The World Through the Eyes of a Colorblind Person

Almost every tenth man on Earth is colorblind, meaning a person who cannot distinguish certain colors. This visual peculiarity was named after John Dalton, who discovered his own color blindness only at the age of 26 (and at the same time found out that his “gray” jacket was actually burgundy).

Colorblind people are divided into dichromats (who may fail to distinguish red — protanopia, green — deuteranopia, or blue — tritanopia) and monochromats (black-and-white vision). Only about 1% of all colorblind people are monochromats, which is approximately 1 in 2,325 individuals.

Blue is correctly perceived by the vast majority of people — that is why the interfaces of many software programs are predominantly designed in this color.

The highest percentage of colorblind people is recorded in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, whereas on the Fiji Islands and among Brazilian indigenous peoples, colorblindness is almost nonexistent.

Color blindness first attracted public attention in 1875, when a train crash near the town of Lagerlund in Sweden claimed many lives. It turned out that the train driver could not distinguish the red color, and the development of transport at that time led to the widespread use of color signaling.

Hereditary color blindness affects about 8% of men and 0.5% of women (which means that on average there are around 43 colorblind people per 1,000 individuals).

Color blindness is transmitted mainly through the maternal line. Sometimes changes in color perception occur due to damage to the retina or the optic nerve. A person can also lose color vision after a traumatic brain injury, severe influenza, stroke, or heart attack.

Color blindness is not a disease. People with color blindness usually have normal visual acuity: they see objects well but perceive their colors somewhat differently. Most colorblind people are unaware of their condition.

Colorblind individuals are also found among famous painters: Vrubel, Repin, Van Gogh, Savrasov, Marion, Constable. A defect of color vision did not prevent them from creating remarkable paintings that reflect their unique perception of the colors of the surrounding world, different from the way most other people see it.