Welcome to the full spectrum
When Bailey Mcphee began drawing orange grass, his parents knew something was different about their child.
Oranges and greens, and reds and browns, were interchangeable, and he had no perception of shading.
He had protan colour blindness, robbing him of a spectrum most of us take for granted.
Now aged 23, a different type of shading has changed the Levin man’s tint on the world completely, from making his job as an auto mechanic easier to simply introducing him to the colour purple.
It is now his favourite.
Mcphee had previously considered Enchroma glasses but the price-tag had been a barrier. It cost $1600 for inside and outside pairs.
An apprentice at work had commented to Mcphee that he had noticed him having trouble, then showed him a video about the glasses, thinking they could help him. Being able to distinguish between different shades of coloured liquids and cables was essential for the job. ‘‘Now that I’molder, I decided to do it.
‘‘Work being the biggest aspect ofmy life, they’ve been pretty life-changing.’’
Mcphee said when he told people he was colour blind, they would often get excited and ask ‘‘what colour is this?’’ then laugh or taunt him. ‘‘Which has always been hard.’’
When he saw a sunset for the first time while wearing the glasses, he had to pull his car over and simply watch in awe. ‘‘Seeing all the different colours was phenomenal.
‘‘I cried a little bit. It’s stuff that you take for granted.’’
Optometrist Ryan Mahmoud, from N Vision Eyecare in Auckland, said the glasses used a filter to change the colour perception and filter out ‘‘noise’’.
Even for someone without colour blindness, it would enhance the colours they saw.
He said they were the only glasses on the market that would help people with colour blindness.
But they did not work on everyone and mostly helped those with less severe colour blindness.
‘‘On the more extreme end, they would see less impact. Those with less extreme, get a big difference.’’