Color Blindness

Color blindness is a genetic disability that affects men and women alike. This genetic disability affects up to ten percent ten percent of males in some communities, and on average seven percent of males worldwide. Women can inherit color blindness, but most types of the disability are sex linked and the dual X chromosomes that females have protect them from it most of the time. (Color Blindness Types) The presence of the X chromosome is one of the reasons why a significantly larger portion of the male population is affected more often than the female population. (Colour Blind Awareness) There are three general types of color blindness that can be broken down: Anomalous Trichromacy, Dichromacy, and Monochromacy.

People suffering from Anomalous Trichromacy are more commonly known as anomalous trichromats. Anomalous trichromats can perceive light colors through all three types of cones, however one of the cone types perceives light slightly out of alignment, differentiating the type of effects produced, depending on which cone is not working properly. (Colour Blind Awareness)

There are three different types of anomalous conditions: protanomaly, deuteranomaly, and tritanomaly. Protanomaly is the reduced sensitivity to red hues due to defective L-cones in the retina. Deuteranomaly, the most common form of color blindness, is the reduced sensitivity to green hues caused by defective M-cones. This retinal defect weakens the ability to differentiate between red and green hues, and occurs in as much as five percent of the world’s population of males. The final type of anomalous condition is tritanomaly, being the most rare of color-blindness conditions, impairs the anomalous trichromat’s sensitivity to blue light due to the weakening of S-cones in the retina. Different types of blue and purple are also commonly mistaken. (Color Blindness Types)

Each variation of anomalous trichromacy deals with different hues. People with deuternomaly and protanomaly