Color Blindness Essay, Research Paper

Color Blindness is the inability to distinguish or recognize colors. Color blindness occurs mostly in men, and is caused by a defect in the retina (nerve tissue which changes light images to nerve impulses, which the brain sees as pictures). Total color blindness, when all colors are seen as variations of gray, is known as monochromatism. Monochromatism is inherited and extremely rare; it affects men and women almost equally. Partial color blindness is called dichromatism and is generally the inability to distinguish reds and greens. It is the most common form of color blindness, affecting about seven percent of men and less than one percent of women. Dichromatism is identified as a sex-linked inherited characteristic occurring mainly with males. The vision of most color-blind people is normal in all other respects, except that they cannot see some colors.Color blindness is an inherited trait. It is passed down from a parent or grand parent, generally through the male lines. If a person has color blindness, that does not mean his or her children will inherit it, it is just a possibility. Color blindness also may occur as a temporary condition following a serious illness.One cannot treat color blindness. There is no cure for it. However it is not considered a disability and generally does not affect a person?s life too much. Yet, it is sometimes considered dangerous when a driver cannot distinguish red from green, because of traffic lights. There is a possibility of curing color blindness, with laser surgery and implants, but that does not always work. The vision of most color-blind people is normal in all other respects. In addition, color-blind people can generally learn by experience to associate certain colors with varying sensations of brightness. Therefore, many victims of the defect are unaware that they are color-blind. Several types of tests have been made for the rapid prediction of color blindness and of the particular variations of the condition. Modern safety regulations in the U.S. require the tests for all transportation workers. In some states, color-vision tests are also given to drivers of private automobiles and to such public employees as police officers and firefighters.It is impossible to prevent color blindness. One inherits it from one of their parents, usually their father. Most of the population is not color blind because the have no one to inherit it from, so they do not have it. The only way to prevent color blindness is, not to have a colorblind parent, which is a hard thing to do, since you cannot choose your parents.Here is an example of a color blindness test:57If a person were colorblind, they would not be able to perceive the ?57? in the middle of the black and brown spots. This is because they cannot make out the red and various shades of orange and pink.