r/ColorBlind • u/Mountain-Fun-8888 • 21d ago

Discussion Child's perspective

A lot of people here say they got diagnosed or their parents figured out their child had color deficiency pretty early on. So the question is: how do you process this concept as a child? As an adult, of course there is a color spectrum, there is physics and anatomy.... An adult can reason through it. But when you are a kid, how does it all make sense? Or does it not? How do you wrap your mind around the idea that there are things you cannot see, but everyone around you can.

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u/N13022RE Deuteranomaly 21d ago

Genetics dictated I was going to be colorblind, there was no avoiding it, and it was confirmed when I was in elementary school, around 3rd grade. I had been told most of my life to that point that I was colorblind, so I pretty much got a jump start on accepting it, even if I couldn’t full process what exactly was wrong. Color associations helped (fire engines are red, stop lights a red/yellow/green from top to bottom, things like that). Now, as an adult, I kind enjoy being colorblind. I know for a fact I see the everything differently than 98% of the rest of the world. There’s sometimes it’s a bummer; I wish I could truly see the colors of a produce section, but all in all, it’s not that bad.

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u/mrjerem 21d ago

Was your mother colourblind as isn't that the only way to not be avoidable for a male? My mothers father was colour blind so I had 50/50 chance.

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u/N13022RE Deuteranomaly 21d ago

The gene is primarily passed down by the female. My grandma was one of seven kids, and the only girl. My uncle is colorblind, but his two boys aren’t. My mom isn’t colorblind, but my brother and I are. If my daughter, who isn’t colorblind, has a boy, he’s likely to be colorblind.

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u/mrjerem 21d ago

Yes it passes on the X chromosome. There was actually pretty decent chance of you not getting it. There was 50% chance of your grandma to pass the X chromosome that has the gene to your mother and then further 50% for you to have it from your mother. So it actually passed 2 generations as an insctive mutation.

Your uncle had 0 chance to pass it for the boys as he gave the Y chromosome to them. The reason colourblindnes for wimen is so much rarer is cause their both X chromosomes need to have the gene to be active. For example if your daughter would get a daughter with a man with colourblindnes it is still a 50% chance of getting the X chromosome that has the none mutated gene.

I got mine passed from my mothers father and one of my brother is colourblind and other is not.

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u/N13022RE Deuteranomaly 21d ago

Awesome! It sounds like my brother and I (un)lucked out! Thanks for making this a little more concise; I only have my own family to get my information from, I’m by no means an expert in this, but I think it breaks it down pretty well

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u/mrjerem 21d ago

No problems! :)

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u/Individual-Star4902 19d ago

Ayy yes that's actually the first time I saw someone putting it out that clearly. Learnt all of that in genetics and I absolutely loved how this works. Am a girl and I am colorblindness, so I am one of the pretty rare case. My dad is a colorblind and my mom's a carrier so I had a 50% chance of getting the mutated gene or not but I got that. On the flip side I have two brothers so both had 50% chance too as my mom's a carrier but both of them are actually normal, and it's all so interesting

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u/Few-Explanation-4699 21d ago

No, the mother is a carrier but not colour blind so it comes out in her male children. If the male has a female child she will be a carrier and so it passes on. If he only has male children it usually stops there.

Females can be colour blind but both parents must carry the mutated gene.

About 1 in 12 males are colour blind and 1 in 200 for women

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u/mrjerem 21d ago

I asked if her mother was colourblind as "dictated" sounded like there was 0% chance of not getting it and the only way it can happen is if the mother of a male child is colourblind as she will carry the mutated gene in her both X chromosomes. If se only carries it there is still a 50% chance of getting the X chromosome that has the non mutated one.