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Are your DC colour blind?

45 replies

Cupidity · 23/09/2020 23:24

Recently suspected that ds is colour blind. A trip to the opticians today confirmed it. He can't see red, orange, pink, and greens.

Just curious to know if anyone else has colour blind DC and if they've had any issues because of it (apparently he won't be able to work as an electrician or pilot - not that he's ever shown any interest in these jobs!)

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LouiseTrees · 23/09/2020 23:27

My brother and my husband’s brother are both red/green colour blind. Apart from what you’ve stated above, the fact they can’t be in bomb disposal either and the odd dodgy outfit with a red t-shirt and khaki trousers, no issues.

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vaccines243 · 24/09/2020 11:34

Yes two of my boys. If their mums dad (their grandfather) is colour blind there is a 50% chance of your sons being colour blind too as if you are the mother you carry the gene. Think it limits them with art too and lots of confusion when I say wear/use the green one and they are adamant that something else is green for example! However there are far worse problems and I have never told them the issue with jobs as wonder if there will be a solution by the time they are adults.

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isseywith4vampirecats · 24/09/2020 11:40

one of mine is green brown mix up so he couldnt be an electrician never bothered him so hes a builder instead

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PeaceAndHarmoneeee · 24/09/2020 11:46

Yes mine are both green/red.

The optician explained they just don't see red and green as the rest of us do and can struggle to differentiate between different shades of red and green. Because they don't see red/ green pigment properly it affects how they see other colours with these pigments in them so purple looks grey to them cos they can't see the red in it and turquoise looks like light blue. They sometimes struggle to see green and red football cones on the green pitches.

It's not affected them at all yet and they don't know any different really! I've let the schools know just in case eg in geography they are looking at coloured maps but they've never had an issue with their work so far.

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lockdownandout · 24/09/2020 15:57

They just see things slightly differently to a 'normals'. The colour defect can vary in severity, in some it's only in certain lighting they struggle and subtle shades/hues of colours can cause confusion.
Although some occupations have a blanket ban for colour deficients it can also be an advantage: they can excel in the fashion/design world as they see things differently so don't always follow the rules! Most military sectors are off limits but some of the guys can see camouflage a lot easier than us so they are very useful in combat. And a gazillion years ago they could distinguish poisonous from safe berries so kept their families & friends alive!!
I worked with a guy with a strong colour problem, he had codes sewn into his clothes so he knew what matched & had socks with the days of the week so could match them up!

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Notfeelinggreattoday · 24/09/2020 16:00

@vaccines243 i never knew that but makes sense , my eldest ds is colour blind and so is my dad
Hasn't made much difference to da who is 17 so far and luckily he doesn't want a career at the moment that restricts him if colour blind ,

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Notfeelinggreattoday · 24/09/2020 16:02

Youngest ds is not colour blind so makes 50% right as well
I never knew all military jobs were out though ? Just thought pilots / electricains ??

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plixy · 24/09/2020 16:05

My husband is colour blind. Has caused some amusing times over the years but caused him no issues at all.
I have to do all the electrical stuff (change plugs etc) just in case. And I can't dye my hair anything with a red hint as it makes me look like the hulk.
Other than that it doesn't bother him at all.
His grandad was colour blind which is where he got it. And if our little girl has a son she could pass it on to him. Really not much to worry about though.

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JosephineDeBeauharnais · 24/09/2020 16:10

DS2 is colour blind. Can’t distinguish between dark red, brown, blue, purple, dark green, yellow. We discovered it when as a toddler he couldn’t find his orange ball in the grass.
We learned not to use colour as a descriptor- so wouldn’t say “stand by the blue car” for example, or “pass me the green towel”, that sort of thing.
We got him coloured pencils that had the colour written on them which were a godsend for homework eg geography which always seemed to be about colouring maps in green and brown.
We notified school, because it’s a hidden disability but that never stopped art teachers getting stroppy with him, which was annoying.
As others have said it can be worse in dull lighting. They do seem to sort of learn though as he’s much better now as an adult. Still checks with me if we’re together e.g. one time we were shopping for souvenirs at an event and he wanted to buy a scarf for his gf. He held it up and asked me what colour it was so he would get the right one, not something she wouldn’t wear.

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SoupDragon · 24/09/2020 16:14

DS2 is. He can't tell the difference between blue and purple.

He had it on his exam notes that he was allow to have someone tell him the colours on the paper when necessary. I believe it was an issue with geography (maps), graphs and using an indicator paper in chemistry!

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SmileyClare · 24/09/2020 16:21

Boys usually inherit this type of red/green colour blindness as its passed on the X chromosome.

My 2 sons have it. It causes confusion of any colours containing red (so pink, orange, purple, brown) and shades of green. Most are seen as varying shades of brown/green. They cannot "see" the red.

As they've got older, they've worked out to differentiate between the different shades of "Brown" they see and know to call it red or whatever. For example they know grass is green because they've learnt that, even though it looks a shade of Brown to them.

They both hated their peers knowing at school. Other children are fascinated by it and pester them with questions, pointing at things and asking what colour they think it is.
For that reason, my sons don't like to share that they're colourblind unless necessary. I told their primary school teachers as there was sometimes confusion with coloured graphs or maths questions.

What helped when they were younger was to send them in to school with the coloured pencils you can buy with the colour written at the top of each one. It saved them embarrassment and they didn't have to keep asking others for help.

Other than that, it hasn't negatively affected their lives in any way. Both at college doing really well and it's something that doesn't come up much for them in daily life.

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DinosApple · 24/09/2020 16:21

DH is colour blind (red/green), it stopping him going into racing car driving. He had no idea until they gave him an eye test when he was 20.

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Gilead · 24/09/2020 16:24

Dd and I are colour blind. Causes a bit of confusion now and then but generally okay.

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Cornishmendoitdrekkly · 24/09/2020 17:40

DS has a full colour deficiency as identified in his Army medical. He originally was going into Army Intelligence but this was not possible with his result. He joined as a Medic and has had no issues.
We knew he had some colour deficiency from doing the dot pictures when he was in school but it certainly explained his rather interesting paintings when he was little.
My DB is colour blind too and works in a printer's.

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Cupidity · 27/09/2020 17:06

Thanks for all the replies . Im secretly quite relieved that the more dangerous jobs (bomb disposal, racing driver, military) seem to be out as Ds has slight daredevil tendencies.

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notacooldad · 27/09/2020 17:43

Only one son is colorblind.
Im not sure who has inherited it from because my dad isn't colorblind. However my brother is.
Son is 24 now.
The only issues we've had was he got sacked from a general labour job because there was some electrical involved which wasn't stated when he went for the interview. He git another soon after so all was ok.
The only other thing was there was some weird coloured outfits when he first started buying his own clothes. At first we thought it was eccentric teen choice finding his style but when we questioned him what colours he thought they were it was apparent the colour blindness was a factor!🤣🤣

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SmileyClare · 27/09/2020 18:30

not sure who has inherited from as my dad isn't colourblind but my brother is

The colour blind gene is recessive and carried on the X chromosome, so a woman can be a carrier and not have colourblindness, simply because women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men only have one (XY) The mother can then pass it to her son. (50% chance)

Men are 95% of colour blind people because of the inherited gene. It is only if a woman carries the gene on both her X chromosomes she is colour blind and that's incredibly rare.

If the dad is colour blind his daughters will have a 100 % chance of carrying the gene and pass it down the family line.

If a colour blind father has sons they will not carry the gene or be colour blind. The Y chromosome comes from the dad, the X from the mum to make their XY.

So in the above example, your mother carried the gene to pass to your brother. If you're male notacooldad ? and not colour blind then you haven't passed it to your son, your wife is a carrier and has introduced a new gene into the family line.
Of course it's no one's fault, 1 in 12 men are colour blind so it's incredibly common.

Sorry if I've bored you with all that waffle, I find genetics really interesting!

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SmileyClare · 27/09/2020 18:35

Just to carry on the genetic theme, if your colour blind son has a daughter she will be a carrier of the gene but not colour blind.

If your son has a son he will not be colour blind or a carrier.

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TodaysFishIsTroutALaCreme · 27/09/2020 18:40

SmileyClare that was fascinating and mind bending in equal measure.

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riotlady · 27/09/2020 18:47

My partner is colour blind and it doesn’t really affect him, except for picking out some terrible outfit combos for DD. Occasionally when he’s gaming he’ll have to ask me what colour something is and I’ve learnt to describe things by pattern/shape rather than colour when I want him to fetch me something

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Gilead · 27/09/2020 18:48

I’m female, obviously dd is too. So we must have the full whack. I don’t know of anyone colour blind in the family but my Mother wouldn’t have told me anyway. She’s odd!

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Flamingolingo · 27/09/2020 18:48

My 6yo is and so is my dad. I don’t think my 4yo is.

The 6yo is aware that he sees colour differently to the rest of the family and we talk about it sometimes. He’s also much much better at seeing contrast and things that are camouflaged. So we talk about his colour vision as his ‘superpower’ - the thing that makes him special.

So far it hasn’t been a big deal. And I am relieved that high risk jobs are off the table.

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Sleepinyourofficeinstead · 27/09/2020 18:56

We just took our 4.5yo to the optician this weekend to test for colour-blindness. We've noticed recently that although he's very proficient with colours, letters, numbers etc he will say 'they're both the same' when one thing is green and one is red. Other times he manages no problem so it must be about the lighting/pigment. He can't differentiate purple and blue.

My dad is colourblind so I'm almost certain but the optician wasn't keen to diagnose as she felt he was too young. She said come back in a year.

My Dad wasn't able to join the merchant navy as he was supposed to. I often wonder how much more exciting our lives could have been if he had...

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RandomMess · 27/09/2020 18:58

My DD is blue/green and didn't find out until she was 18...

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Flamingolingo · 27/09/2020 18:59

@Sleepinyourofficeinstead how strange - my DS was officially diagnosed at 3ish, but that was at the eye hospital for another reason. They had special paediatric cards and it was very clear that he was.

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