• Question: why are people colour blind?

    Asked by 19claire95 to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi 19claire95,
      I had to look this one up! Apparently in your eye you have cones which see colour, non-colour blind people have 3 types of cones for red green and blue, colour blind people either have one of these cones missing or it is not working properly so they see either a different shade of the colour or a different colour.
      I hope this answers your question.
      Pam 🙂

    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi 19claire95,

      Thanks for that Pam, I didn’t know that either!

      I have read somewhere though that some people believe that colour blindness is an evolutionary advantage! So maybe we’ll see more people being born colour blind in the future!

      Cat

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hi 19claire95

      I remember through some of the live chats that some students from some schools mentioned colour blindness. Well, Pam is exactly correct that the structure of the eye contains certain parts – called cones, which are responsible for colour. How you lose these is probably genetic, as it is an inherited condition and I am not aware of anyone developing colour blindness in life after they are born.

      It can be a pain, as many of natures colours are ‘invisible’. What really sucks though is that a lot of art and media (especially video games!) do not at all consider this, and colour blindess is actually a lot more common than people realise. Hopefully these things can be sorted out in the future!

      I hope this answers your question

      Daz

Comments