impatiently for the actual color of the case. He says it is
black, but as a matter of fact, it is maroon!
Most color blind children can identify pure primary colors.
They have problems with different shades and tints.
A teacher might say, "Bring me the red book from the table."
The child runs to the table and stands there, sucking his
finger. There are many books on the table and he doesn't know
which one is red.
A boy doing his mother's shopping meets a neighbor in the
supermarket. The neighbor kindly offers to take the boy home,
and as he still has some shopping to do, he gives the boy the
car keys, and tells him to put the groceries in and wait for
him in the car. "You'll recognize the red Volvo on the right
hand side of the parking lot." Unfortunately, the boy does not
recognize the red Volvo, and has never memorized the
registration number. An irate shopper catches him attempting
to insert the key into her pale green car.
All the above are true stories and real examples of the
difficulties people with color deficiency experience.
Many people go through life without ever realizing that they
are color blind. Parents who know there is a history of color
blindness in the family will be on the lookout for the
deficiency to reappear in their sons. But there are hundreds
of people who are unaware of the `affliction', if it is one.
It is certainly one for an erudite yeshiva bochur who
intends to become a dayan. Especially if he has grown
up not realizing that he cannot really tell the difference of
various shades and colors.
A boy of 11, the youngest of a very large family, was brought
to me recently with some problem. During a routine assessment,
I realized that he was color blind. When I pointed this out to
the mother, she was most indignant. She claimed that he knew
colors perfectly well, but was just not interested in them.
She then added that none of her sons had ever really bothered
with mastering colors, but that the girls were `artistic'. It
seems that all the boys in the family, including the three
married ones, are color blind and do not know about it!
Their maternal grandfather was in all likelihood color blind,
too.
In Conclusion
Mothers should mark pencil crayons once a child can read, and
show them which to use for faces and which to use for the sky
etc. Intelligent children who are aware of the problem they
have, often ask their neighbors. [Crayolas have the names of
the colors printed on them.]
When mothers send their color deficient children off to
yeshivas or seminaries, if they give them thread for emergency
sewing, they should mark it. [How about buying a dozen pairs
of identical socks to avoid matching problems?]
Teachers should use white chalk on the board and make
allowances for children who seem to fail in every color coded
task. Some public spirited person should make bus companies
aware of the fact that red numbers on a black background on
the front of buses are invisible to quite a large minority of
passengers. Black on white are the safest colors.
If you notice someone making a ridiculous mistake, give him
the benefit of the doubt. He may easily be color blind.
