How to tell if you are colorblind: What most people get wrong about seeing the world

You’re staring at a map of the London Underground. Your friend points to a line and says it’s clearly green, but to you, it looks exactly like the one next to it. Or maybe you've spent your whole life thinking peanut butter was a light tan color, only to find out it’s actually a distinct, earthy green. These little moments of confusion are usually the first sign. Most people think being colorblind means living in a 1940s noir film where everything is black, white, and grainy. That's almost never the case. Real-life color vision deficiency is much more subtle, frustrating, and honestly, a bit of a psychological trip when you realize your "red" isn't the same as everyone else's "red."

If you’re wondering how to tell if you are colorblind, you need to stop looking for a world without color and start looking for a world where colors look "muddy" or indistinguishable.

The big lie about "Color Blindness"

First off, the term "colorblind" is a bit of a misnomer. Most experts, like those at the American Academy of Ophthalmology, prefer the term "Color Vision Deficiency" (CVD). Why? Because you aren't blind to color; your eyes just have a hardware glitch. Inside your retina, you have these things called cones. Most humans have three types: red, green, and blue. When light hits these cones, they send signals to your brain, which mixes them like a painter to create the full spectrum. If one of those cone types is wonky or missing entirely, the mixing process breaks.

Think of it like a printer running low on one specific ink cartridge. The picture still comes out, but the sky looks a little purple, or the grass looks a bit brown.

How to tell if you are colorblind in your daily life

Most people find out during a specific, often embarrassing, event. It might be trying to tell if a piece of meat is fully cooked. To someone with protanopia (red-blindness), the pinkish-red of raw beef and the grey-brown of cooked beef can look nearly identical. It's a literal health hazard.

You should pay attention to these common red flags:

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• The "Same Color" Trap: You frequently argue with people about whether something is purple or blue, or pink or grey. Purple is a classic "trap" color because it requires the eye to see red and blue. If you can't see the red, purple just looks like blue.
• The Green-Yellow-Red Blur: At a distance, do the leaves on a tree blend perfectly into the background of a brick building? If the world looks like a giant, monochromatic smudge of olive green and rust, you’re likely dealing with red-green deficiency.
• Difficulty with LED Lights: Small indicator lights on electronics are a nightmare. Is the charging light red (low battery) or green (fully charged)? If you have to ask your partner or a roommate every single time, your cones are likely misfiring.
• Color-Coded Graphs: If you’re at work looking at a pie chart and three of the slices look like the exact same shade of "vaguely mustard," that's a massive hint.

Is it different for kids?

Identifying this in children is a whole different ball game. Kids don't know they see the world differently because they've never seen it through anyone else's eyes. They might get labeled as "slow" in school because they can't follow color-coded instructions. They might color a sun green or a tree trunk red. It’s not a lack of creativity; it’s just the reality they’re living in.

The Ishihara Test and what it actually proves

You’ve seen them. Those circles made of weird, multicolored dots with a number hidden inside. That is the Ishihara Test, designed by Dr. Shinobu Ishihara in 1917. It remains the gold standard for how to tell if you are colorblind regarding red-green deficiencies.

It works through "pseudoisochromatic" plates. Essentially, the dots are specifically shaded so that someone with normal vision sees a "7," but someone with a deficiency sees nothing—or even a different number entirely. However, doing these tests on a cheap smartphone screen is a bad idea. Screen brightness, blue-light filters, and poor color calibration can give you a false positive. You need a controlled environment with natural light and a physical book or a high-quality, calibrated monitor to get a real answer.

The three main flavors of color deficiency

It isn't just one thing. There’s a hierarchy of how your vision can be messed up.

1. Red-Green Deficiency: This is the heavyweight champion of colorblindness. It affects roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. It breaks down into "Deuteranomaly" (green looks more red) and "Protanomaly" (red looks more green and less bright).
2. Blue-Yellow Deficiency: This is rare. We're talking 1 in 10,000 people. It’s called Tritanopia. If you have this, blue looks green and yellow looks like violet or light grey. It’s often caused by aging or eye trauma rather than just genetics.
3. Total Color Blindness (Achromatopsia): This is the "movie version" of colorblindness. It’s incredibly rare. People with this condition often have extreme sensitivity to light and see the world in shades of grey.

Why are men more likely to be colorblind?

It’s all about the X chromosome. The genes responsible for the most common types of color blindness are located right there. Since men only have one X chromosome, if it’s got the "colorblind" gene, they’re stuck with it. Women have two X chromosomes, so even if one is "broken," the other one usually acts as a backup. To be a colorblind woman, you basically have to win the genetic lottery in the worst way possible—both your parents have to pass the gene down.

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Can you "fix" it?

Short answer: No. Long answer: Sort of, but not really.

You’ve probably seen those viral videos of people putting on "EnChroma" glasses and sobbing because they can finally see colors. Those glasses are cool, but they aren't a cure. They use optical filters to increase the contrast between overlapping color signals. They don't give you "new" vision; they just clean up the "signal noise" for people with mild deficiencies. If you are missing a cone entirely, those glasses won't do much.

There are also apps like "Color Binoculars" (developed by Microsoft) that use your phone's camera to shift colors into a spectrum you can see. It helps you distinguish between a ripe strawberry and an unripe one, which is handy, but it doesn't change how your brain processes light.

Real-world tests you can do right now

If you’re sitting there wondering if you’re the 1 in 12, try these steps. Don't rely on a single online quiz.

Check your wardrobe. Go to your closet. Pick out everything you think is "dark blue" and everything you think is "black." Take them into the direct sunlight. If you suddenly realize half your "black" socks are actually navy blue, your blue-sensing cones might be taking a nap.

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The "Traffic Light" Check. Next time you’re driving at night, look at the green light. Does it look white? To many people with red-green deficiency, the "green" on a traffic signal is so pale it looks almost like a streetlamp.

Ask about your family tree. Ask your mom if her father was colorblind. Because of how the X-linked inheritance works, it often skips a generation in a very predictable way. If your maternal grandfather struggled to tell colors apart, there is a statistically significant chance you will too.

What to do next

If you've realized that your world is a bit more muted than your friends', don't panic. Being colorblind isn't a disability for most; it’s a localized inconvenience. However, it does matter for certain careers. You can't be a commercial pilot, a jeweler, or certain types of electricians if you can't tell the difference between a red wire and a green one.

1. Book an appointment with an Optometrist. Mention specifically that you want a "comprehensive color vision screening." Don't just get a standard eye exam for glasses.
2. Request the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test. This is much more detailed than the Ishihara plates. You have to arrange colored caps in a specific order. It’s tedious, but it’s the most accurate way to map exactly where your vision falls short.
3. Label your life. If you struggle with clothes, use a labeling app or have a friend help you mark your tags.
4. Digital Adjustments. If you use a computer for work, both Windows and macOS have "Color Filters" in the accessibility settings. You can toggle on a "Protanopia" or "Deuteranopia" filter that shifts the entire OS color palette to something you can actually navigate.

The world doesn't look the same to everyone. Realizing you're colorblind is less like losing a sense and more like discovering you've been listening to a radio station with a little bit of static your whole life. You still hear the music; you just perceive the melody differently.