What is it
"A person with Colour Blindness does not see the world like the majority of us" |
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Most people have a fairly similar visual colour experience. However some people experience colours quite differently to how most people perceive them. In severe cases this is known as Colour Blindness. A person with Colour Blindness does not see the world like the majority of us; these people cannot perceive the difference between colours like most of us can (Colormatters.com, 2015). People with less severe cases of colour blindness, such as red/green colour blindness may not even known of their condition unless they have been told by a professional or specialist. Colour Blindness affects approximately 1 in 200 females and 1 in 12 males (Colour Blind Awareness, 2015).
You see colour and light with the photoreceptors that are on your retinas in your eyes. Photoreceptors are a specialized type pf cell that responds to light. There are two types of these photoreceptors, rods and cones, these pass on information to the brain and allow us the ability to see. Rods only send information to the brain about light not colour and there are about 120 million of these. Cones allow us to see colour and there are only approximately 7 to 8 million of these and they are all clustered quite densely in the centre of the retina. There are 3 different types’ cones, S-cones, M-cones and L-cones. Each type of cone picks up a different light wave frequency and by combining this information that the cones pick up it allows us to see our whole colour spectrum (Betterhealth.vic.gov.au, 2015).
There are many different types of colour blindness all with slightly different levels of severity. The level of the severity and type of colour blindness all depends on the condition of photoreceptors that are sitting on our retinas. A person with normal vision has vision known as trichromacy; this means that this person has correct use of their photoreceptors (Nei.nih.gov, 2015). “People with ‘faulty’ trichromatic vision will be colour blind to some extent and are known as anomalous trichromats. In people with this condition all of their three cone types are used to perceive light colours but one type of cone perceives light slightly out of alignment, so that there are three different types of effect produced depending upon which cone type is ‘faulty’” (Colour Blind Awareness, 2015). There types of colour blindness consist of protanomaly, deuteranomaly and tritanomaly. Protanomaly is a reduced sensitivity to red light, deuteranomaly is a reduced sensitivity to green light and tritanomaly is the reduced sensitivity to blue light. Deuteranomaly is the most common type of colour blindness, unlike tritanomaly, which is extremely rare. Each type of colour blindness can range in severity, from being able to almost see colours correctly to have to loss of the perception of the particular colour (Colour Blind Awareness, 2015).
You see colour and light with the photoreceptors that are on your retinas in your eyes. Photoreceptors are a specialized type pf cell that responds to light. There are two types of these photoreceptors, rods and cones, these pass on information to the brain and allow us the ability to see. Rods only send information to the brain about light not colour and there are about 120 million of these. Cones allow us to see colour and there are only approximately 7 to 8 million of these and they are all clustered quite densely in the centre of the retina. There are 3 different types’ cones, S-cones, M-cones and L-cones. Each type of cone picks up a different light wave frequency and by combining this information that the cones pick up it allows us to see our whole colour spectrum (Betterhealth.vic.gov.au, 2015).
There are many different types of colour blindness all with slightly different levels of severity. The level of the severity and type of colour blindness all depends on the condition of photoreceptors that are sitting on our retinas. A person with normal vision has vision known as trichromacy; this means that this person has correct use of their photoreceptors (Nei.nih.gov, 2015). “People with ‘faulty’ trichromatic vision will be colour blind to some extent and are known as anomalous trichromats. In people with this condition all of their three cone types are used to perceive light colours but one type of cone perceives light slightly out of alignment, so that there are three different types of effect produced depending upon which cone type is ‘faulty’” (Colour Blind Awareness, 2015). There types of colour blindness consist of protanomaly, deuteranomaly and tritanomaly. Protanomaly is a reduced sensitivity to red light, deuteranomaly is a reduced sensitivity to green light and tritanomaly is the reduced sensitivity to blue light. Deuteranomaly is the most common type of colour blindness, unlike tritanomaly, which is extremely rare. Each type of colour blindness can range in severity, from being able to almost see colours correctly to have to loss of the perception of the particular colour (Colour Blind Awareness, 2015).