I’ve heard that a lot of times when classmates hear that a child is colorblind, they are mystified by it, and constantly ask the child about it.

“What color is this lunchbox?”
“What color is the sky?”
“What color are my eyes?”

Can you imagine being frustrated by a trait that you have, being different from everyone else, and having that constantly be pointed out to you? It sounds like experiences that many of us have had in school. Maybe it was our weight, or a stutter, or the fact that we wear glasses. At least with color-deficiency, the difficulty children face isn’t immediately obvious as a physical trait.

That’s why we’ve never really told anyone except for our son’s caregivers that he is color-deficient. He’ll have to deal with all of the questions as he grows up, but we want the decision whether or not to tell people about it to be his own to make.

So, thank you for keeping it to yourself, dear reader, and remember the difficulties that your own children may be having in other areas of their lives.