EnChroma Announces Organizations Can Now Join International Color Blindness Awareness Month™ 2024
July 16 2024 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
– Over 250 Museums, Universities, Parks,
Schools, Businesses and Tourist Sites Supported 2023 Color
Blindness Awareness Month; Sign up Now –
EnChroma® — creators of glasses for color blindness —
today announced that organizations and businesses can now sign up
to support International Color Blindness Awareness Month™ 2024.
Every September, hundreds of organizations come together to promote
‘color accessibility’ and inclusion for the one in 12 men (8%) and
one in 200 women (.5%) who are color blind; an estimated 13 million
in the United States; 30 million in Europe; and 350 million
worldwide.
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Depiction of red-green color blind and
normal color vision views of colorful buildings in Amsterdam.
(Photo: Business Wire)
Anytime in September, hundreds of museums, universities,
businesses, libraries, schools, park systems, tourism agencies,
philanthropic groups and others will make social media posts,
disseminate information, and engage in other activities to educate
the public about the prevalence and effects of Color Vision
Deficiency (CVD).
“Awareness of just how common color blindness is and how
significant its impacts are, still remains low amongst employers,
educators, parents and the general public,” said Erik Ritchie, CEO
of EnChroma. “From color confusion in the workplace, at school,
when enjoying sports and the outdoors, or when simply doing daily
activities can be frustrating for those with CVD. This year, we
hope even more organizations will support International Color
Blindness Awareness Month to both educate and advocate on behalf of
the color blind.”
While people with normal color vision see over one million
shades of color, the red-green color blind only see an estimated
10% of hues and shades. As a result, colors can appear dull,
indistinct and difficult to discern; red can appear brown; green
can look tan, gray or yellow; and purple and blue look similar.
Click here to see more images depicting color blindness.
Last year, over 250 organizations around the world used their
voices and platforms in support including multinational
corporations such as Honeywell Aerospace, Siemens Energy and
Faber-Castell; renowned museums such as the Centre Pompidou and the
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; universities such as the University of
North Carolina, Boston University and North Carolina State
University; state and national parks such as Friends of Kauai
Wildlife Refuges and Alaska State Parks; the Atlanta Botanical
Garden; nature advocates like the Audubon Nature Institute; and
groups such as Travel Oregon, Lions and Kiwanis clubs, and the Boy
Scouts of America.
How to Apply
Organizations and businesses can sign up here to commit to
making at least one social media post, or undertake any other
activity, that promotes color blindness awareness in September,
using any of an array of customizable images and templates. Do as
little as make one social media post using a customizable template
or create your own post(s) with easy-to-use tools. Participating
organizations can choose to receive two pairs of EnChroma glasses
to give away to color blind students,
customers, staff or visitors. The offer to give away EnChroma
glasses is not available to individuals.
EnChroma Color Accessibility Program™
EnChroma is the lead advocate for ‘color accessibility,’ helping
more than 400 universities, K-12 schools, state and national parks,
libraries, museums, tourism departments, attractions and other
organizations purchase and loan EnChroma glasses to color blind
students and guests. EnChroma donates a pair of glasses for each
pair an organization buys to lend to the public or students. The
program is also open to employers. Scenic viewers adapted for the
color blind are also available and in use by park systems across 25
states.
EnChroma glasses are engineered with special optical filters
that help the red-green color blind experience an expanded range of
colors more vibrantly and distinctly to make schoolwork that
involves color, art, nature and other experiences more ‘color
accessible.’ The glasses do not deliver full color vision and
results and reaction times vary. EnChroma glasses enhance color for
approximately 80% of people with deuteranomalous or protanomalous
red-green color blindness who have all three of their color sensing
cones. Read this study by UC Davis about the glasses.
About EnChroma
Based in Berkeley, Calif., EnChroma produces leading-edge
eyewear for red-green color blindness and low vision, and other
solutions for color vision, sold online and through Authorized
Retailers worldwide. Invented in 2010, EnChroma’s patented eyewear
combines the latest in color perception, neuroscience and lens
innovation to improve the lives of people with red-green color
vision deficiency around the world. EnChroma received an SBIR grant
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It earned the 2016
Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in
recognition of the firm’s innovative impact on the human experience
through technology, and the 2020 Innovation Award in Life Sciences
from the Bay Area’s East Bay Economic Development Alliance. Call
510-497-0048 or visit enchroma.com for more.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240716891549/en/
EnChroma Kent Streeb Vice President of Communications and
Partnerships kent@enchroma.com