In Reply to: wonders of Bali's Colour posted by Marc_uk on Saturday, 20. November 2004 at 23:06 Bali Time:
I was whacked by a stupid teacher at the age of 6 for copying a picture out of a nursery rhyme book and getting the colours wrong. When I was 10, I painted a prize winning picture in a competition, but was unable to mix my own colours. None of the teachers spotted the problem.
At 13, the school painted the blackboards green, because they reckoned it was better for the eyes. One day the physics master was using different coloured chalks to illustrate different points and when he used the red chalk on the green background I couldn't see anything coming up. As physics master, one of his subjects was colour and he happened to have a colour vision chart on the wall of the laboratory. So he got me out the front and gave me a test and I later found that he was pretty well spot on. Suddenly a lot of things fell into place.
I was called up in 1952 for the Korean war. I wanted to be in the Royal Navy [I then lived in England], because I reckoned they had the best uniform, the least bulldust and the cheekiest reputation. It wasn't easy to get into the Navy for National Service, particularly if you were colourblind, but my eyesight was otherwise so unusually good it was "party trick" standard and I was accepted. But the test, similar to the one just posted, confirmed the situation.
I did some reading up on this condition and found it was hereditary, but in an unusual way. Contrary to popular belief, most people who are "colourblind" do see colours and can enjoy appreciating them, but, for want of a better description, get "mixed up" in various ways.
In times of war, some colourblind people are used as special observers, because they have the ability to "see" through camouflage and see the object which is being hidden in this way. My eyes have this ability. When I go snorkeling I can see fish and other creatures which are camouflaged to a normal sighted person. This was invaluable back in my spearfishing days and also when I used to go shooting [poaching] in country Yorkshire.
Colourblindness in men is far more common than is generally realised, but often goes unnoticed. Women can be colourblind, but because of the unusual hereditary factor, it is far less common in women.