Color+Blindness

C o l or Blindness **What is color blindness?** Color Blindness, also called color vision deficiency, is when people can't distinguish colors clearly like normal people can. It is the inability to see certain colors in the usual way. It is very rare that a person can't see colors at all, more likely that they can't distinguish shades of red, green, or blue.

**Color Blind History** John Dalton was the first to research color blindness. After realizing that he was color blind, h published the first scientific paper on it in 1798. 

Color Blindness is not always bad. In fact, sometimes, people that are color blind may have an advantage over other people in certain things. Studies show that people that are color blind are better at penetrating certain color camouflages.
 * Is Color Blindness bad?**

Color blindness can make things more difficult though. It makes it harder for you to learn to read and draw. You may not be able to have certain careers.

**What causes color blindness?** You could be color blind from birth, because it is a genetic problem. Color blindness is usually passed down from parents, but may also occur when the eye, nerve, or brain is damaged.  In the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the inner eye), there are nerve cells called cones. Color blindness occurs when you are missing a cone cell or there is a problem with the one of the cone cells. You have three cone cells in your body, one that detects red, one that detects green, and one that detects blue. So if you are only missing one or two cone cells, you can still see some colors, just not all of them. 

When a person cannot see any color at all, they have a condition called achromatopsia. This condition is very rare. Achromatopsia often comes with a lazy eye, nystagmus (small, jerky eye movements), severe light sensitivity, and extremely poor vision.

Color Blindness does not always come from birth. 

Symptoms vary because there are different types of color blindness, but you can tell if a person is color blind if they have trouble seeing colors and telling them apart. Usually, they can't tell the difference between different shades of a color or similar colors. There are all kinds of tests you can take to determine whether or not you are color blind. Go [|here] for a simple color blindness test.
 * What are some symptoms of color blindness?**

**What are the different types of color blindness and how do they see the world?** Protanomaly people only see a little red. Pinks turn purple and oranges turn brown. Deuteranomaly people only see a little green. A lot of colors dull and pinks turn almost completely purple. Tritanomaly people only see a little blue. All the bright colors dull and bright green turns into a dull blue. Protanopia people see no red at all. Blues dull, greens turn yellow, and reds turn brown. Deutanopia people see no green at all. It sees a lot of the same colors as Protanopia people. Reds come out a little more though, and blues are brighter. Tritanopia people see no blue at all. They can see red perfectly fine, but blue turns much darker, almost blackish. Typical Monochromats can only see black and white. Atypical Monochromats can see some shades of colors blended with black and white. They will be able to see a faint bit of green mixed in with mostly black.

**What are the chances that I am color blind, or will become color blind?** About 8 percent of males, but only 0.5 percent of females, are color blind in some way or another, whether it is only one color, a color combination, or another mutation. That is because color blindness comes from the X chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes, while men only have one. You might think women have a bigger chance of becoming color blind because they have two X chromosomes, but that is not true. If one of the X chromosomes have a color blind gene on it and the other doesn't, the X chromosome without the color blindness will be used. That is because Color blindness is a recessive trait. Men only have one X chromosome, so if it has a color blindness gene on it, there is nothing to stop it.

**I'm color blind, but my parents aren't, neither are my siblings. How did this happen?** Even though none of your parents are color blind, they may carry the trait for color blindness. For example, X doesn't carry color blindness, x carries color blindness, and Y doesn't affect anything. You father has the genotype: XY and your mother has: Xx. That means they both don't have colorblindness symptoms. Here are the possible children: XX, Xx, YX, Yx. 1) Female that doesn't have any traits for color blindness 2) Female that isn't color blind, but carries the trait, so she is heterozygous 3) Male that doesn't have any traits for color blindness 4) Male that is color blind. There is a 25% that the child will be a male that is color blind. Here is a diagram.

**How can you treat color blindness?** There is currently no treatment for Color Blindness. People live forever with the inability. Sometimes, it can be a nuisance, but people have learned to deal with it.

[] [] http://geneticsperiod2.wikispaces.com/Color+Blindness http://geneticsperiod7.wikispaces.com/Color+Blindness http://geneticsperiod4.wikispaces.com/Color+Blindness [] [] []
 * Sources:**