Pick a Number (with Canadian spelling)

My name is Matt, and I am colour blind. As are one in ten males, and one in one hundred females. I found this out, and that it meant that I could not be a pilot, when I was very young. Thankfully, at that time I still had aspirations of being He-Man when I grew up. No harm, no foul. No scarring.

I’m sure many of you have been tested and are familiar with the test. It is basically a series of coloured dots, that when all presented together, show a number using the subtle nuances among the colours. Unfortunately, if you are colour blind, you don’t see a number in most of these. Even worse, in some, you see a different number. Is this really necessary? I mean isn’t it bad enough to ask a kid what number they see and have to make them admit that they don’t see one? That is tough enough. Even worse is asking a kid what number they see, and they get all pumped cause they got one “70!”, only to be met with “Wrong dumbass, its 29”. When I look at the below picture, I see 70.

In this day and age of political correctness, we could use friendlier terms as well. I mean Colour Blind is a little harsh. They tried using Colour Deficient with me, but that sounds just as bad - just patronizing. I say we call it "Cone-ally Challenged", and make it a little easier for kids to hear. And lets not pull the bait and switch number trick on them anymore either.

Just a quick thought for the day...