The Mystery of Colors

To many of those who are unable to see colors, the word color remains a great mystery and at best a great desire to discover the unknown. As someone who was able to see colors all my life up until five years ago, I can faithfully tell you that it is practically impossible to teach someone who is unable to see colors what colors look like. This is one of the things that I miss the most; the ability to see colors.

One cannot hear colors or smell colors. One cannot feel colors or taste colors. One cannot sense colors or touch colors; but one can see colors if they are able to. I often wonder if there could be a way to teach a blind person what colors are all about, but several of my friends who were born with no vision often remind me that colors do not really mean anything to them because they were never able to see them in the first place.

Colors mean the world to me and will probably always mean the world to me despite my loss of vision. You see, when I hear a word or think of something, I think of it through color. Whenever I smell or touch something I put a color to it. Whenever I play or compose music, my thoughts are covered with colors! I dream in color and I think in color!

Whenever I take those joyful jaunts down memory lane, I can see a sunrise as pure as gold, a sunset that is a soft pink, the placid sea that is a shade of royal blue and a sky that is a much lighter shade of blue. I can see a big silver Air Canada jet bird and the fast flowing silver water of the Niagara Falls. The big fat white snowflakes and the smiling red rose. My favorite color is yellow with blue running a comfortable second and red coming in third.

Colors will always play a very important part in my life. I used to depend on colors to identify objects but sadly no more. Now I use colors to remember persons and things and even as I write this there are some special memories that will forever remain imprinted on my mind such as my beloved dad, who passed on 21 years ago, in his light grey suit. My beloved brother, Robert, who passed on two years ago all decked out in his pilot's uniform: a handsome black uniform adorned with gold stripes. My beautiful mom standing before me in a turquoise dress forever and so much more.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and enjoy your world of colors. If you would like to learn more about how blind persons function without color then please visit www.nfb.org.