Virginia State Parks Install Viewfinders for People With Colorblindness, Just in Time for Leaf-Peeping Season
The viewfinders are outfitted with special lenses that help people with red-green colorblindness distinguish between hues
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An estimated 300 to 350 million people worldwide are affected by colorblindness, a condition that makes it difficult to distinguish between certain hues. In nature, this means flowers, insects and animals may appear to be less vibrant.
The differences can be especially pronounced during leaf-peeping season, when the leaves of deciduous trees turn red, orange and gold. To people with colorblindness, the dazzling fall foliage can look drab or muted.
Virginia wants to change that. Crews have installed special viewfinders at all 43 Virginia state parks so that more visitors can experience “a world of vibrant color,” says Matt Wells, director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, in a statement.
The viewfinders are designed for people with red-green colorblindness, which is the most common form of the condition. Subtypes of red-green colorblindness exist, but they all affect how people perceive shades with reds and greens in them.
Created by SeeCoast Manufacturing, the viewfinders are outfitted with special lenses made by EnChroma that help people with red-green colorblindness distinguish between hues. Similar to binoculars, the viewfinders also magnify whatever’s in view. (EnChroma also makes glasses for people who are colorblind.)
In Virginia, the project kicked off last summer at Natural Tunnel State Park, located near the far western tip of the state. Ethan Howes, the chief ranger of visitor experience for the park, is colorblind. When he learned about the viewfinders, he was intrigued.
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Natural Tunnel State Park installed a viewfinder at its gazebo, an overlook that offers a 360-degree view of the surrounding scenery. That first viewfinder was such a big hit that the state decided to bring them to the rest of Virginia’s state parks. Funding for the project came from donations made by visitors through the “Round-Up for Parks” program.
To celebrate the installation at all 43 parks, the state invited six people with red-green colorblindness to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia, in July.
“You all see this every day, huh?” said Bryan Wagner, one of the participants, per a statement from Virginia State Parks. “Everything’s not the same green. The colors are more vibrant.”
Visitors who are not colorblind can also see more vivid colors and sharper contrasts when they peer through the viewfinders, reports Virginia Public Radio’s Roxy Todd.
Color blindness, also known as color vision deficiency, is typically an inherited condition, though it can also result from certain medical conditions, medications or environmental exposures. Inherited red-green colorblindness primarily affects men and people assigned male at birth, because the genetic mutation that causes it occurs on the X chromosome.
Women have two X chromosomes, while men have just one. As such, “if the one X in a male contains abnormal genes, the color blindness will reveal itself, while females can compensate with the other normal gene on the second X chromosome,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
An estimated 1 in 12 men have color vision deficiency, compared to 1 in 200 women.
The colorblind-friendly viewfinders aren’t the only way Virginia is making its parks more accessible. This summer, Natural Bridge State Park also began offering a free mobile app designed for people who are blind or visually impaired, reports WFXR’s Thad Randazzo. Called RightHear, the app provides audio instructions in 26 languages to help users navigate the park. Using Bluetooth beacons throughout the park, the app also provides real-time audio descriptions of the user’s surroundings.
For example, as a user gets close to a trailhead, the app will say: “You are now at the beginning of Cedar Creek Trail. This trail is one mile long and leads to the Natural Bridge. The terrain is moderate.”
In other regions of the country, state parks are working to become more inclusive by building out fleets of off-road wheelchairs, developing trails for people with autism, and constructing playgrounds for children with disabilities.
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