Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Color-blindness, or inability to see or distinguish colors. Also called acritochromacy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun achromatopia

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Standard examples from the study of vision include prosopagnosia (impaired face recognition), achromatopsia

    Modularity of Mind Robbins, Philip 2009

  • I have achromatopsia, so I see everything in grayscale.

    IRANIMATION IS UNSURPRISINGLY LOW-TECH 2007

  • PS: Vision in a complete achromat: a personal account is a very interesting feature on achromatopsia by vision scientist Knut Nordby.

    Not-so-new colour recognition Ray Girvan 2005

  • Neil Harbisson, an art student who suffers from achromatopsia, liked it so much that he now wears it full time, and was even allowed to have it on his passport photo ( "After his GP wrote a letter explaining the situation, Neil became the first person in the UK whose passport recognises him as a cyborg").

    Not-so-new colour recognition Ray Girvan 2005

  • Mr Nordby featured in the Oliver Sacks series The Mind Traveller, when he accompanied Dr Sacks to Pingelap Atoll (the title topic of his book The Island of the Colour Blind) where due to a limited gene-pool some 10% of the population have achromatopsia.

    Not-so-new colour recognition Ray Girvan 2005

  • The documentary chronicles the rare condition of achromatopsia that affects many of the residents of Pingelap, an atoll in the South Pacific.

    An Island of Colorblindness Field Notes 2006

  • For the people with achromatopsia on Pingelap, vision that is dominated by rods instead of cones presents its own set of challenges.

    An Island of Colorblindness Field Notes 2006

  • For the people with achromatopsia on Pingelap, vision that is dominated by rods instead of cones presents its own set of challenges.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Field Notes 2006

  • The documentary chronicles the rare condition of achromatopsia that affects many of the residents of Pingelap, an atoll in the South Pacific.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Field Notes 2006

  • The treatment cured younger canines regardless of the mutation that caused their achromatopsia, the researchers said, noting the gene therapy was effective for the 33 months of the study and most likely is permanent.

    The Money Times Jassi kaur 2010

  • Achromatopsia, or total colorblindness, is much more rare, affecting about 1 in 30,000 people.

    This is what it looks like to be colorblind Andy Baio 2023

  • Achromatopsia, or total colorblindness, is much more rare, affecting about 1 in 30,000 people.

    This is what it looks like to be colorblind Andy Baio 2023

Comments

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  • He looked up; the sky was deep in stars. He'd forgotten how many there could be. Washes of them, spilling in streams. He'd forgotten how rich darkness looked. He could see, but poorly, without color, plunged into achromatopsia. Both of the achromats he'd interviewed had raged against the very words, red, yellow, blue.

    --Richard Powers, 2007, The Echo Maker, p. 306

    November 7, 2008

  • In <i>On the Move</i>, Oliver Sacks refers to people with achromatopsia as "achromatopes." Wikipedia entry on achromatopsia calls the "achromats."

    October 10, 2015