Color me blind

They were a middle-aged couple who prayed to be blessed with a baby. After several miscarriages, their precious one was born. On their first visit, the glow was still evident in her mother’s face, but her father looked like a truck had run him over. Turning to him, I asked if he was okay. He gave me a tired but nevertheless a happy smile and said that he was unused to his baby’s sleeping hours. We all laughed and agreed that the baby in the first few months of her life will keep a schedule similar to that of a call center agent.

Midway through the conversation, he raised a question that has never been asked of me. “Will my child be color blind like me?” I mentioned that the possibility exists since it is genetically linked. It was fortunate that he brought it up. It served as the perfect reminder to review and reassess how thorough a well-child visit should be. In practice, though we may be aware of the need for early visual screening for high-risk conditions such as prematurity, certain genetic disorders, a family history of strabismus, congenital cataract, congenital glaucoma, amblyopia and retinoblastoma, or if a child visibly squints, how many of us have made an emphasis on obtaining a history of color blindness? How aware are we that it could be a reason behind a child’s inability to learn or we ourselves have it?

Color blind. This simply means that one can see but is unable to distinguish colors accurately. Congenital color vision deficiency is more prevalent in males and aligns with the fact that the red and green pigments involved in color vision are located in the x chromosome. Courtesy of the National Eye Institute and National Institutes of Health websites, there are different types. The most common would be the red-green deficiency followed by the blue-yellow color deficiency which makes it hard to distinguish color combinations and the most rare and can be nearly as tragic as blindness, would be where one cannot see color at all. In the latter, a person may not be able to see clearly and can be more sensitive to light.

Red flags. Be on the lookout if your child struggles in identifying different colors or those that are similar, like mistaking red for green or blue from purple. Observe if they enjoy coloring activities or have difficulties in sorting or matching objects by color. Keep in mind that they might remember by association rather than actual color perception.

Steps to be taken. It is imperative to consult an eye professional for evaluation. According to a study done by Varma et al., testing may be successfully done as early as four years of age. Remember that it could be a source of learning difficulty. Anticipatory and continuous guidance are essential. Begin by educating yourself about how to navigate through your child`s condition. For those of school age, inform the teacher about your child’s color vision deficiency so that appropriate learning materials can be prepared so that both of them can understand and know each other better.

More than once, I have made mention about how one can only begin to understand a situation unless one gets to experience it.

Imagine how a child would feel if he was color blind? The best messaging about the enormity of something that might either be dismissed or undiagnosed was best illustrated in a short animated educational video by a United Kingdom-based nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and providing needed information and resources. It starts off with a little girl narrating on how school can be an “amazing place for learning and growing into the people we want to be, but not for everyone.” A little boy follows this up with the lines, ”What if something holds you back and it`s not your fault?” The narrators then took turns speaking about how she got confused by a teacher who told her that she was wrong when it looked perfectly okay with her, of the anxiety and subsequent embarrassment he felt from the lack of color coded pencils which made it difficult for him to keep up with an activity or color a painting of himself correctly, of a person who talked about self-doubt, and on how he does understand but just can’t deliver because he couldn’t tell the colors apart.

Teachers, parents, and child health providers need to be educated on color vision deficiency so that we can all take part in giving that much-needed support and providing a safe, nurturing, and encouraging environment. We have to remember, with or without perfect vision, it is our responsibility to help people see things for what they are, rather than what they perceive it to be.

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