Enchroma glasses let colorblind people see color the same as a typical eye would. I was crying some fat tears over this 66-year-old grandfather whose family chipped in for a pair. This is him seeing color as most people see it for the first time.
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Mighty Girl 
As a mother of a colorblind boy, and a daughter, granddaughter, niece and cousin to colorblind men, I’ve thought a lot about these glasses and have ambivalent and tough feelings about them. My son has lovely creative view of the world and I wonder how much that has to do with his unique literal view of the world through his colorblind eyes. And all the colorblind men in my life are sensitive and perceptive, also very observant. Is this related to the different work their eyes and brains do? However, how heartbreaking is it to never see all the colors in a sunset or a flower? Or is there only heartbreak after you’ve seen it through those glasses? No answers here.
Related: the book Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon explores the primary tension of parenthood (at least my primary tension) of loving your kids for who they are while also helping them to be their best selves. He looks at this through parents whose children are very different from them. Like “normal” parents who have deaf children, or children with Down’s Syndrome. And he writes this through the lens of a gay person raised by straight parents. It’s an amazing book: the subject is fascinating and his writing is beautiful. This book changed my life, yo.
Thank you for always bringing up topics that make me think and feel.
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Sarah, I love a thoughtful comment, damn.
I agree with you that adversity and/or simple differences shape us, and it makes sense not to want to give back any traits color blindess may have shaped.
But, I think of these glasses like travel. You get to see something you’ve never seen before, or maybe in a way you’ve never seen it.
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Travel!
That gives me a new way to think about these and maybe I feel less protective about the situation.
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I cried, too.
-sniffle-
For all our complaining, it’s an amazing time to be alive.
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