TRENTON, Mich. – The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge partnered with EnChroma to offer view scopes and glasses so people with red-green color blindness can experience nature in vibrant color.
Guests who are red-green color blind can use the newly installed special SeeCoast viewer scopes created with EnChroma lenses for color blindness. The refuge also offers the option for visitors to borrow a pair of glasses.
“The chance to help provide expanded access to the beauty of the colors of nature is a true privilege,” park ranger Todd Weston said. “This is just one step along the path to making the outdoors equitable for all.”
Michael Dean and Tim Aepelbacher are both red-green color blind. They recently had an opportunity to go to the refuge and experience nature through EnChroma lenses.
The men walked to the viewing post at Humbug Marsh and tried out the lenses for the first time. They noted that the leaves looked greener and that the color red stood out. Dean and Aepelbacher both walked away with their own pair of EnChroma glasses.
EnChroma works by selectively filtering light to increase the contrast between the red and green color signals. EnChroma glasses are designed to improve color vision of people with forms of anomalous trichromacy.