Tuesday, January 02, 2007

FROM AN OPTOMETRIST

WHAT COLOR DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO YOU?


That is a question I have been asked many times. Since I am one of eight of ten men that are color-blind (really color deficient) there isn't a way I can explain to another how I see colors. I know that grass is green, the flag is red, for I have been told so since childhood.

So I would like to to step into the eyes of a person with this handicap.

It was in the third grade and the teacher said to color the barn red. The other pupils "dug" into their crayon box, sorted through and came up with a red crayon and went about colorling the barn red. I had to try and find a red crayon among the orange, maroon, pink and etc. crayons. But you see, I had to tear my crayon's label down from each end, for it was imperiative that I save the precious identification that was printed on the middle. Result: slower work in "art" class, even though my other grades were above normal.

About 7th grade or so, the teacher would pull down the map portion of the world and state that a particular country was shown in a rose color. So I quickly "scanned" the area and finally located it when the instructor called out its name. Now you "see" the rose color -- or do you? Why is that 'rose' blends in with the color of an adjacent country?

I was probably 12 or so when I found out way they called one dollar bills "greenbacks". I thought they were printed with black ink. I had no idea they were green -- just not very black.

Other simiolar confusing things to solve: Chemistry-litmus test. When does it turn to the desired color? Test tube mixture -- is it purple or sorta blue-red. Try and locate a green book -- name not given -- among the brown ones! Why are there so many same colors in a rainbow or in the light refracted by a prism?

COLOR BLIND -- THAT'S RIDULOUS!!

It was in the second year of optometry school that we were being taught the facts about color deficient persons. An overnight assignment was to learn the different medods of the testing: the Holmgren yarn test, the psuo-isochromatic charts, as those of Dvorne and Ishihara. In the latter, the person had to idenify the number "hidden" among the colored (confusion) dots on the page. I dutifully went to the library and found the test book encased in the heavy paper folder. The appearance of the folder told me that it had been used many times through the years. Upon opening the book, also well used, I read the guide of "how to test". The first page had a number everyone could recognize. The second page wasn't so easy -- I didn't see any number. How come? The guide said it was 57 -- and I don't see a number 57. Hmmm. My "honest to God thought: THE BOOK IS FADED!! It LOOKED faded I turned to my roommate and asked him and his immediate answer was 57. Oh no! Now, I know why I had trouble in the third grade.

I went on to graduate. I spent hours matching colors so I could "pass" the Holmgren yarn test and learned to fly in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve during WW II. The program was cancelled after a short time. Fearing my color blindness might take the lives of others, I was relieved. Ater 3/12 years in the service, I opened my optometry practice and retired 42 years later. But you can rest assured that EVERY MALE in my office was tested for color blindness and I made certain that the school nurses that I could contact performed a test for this defect in their visual screening tests. Incidentally, I only found one female to be color blind in all those years. (Editor's note: I found more to be colorblind! AE)

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