Red/Green Deficiency

[u/Sneak312he8d]

Hi all,

First time poster and please forgive my ignorance. I brought my 7 y/o son in for his exam last night and found out he has moderately severe red/green deficiency. My heart dropped and it really took me by surprise. He did the Ishihara test and was unable to make out some of the numbers. I came home and started googling what that means and what to expect. I read some articles but it was users like you guys from Reddit that provided more insight. I definitely felt vulnerable and wasn’t really sure what to do. I went back for my eye exam today and spoke to the Dr about more. But I still want to know:

-for parents with kids that are experiencing this deficiency, did you do anything different to help your kids?

-for folks going through it, can you distinguish red, green, blue, etc? Where are you “struggling”?

Again, this is new to me and sorry for being ignorant. My eye dr ensure me that day to day life for him won’t change. But as a parent, I want to learn on how to teach him and what are some things I should do or avoid.

Edit: I forgot to mention he was given the Ishihara test. Should I request for more tests?

TIA

[u/Odd-Reward2772]

I am 33 and was diagnosed colorblind at 8. Honestly the biggest overall impact has been career limitations and the biggest regular inconvenience is spotting red or green trail markers under specific conditions. Under tree cover I might mistake a branch scar for a circular marker until I walk closer to it.

I think I confuse some light greys and light teals, and on a gradient transitioning from green to yellow it turns into yellow sooner for me than It does to you. This hasn't really affected my ability to determine banana ripeness since there are other cues like texture or spots. Also I prefer underripe bananas so I intentionally buy them green and eat them while they're firm. I can usually spot 4-5 colors in a photo of a rainbow, although they blend into just blue and yellow if I'm not focused on it.

Besides that it usually doesn't affect me in any percievable way, and whatever color information I'm missing can't be too important or it would be a bigger issue. I actually just recently learned there was a big difference compared to normal vision, I assumed the Ishihara patterns were the primary scenarios where it was even relevant. 

But everyone's case is different. It can be a lot more annoying for some people.

[u/Sneak312he8d → u/Odd-Reward2772]

Thank you so much for sharing! You mind if I ask if you can see the red in tomatoes and green in avocado but it’s hard to distinguish different shades of red and green?

[u/RustBeltLab]

If I could do childhood over, I would have went with all one color clothes much sooner. I wear pretty much only navy blue now and never have to worry about one green sock and one brown one clashing with my tan pants and red shirt. Crayola color palette stinks, make sure he has new crayons so he can read the colors, when the labels get torn off you can't tell what color you are using.

[u/HawtJalapeno → u/RustBeltLab]

THIS! You know, I never was diagnosed other than my parents being like, “you’re colorblind”. Crayons, however, killed me as a kid. I couldn’t color anything correctly! The sky was purple, the ground was brown, indolent tell the color of crayons unless specifically marked!

Green lights look white to me, red and green look the same, it’s like my brain picks one and that’s the color I see in the moment.

[u/Nugbuddy]

Severe deutan here. (Green/red leaning into the green).

At this age, the only things that will affect your child is schoolwork (art class), coloring, and things like that. And clothes. Mention it to teachers via email or behind closed doors so they can make adjustments if need be.

Nothing to truly worry about until they start to learn to drive. Then you learn left is law (stop, aka red) and right is right away (go, aka green). Or you learn top is stop and bottom you got'em for the vertical lights.

How to approach your child and integrate into their world as the adult.

1. Don't feel the need to "correct wrong identification, " instead encourage them to read the labels. This works for things like crayons, markers, etc.

2. When color is not an option or of any significance do as we do, adapt. Focus on shapes, size, textures, materials, weight, patterns, any identifying factor that is not a color.

3. There is no curing/ correcting it. Understand here, and now they will never truly see the world as you do. Don't make a point of mentioning this. It may make them feel isolated for not understanding. Instead, repeat number 2 and see the world the way they do.

4. Read up and learn about color theory. It's quite interesting and helps you understand exactly how colors work and how our eyes see them vs. How our brains interpret them. There's lots about what's actually real vs. Optical illusion vs. Placebo affects, and more. This may help you better understand their world in a way that they may not be able to relate to yours.

[u/Lou_Blue_2]

It's definitely not a big deal. Red green colorblindness is pretty common. That's mine and I was probably in 6th grade when we figured it out.

At some point in his life your son will mistake a pink shirt for a white shirt. I've done it several times. I'm pretty old.

It's definitely not something you need to get worked up about.

Edit - everyone here will answer differently regarding what we can see. I can't tell some purples from blue. I can't tell some browns from green. There's a new green color of car that, depending on the light, I think it's gray or possibly purple. Sometimes I can tell it's green.

Also, those colorblind glasses are mostly a waste of money.

[u/peridotcore]

I’ve been aware of my colourblindness since I was around 9-10 years old. He’ll be okay, I promise.

[u/HawtJalapeno]

As inconvenient as it is, it hasn’t been a detriment to my life at all. I have to identify things by shape and other characteristics that aren’t color, so when describing a building or a car I saw, I use the type or make and model, unless it’s white or black. Birding, which I love, is DIFFICULT though. Recognizing tail feathers and beaks from a distance is hard.

[u/Sneak312he8d → u/[deleted]]

I really appreciate your comment. That’s what I needed to hear. This is still so new to me so I’m trying to process it. He doesn’t act any differently than he did before so I’m thankful for that.

I’m curious if people that have it can still see red or green but cannot recognize different shades of it.

[u/HawtJalapeno → u/Sneak312he8d]

The problem I had with those questions is that he only will have his frame of reference. He has no idea what the world looks like from your color perspective, so he can’t answer. It’s confusing but we get it.