Seeing the World Differently: A Closer Look at Color Vision Deficiency

I’ve grown up hearing that I’m colorblind - and, in subtle ways, being made to feel like it was a limitation. People would joke that I could never be a military pilot because of my colorblindness. I’ve also spent more moments than I can count arguing over the color of everyday objects - a rock, a leaf, or even something as simple as a shirt - only to be corrected by friends who saw a color I simply couldn’t perceive the same way. At first, these experiences felt frustrating and isolating, but over time, I’ve realized that color vision deficiency isn’t just a “flaw” or a barrier. It’s a different way of seeing the world, one that comes with its own quirks, challenges, and surprisingly, its own strengths.

What Is Color Vision Deficiency?

Color vision deficiency, often called colorblindness, changes the way people experience color. Instead of seeing a full spectrum of clearly separated hues, certain colors can blur together or become hard to tell apart. The most common challenges involve reds and greens, or blues and yellows, and they stem from how the eye’s cone cells react to light. These cone cells are responsible for detecting color, and when they work a bit differently, color perception shifts with them.

For many, this difference is subtle. It might mean mistaking one shade for another or missing color-based details that others take for granted. In rarer cases, color vision deficiency can be more extreme, with little to no color perception at all. Imagine a world experienced largely in shades of gray! Still, for most people, it doesn’t significantly interfere with everyday life.

One widespread misconception is that colorblindness means seeing only in black and white. In reality, that form is extremely rare. More often, people with color vision deficiency mix up specific color pairs. Some don’t even realize their perception is different until moments of surprise. As someone who has red-green color vision deficiency, I can’t even begin to count how many times my friends have corrected me, telling me that the color I thought a rock or plant was isn’t actually its true color.

Who Is Affected?

Color vision deficiency is far more common in men than women. Roughly 1 in 12 men are affected, compared to about 1 in 200 women. This imbalance exists because the most common types, particularly red-green color deficiency, are linked to the X chromosome. Since men have only one X chromosome, a single genetic change is enough for the condition to appear.

When Colorblindness Becomes an Advantage

Most people are familiar with standard colorblindness tests, like the Ishihara plates, where numbers are hidden within colored dots and are easy to see for those with typical color vision. Reverse colorblind tests flip this idea on its head. In these images, the hidden shapes are designed to be visible only to people with color vision deficiency. Those with “normal” color vision often see nothing at all.

These reverse tests are commonly used to spark curiosity and awareness. They highlight an important point: colorblindness isn’t just about what someone can’t see - it’s also about what they can see that others may miss.

An Evolutionary Perspective

Color vision deficiency has persisted for thousands of years, which raises an interesting question: if it were purely a disadvantage, why hasn’t evolution eliminated it?

Evolution doesn’t chase perfection. It favors traits that are useful enough to survive and reproduce in specific environments. While full color vision gave primates an edge, such as spotting ripe fruit, variations in color perception may have offered different benefits. Some research suggests that people with color vision deficiency may be better at detecting camouflaged objects, spotting movement in low light, or focusing on shapes and patterns without being distracted by color (NIH).

Early mammals were largely nocturnal, relying more on rods than cones in their eyes. Even today, in certain environments, reduced reliance on color can be an advantage rather than a flaw. In that sense, color vision deficiency represents not a failure of evolution, but an alternative strategy that proved “good enough” to stick around.

More Than a Deficiency

Framing colorblindness solely as a limitation misses the bigger picture. It’s a variation in human perception, one that shaped how some people have interacted with their surroundings for generations. Seeing the world differently doesn’t mean seeing it worse - it simply means experiencing it through a different lens.

Treatments

Recent advances in gene therapy suggest that some forms of color vision deficiency may one day be treatable. The most encouraging progress has been made with achromatopsia, a rare and severe condition in which cone cells fail to function properly. Individuals affected may see only shades of gray (black, white, and gray). In clinical trials, researchers have been able to improve cone activity in children by delivering healthy copies of missing or defective genes directly to the retina (Science Daily). While these results don’t fully restore normal color vision, they mark an important step forward.

Work is also underway to explore whether similar approaches could help with more common forms of colorblindness, such as red-green deficiency. So far, that research has shown promise in animal studies, but human trials have yet to begin. For now, these treatments remain experimental, though they are laying the groundwork for future therapies that could change how genetic vision conditions are addressed.