Color Blindness

            What is color blindness? Color Blindness can be described as when a person is unable to see colors in a normal way.  A person who is colorblind does not necessarily see any color at all; it just means that they may not be able to tell the difference between some colors or the shades of colors.  The colors that are usually associated with color blindness are reds, greens, and blues.  This disorder can occur when one or more of the cone cells are damaged or absent.  Damaged cones can absorb the wrong light wavelengths and in return the person will perceive the color incorrectly.  The more color cones that are absent from the retina, the worse the color blindness is.  Usually, color blindness is something you have from the moment you are born due to genetics, but can sometimes progress later in life.  Men are more prone to colorblindness than women are.  About one in ten men are found to have some form of color blindness and it is quite rare to find a woman who is colorblind. 

            The most sever form of color blindness is known as Achromatopsia.  Achromatopsia affects approximately 1 in every 33.000 Americans, making it quite rare among the American population.  This disorder can be also known as rod monochromatism, which includes severe color blindness, visual acuity loss, and extreme light sensitivity and nystagmus.  Complete Achromatopsia means that a person will see no color at all and will have no concept of color all together.  They will only be able to see shades of black, white, and gray.  In order to inherit achromatopsia, both parents much contribute the gene.  If you have achromatopsia yourself, you will only pass it on to your children if your husband or wife also carries that gene.  The gene attacks the cones cells in the eye that are responsible for vision and color vision. 

            People who suffer from color blindness may have trouble completing daily activities easily.  For example, in more severe cases someone might not be able to drive because many of the signs and signals of driving are presented in colors.  A person may have trouble identifying the different colors of the traffic lights, which can be very dangerous.  Also, someone may have trouble cooking or picking out his or her own outfits.  Color Blindness can also affect someone’s career choice.  Working in fashion or art could be rather difficult when colors or different shades of colors cannot be defined.  Electricians or engineers who need to work with wires that are color oriented, would not be able to successfully hook up something if they can’t see the right colors.  They would constantly be unhooking and re hooking the wires until they got it right, which would take way to long and could be potentially dangerous.  There are also tons of military jobs do not allow people to perform if they have color deficits, and example would be flying an airplane.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aaivktz8G0