i am sorry if this is not related to this weeks ropic or if it is just me rabbling on, but i wanted to take the t7me to write a letter, and hopefully get it on the oublished page. ithe letter is about colourblindness, while svhool was still open in about the end 8f jan, start of feb, i began to get headaches at school, i thought nothing of it, and soon realised it wss everytime i looked st the interactive screen. one day a teacher asked me in art to describe the colours the artist had used and i sqid ourple orange and green and the teacher then had a go at me sating stop fooling around it is clearly red yellow and blue, she asked me agqin and i went home and did a colourblindness test and t said strong chance of colourblindness, what do i do noe??
Sam
Hi there,
Colour blindness is when someone can't see colours in the same way others can. It's often called "colour vision deficiency", and is sometimes shortened to CVD. It affects about 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women, so it's much more common to be colour blind if you’re a boy.
Most people who are colour blind aren’t affected by it. It's not classed as a disability in the UK and often people don't realise they’re colour blind until they take a test. There are different kinds of CVD and so it might affect you in different ways. Some people might struggle if there are certain colours close together - like coloured writing on a different colour background.
To find out if you have CVD you need to see your optician for an eye test. It's not part of the normal eye test so you'll need to tell them that you want to test for colour blindness specifically. Eye tests are free if you’re under 16 (or under 19 if you're still in full time education). The test is fast and you’ll know at the end of the appointment if you have CVD or not.
Once you have found out if you have CVD you might want to get in touch with the RNIB or visit Colour Blind Awareness for more information and support.
It could help to talk about this with an adult you trust if you are worried, or Childline counsellors are always here to listen. You can also use the message boards to get support from other young people who may be colour blind.
Thanks for your letter, I hope this has helped.
Sam
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