Brighton colour blind residents saw colours for the first time thanks to special glasses
Brighton, with a population of 612,159, has approximately 26,017 colour blind residents. Two of them -Mark and Paul- saw colours for the first time on the 22nd June with special EnChroma glasses. They were shocked to see how bright pink is, as well as discovering that the grass has actually different shades of green and that moss stands out distinctively on a tree. Mark also realised how his fiance’s engagement ring looks to her eyes, which he could never experience before.
Please find more information about the prevalence of colour blindness as well as Mark and Will’s backstories below. You can find all the videos taken on the day here the videos are 4K so feel free to grab stills. I’ve also attached a picture of Mark with the glasses on and with loads of wonderful colours on the background.
One in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (.5%) are colour blind – 350 million in the world and almost 3 million in the UK alone, including Prince William, Eddie Redmayne, Rod Stewart and many others.
While people with normal colour vision see more than one million hues and colours, the red-green colour blind only see an estimated 10% of hues and shades. As a result, their world view is dull and less vibrant, with colours appearing muddled, muted, washed out or indistinguishable. To them, purple looks blue, red seems brown, grey appears pink, and green and yellow can look similar (see images below).
The colour blind can struggle to see the red in a flower, the variation of colours in a rainbow, the true hair or eye colour of a loved one, red and green stoplights and more. In school, colour blindness can cause challenges for students.
Mark, 33, digital forensic investigator, found out he was colour blind at the age of 6 “colouring in Goldilocks and the three bears, I coloured the bears in green, and thought there was nothing wrong with it!”.
Paul, 41, finance, said “I once bought a car with a dodgy grey/greenish interior. Didn’t have a clue until I got home and it was ridiculous. My friends saw it and then pointed it out”. Paul was also refused jobs in the military that he wanted to do due to being colour blind.
Special EnChroma glasses enable the colour blind to see an expanded range of colours and to see them more clearly, vibrantly, and distinctly so they can experience colourful artwork, the beauty of nature, overcome everyday challenges in life, school and work and better understand and appreciate colours.
Mark and Paul now will be able to enjoy a new world of vibrant colours. When asked what they’re looking forward to seeing through EnChroma glasses prior to the event, Paul said “I want to look at grass. I somehow hope it looks completely different”. Likewise, Mark mentioned he would like to “go to the South Downs, experience the countryside and seaside better” through his new EnChroma glasses.
Now they can get to experience all those beautiful colours. Paul realised there’s actually a lot of different shades of green he had never seen before and Mark mas simply blown away by how bright pink is. “I saw my fiancé’s engagement ring in a completely new light with these on – I haven’t taken them off since 2!!” Said Mark after a few hours.
You can also watch this brief video to understand the effects of colour blindness and EnChroma glasses.