Contrary to what the name suggests, colorblindness isn’t an absolute blindness to color. The perception of color is a complex process involving the eyes and the brain, and even two people who consider themselves “color vision normal” may disagree on certain hues – is that sunset more pink or purple? In a person with a diagnosed color vision deficiency (a more accurate term), they usually will experience what is considered a “shortened spectrum”, meaning they are able to distinguish fewer colors compared to a color-normal person and may confuse a few different shades as the same color. In Caucasian populations, the overall prevalence of colorblindness is typically quoted as 8% in males and 0.5% in females. A study conducted in Californian preschool boys found the lowest rate of colorblindness in African American at 1.4% and the second lowest in Hispanic boys at 2.6%.

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