Colors have always been there and always will be. Colors are colors; we don't think about them too much. It's one of those things you don't truly appreciate it until it's gone. But when colors are gone, WHOA!
Imagine going shopping and not being able to see the color of the clothes you're buying. Imagine grocery shopping and not being able to tell what food looks the freshest. Imagine not being able to see the colors that make up the world. It is a hard condition to deal with. It's like you get to see the world, but you don't really get to see it. It feels incomplete.
But not anymore.
One in 12 men and one in 200 women have some form of color blindness.
It's easy for people with this condition to confuse average colors. They can see pink as gray, green as gray, and red as beige. The combinations are endless. But it's just colors — you wouldn't think the condition would be too much of a struggle, right? Very wrong.
A person without color blindness would see this.
Beautiful, vibrant, and simply stunning!
A person with color blindness would see this.
Still think missing colors isn't a big deal? Much of the beauty of the world is stripped from people who suffer from color blindness.
Nobody deserves to see the world this way.
This is why a Berkeley-based company decided it was time to make color-blind people's lives a little more colorful.
It was time people suffering from color blindness started to really experience life to the fullest.
It was time people suffering from color blindness started to really experience life to the fullest.
Donald McPherson has been a glass scientist for over a decade.
Throughout his career, he started making special protective glasses for his eyes during laser surgery procedures. He soon discovered he wasn't the only one who was using them.
"I found out that surgeons were stealing the glasses and using them as sunglasses, and I was like, that could be pretty cool," Donald said. "And one of the things I noticed immediately is they made the world look very colorful, saturated."
"I found out that surgeons were stealing the glasses and using them as sunglasses, and I was like, that could be pretty cool," Donald said. "And one of the things I noticed immediately is they made the world look very colorful, saturated."
Everything clicked when one of Donald's friends put on the glasses.
"I was playing at an Ultimate Frisbee tournament and my friend borrowed my glasses and said ... 'Dude, I can see the cones.' And he was referring to the fluorescent orange cones that defined the field," Donald said.
After years of studying and research, Donald launched a company called EnChroma.
They make sunglasses and indoor lenses that help people see color. Instead of seeing everything as beige and gray, people who are color-blind could now see the world as it is, colors and all.
The idea sounds brilliant, but do the glasses actually work?
Donald said when people first started wearing the glasses, the reaction was truly touching.
Some were frozen in shock.
Their lives had been changed forever.
Some got very emotional.
It's like seeing the world for the first time — how can you not get emotional?
And others literally couldn't believe their eyes.
Some people would constantly take off the glasses and put them right back on to see if it was real.
It was very real.
It was very real.
The most beautiful moments are when people stare into the distance for hours, admiring the beauty of the world.
The company has sold 30,000 glasses worldwide, bringing color to people everywhere. The glasses work for only 80% of the people who are color-blind, but Donald is working countless days and nights to find a way to help everyone with color blindness.
I think he will do it.
I think he will do it.
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