Did you ever get those color-blindness glasses? I keep checking back!
I can’t believe I never talked about this.
YES. I got them. They’re amazing. Fuck. I mean, it’s literally impossible to describe the sensations of new colors you never imagined fading into existence. And to clarify that, while they don’t let you see colors your eyes are physically incapable of seeing, they cut out all the “noise” that keeps you from seeing the full range of colors that your individual colorblindness does allow. Essentially, there’s a range of colors that every colorblind person will have that they can’t perceive, even though they have the hardware, while they also will have a range of colors that, barring a cure, they will never see. What EnChromas do is cut out the confusion of the colors that they can see but have never actually perceived, if that makes sense.
So I put them on for the first time in a garden in DC during the cherry blossom festival. It was full of white and blue flowers, and there were some blue-grey trees, along with a few white flowery trees scattered throughout. So I put the glasses on, and?
Nothing was different. I was so, so bummed. I almost teared up tbh. I had gotten my hopes up so high despite telling myself, swearing on my life that I wouldn’t. They don’t work for everybody. Some people don’t have the cones required. I thought I did, but I had walked around with the glasses on for 5 minutes or so without seeing a damned thing different, it was all just darker, as if they were nothing more than regular sunglasses. So I turned to Allyssa to tell her that it was a bust.
Fucking boom. Like a cannonball, there it was. A purple blossom tree. I had NEVER seen anything like that. The last time I looked at it a minute ago, it was grey-blue. Now, fuck. Purple. PURPLE. That picture may not look that special to you, but I could hardly breathe. I had never, ever seen anything this color. And then, like bubbles popping, more things just fucked themselves into being right in front of my eyes. By some stroke of coincidence, there were so many people wearing pink and purple that day. They were everywhere, and I just stared, my mouth agape and dry as hell, watching these things just glow.
I hadn’t said anything since I had turned to Allyssa, and she was tugging at my arm gently like, “What? What? Is it working?”, and I looked at her. And her hair, her gorgeous, blood orange “it’s fucking red” hair, was like a star, erupting in sanguine color. It was unbelievable. And that’s when I started to really lose it. I was really, really overwhelmed. I almost wanted to take them off to gather myself, but I kept them on, because they specifically state to leave them on to allow your eyes to fully adjust (if you do that stupid thing where you flip them up and down off your eyes, guess what, you’re not letting them work, bros).
The white flowery trees from before? Pink. A shade of pink I’d never seen. My red backpack? Crimson, actual crimson. I kept looking around, and just pointing at things and people like a little kid. I was walking through people’s shots and gently pushing lollygaggers out of the way, so that I could just touch some of the things I was seeing. Red brick? IT’S FUCKING RED. It’s not brown, it’s not some muddy mahogany, it’s fucking red. I was blown the hell away walking around the city with Allyssa, pointing at strangers with orange or pink or purple clothes on. Anything that was a mix of two colors was a brand new experience. Green grass? There’s more than one shade of green in it. Gradients? They’re everywhere. Cloudy skies? There’s actually some patches of the clouds where there’s “holes” in them, letting blue sky shine through. I’d never seen that before. We went to the botanical gardens and ho-ho-holy shit. I found a flower, a purple one with a pink bud in the center. I had seen it before, but I’d always thought it was navy with a light orangish reddish bud. I saw teal for the first time. Do you know how good teal is? Teal is so good.
Since then I’ve worn them at every opportunity. Sunsets are amazing. They’ve helped me pick out clothes. They help me name colors correctly. I saw red flowers I never knew were there in bushes of green. I’m happy. I know I’m still missing out on A TON of shades of color, due to just being incapable of seeing them. But there might be a cure in a year or two, so hey, fingers crossed you guys.
If you’re colorblind, take the test. Give it a shot. See if they’ll work for you. I hope you get a chance to try these. Also happy to answer any more questions.
