My Biggest Secret: I Am a Colorblind Woman

When a baby is born most count to see if he or she has all its fingers and toes. This is the first thing that a new parent attends to. We don't worry whether the child will be able to see color properly. As the child grows up and begins to learn their alphabet, how to count and colors it is imprinted on them by memory. We take it for granted that the colors orange, green or blue we see is the same way the child perceives them. This isn't necessarily true. Colorblindness, a trait that is inherited happens primarily in the male species. My biggest secret: I was born colorblind and I am female.

I lovingly refer to my problem as color dysfunctional because I do not see in black and white. Which plenty ask when they find out my secret. Next everyone wants to test me. Their little game of "what color is this and that" can go on forever sometimes. Everyone has a great laugh after each pop quiz. Then usually it segues to "Well how do you drive?" What do you mean I always ask? Well the stop lights they say. Uhhhh well when I went to get my driver's license they never asked me if I was colorblind (dysfunctional). No, no, no that's not what I mean is usually uttered. OHHHH, okay! So once more playing along I proudly announce: Red's at the top, Yellow's in the middle and Green's at the bottom. If they turn the signal for height restraints, it gets turned to the left. But the colors still appear the same. *Sigh. OHHH yeah, huh, is usually what I hear! Believe me it gets old but because colorblindness is so rare in the feminine gender, hopefully I am educating the world in some small way.