Sir, – Further to Anthony King's "We shouldn't turn a blind eye to colour deficiency" (January 7th), I recently celebrated my 70th birthday, and have a wealth of experiences relating to my variety of red/green colour deficiency. As a child I used my yellow crayon to represent red-hot fires; I coloured cherry blossom white, and so on. I had hoped to pursue a career at sea, but couldn't distinguish between important lighted aids to navigation. Otherwise, I did not feel particularly handicapped by what I perceived to be a minor condition. Traffic lights were a deeper coloured light (red), a bright coloured light (amber), or an off-white light (green). In more recent years, the advent of colour coding in contoured Ordnance Survey maps, pie charts in computerised presentations, etc, did cause difficulties, but nothing that could not be overcome. Having said that, my wife often sent me back to clothes stores to arrange an exchange of purchases!
I usually explain my condition in simple terms as “not having a memory for colours”. Show me three pieces of card – one clearly red, the next green, and the third brown – and I’ll immediately distinguish between the three. Take one card however, hide the other two, and then ask me the colour I’m being shown, and it’s back to white cherry blossom, I’m afraid! – Yours, etc,
PETER McILWAINE,
Blessington, Co Wicklow.