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A new view for colorblind student
By AMANDA TONOLI
CANFIELD
No words could express the new view for a colorblind student sporting EnChroma glasses.
When math teacher Carl Pennington realized Emily Hrima couldn’t see the colors he used in his instruction, he wanted to do more than just accommodate her. He wanted to find a way to help her see the colors.
“I saw an article about these glasses, and the timing was just perfect. It was right around the time of parent-teacher conferences,” Pennington said.
He mentioned the glasses to Hrima and her parents. The 10th-grader found out she was color-blind at 13 years old.
Hrima said everything just looked mostly yellow, blue and gray.
“Everything was just dull and gross,” she said.
Hrima said she had to do research about EnChroma glasses to see if they would work with her form of color-blindness. She said she found that half of the time when people suffering from color-blindness used the glasses, it helped them see the full spectrum of colors – and half of the time, it did nothing.
The lenses in EnChroma glasses filter certain parts of the light spectrum in a way that make them visible to those who cannot normally see them.
Her parents bought the glasses, which cost about $300.
The glasses resulted in a colorful Christmas morning.
“It’s wonderful, she got to see Christmas lights for the first time,” Pennington said.
Hrima said she was just at a loss for words.
“I always ask if anyone got anything interesting for Christmas, and you can’t beat this story,” Pennington said.
Classmates were in awe of the glasses, trying them on and asking Hrima to identify colors on their shirts, notebooks and more.
“They’re just really cool,” said student Carson Markley of the glasses.
Pennington said he was excited for Hrima to see Mill Creek Park and all of the flowers in the spring.
“She sees things we don’t see just because we are so desensitized to it,” Pennington said. “Technology just seems to be seeping into every pore of society.”
Hrima said she wants to rewatch movies, now being able to see them outside of the dull view she originally saw them in.
“When a teacher can help a student, that’s just wonderful,” Pennington said. “I like getting the word out because there are so many people that have this.”