She's blind
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63252)
United States
February 2, 2018 11:36pm CST
I've talked about my wife. Even when she was my roomie, I talked about how she was blind - her preferred way to refer to it. She does have some vision, but what she can see at 20 yards is what a normal person would see at about 2000 yards.
So, while she can see some things, she doesn't see very well.
To top it off, she is also totally color blind. What she has is achromatopsia, and the rate is about 1 in 30,000 that have this kind of color blindness. She has no cones, so basically she sees like what you would see on a black and white television - for those of us who can remember those - otherwise, think of old TV shows.
However, there is one place on earth that the rate of achromatopsia is much higher than in the general population. Pingelap Atoll in Micronesia the rate is actually closer to 1 in 10, or 10% of the population. Now, it seems that some of the people there have a very limited amount of color vision, but all of them are adversely affected by bright lights, like my wife is.
Here is the article.
Have you ever heard of this condition? Maybe you have met someone with it?
An island in the Pacific has a unique genetic history that affects how it understands color.
7 people like this
6 responses
@sallypup (58089)
• Centralia, Washington
3 Feb 18
Thank you for telling me about your wife. That's interesting about that Pacific island. Genetics are fascinating. My husband happens to be blind- totally blind. He has a Master's degree in adult education so he has a job as a social worker for the state. His blindness does not stop him from doing many things, like making gates and building fences etc. etc. Take care.
4 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45579)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
3 Feb 18
I wonder if that's where Jasper Fforde got (one of) his idea for Shades of Grey (not to be confused with the raunchy one with a similar title).
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
4 Feb 18
no, my wife is very near sighted as well as color blind - like I said, what she sees at the "20" that they get "20-20 vision" from is what you would see at 2000. Or, to put it in lay man's terms, she can't see to the end of the car hood, much less down the street.
1 person likes this
