Know more about Colorblindness
Introduction Eyes are special for everyone. With the help of eye we can see the colorful world around us. However, some people can not distinguish between colors. Such people are termed as colorblind and the problem as colorblindness. These people are not blind but are unable to see some colors the way other people see them. So, let us see the phenomenon of how we see colors and few things about color blindness.
How can you see colors?
Light from different sources such as sun and tube light bounces off everything that our eyes see and goes through pupil. Pupil is the black hole in the centre of the front part of our eyes. The light reaches retina which is just like a movie screen at the back of your eye. Inside retina, there are millions of cells called rod cells and cone cells which are basically nerve cells which see the light. Both the cells help in different ways to see the colors of the objects.
Rod cells are sensitive to light. They can react to even very faint light. You can see the light from a star in a hazy night sky is due to the rod cells. Rod cells are also responsible for showing us the things around us at night. However, these cells can only show the things in shades of black, grey and white. Cone cells react to the brighter light and allow us to see the details in the object. They are the one with the help of which we can differentiate colors. There are different types of cones in our retina assign to see various colors. There are three main types of cone cells which can see red, green and blue light. By combining the messages from each set of cones, we get the wide range of colors that we normally see.
What is color blindness?
Typically, a color blind person is unable to differentiate colors. This might be because he or she may lack few types of cone cells in their retina. Hence, some people cannot see some colors. Some of the common colors that a color blind can not see are:
- Some people are unable to see green and red colors. This is the most common type of color blindness. Instead of red they see orange color and green as white.
- Some people may find it difficult to view blue and yellow colors.
- In some cases, people can not see color at all. Everything around them seems to be black and white.
Cause of Colorblindness
Colorblindness is essentially a genetic problem. It means that if your parents have had this problem, there are fair chances that even you will continue with the traits. It has been found that about 1 boy in a group of 10 is colorblind. However, only 1 girl is found to be colorblind in a group of 200. This difference is also because of genes. X chromosome carries the gene for colorblindness. Boys have only one X chromosome and hence they are more likely to get affected. Whereas girls have two X chromosomes and hence both the genes have to be affected for being colorblind. Remember, color blind does not mean that he has disease. It also does not imply that color blind person has less memory than ours. Hence, we shall not try to differentiate with others. Give them support and assist for differentiating colors, if they ask for.
Share this Article with your Friends
