Glasses for colorblind get national attention

It all started with an idea three years ago, a way to change the lives of people who are colorblind so they could see the world that everyone else sees. Now, that idea has spread across the country.

EnChroma glasses, which first made a public appearance locally, help people with the most common form of colorblindness, protanopia, or red-green colorblindness, have made their way to libraries in Florida and Massachusetts.

Most recently, in St. John’s County, Fla., 35 pairs of EnChroma glasses have helped users see the full spectrum of colors to view the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in its full beauty, said Amy Ackerman, the library’s assistant branch manager.

When the Johnson County Public Library introduced the glasses to its patrons in 2017, they were the first public library in the United States to do so, said Ackerman and Elyssa Everling, adult service librarian of the Johnson County Public Library’s Trafalgar branch.

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The EnChroma glasses debuted at the local library system due to an internal grant, using money in its own budget for whoever had the best idea of how to use it. With the grant, the library purchased four pairs of the glasses, one for each of its four branches. The glasses cost about $350 a pair, but Everling wanted to make sure library-goers could try them out before making the purchase, Everling said.

“I’ve heard mostly positive reactions. A lot of people are excited to see color for the first time,” Everling said. “I know one or two people have actually purchased them because they tried them beforehand.”

The glasses at the Johnson County Public Library are not for sale, but patrons who want them can purchase them elsewhere. The ones the Johnson County Public Library have are available to users two weeks at a time. Each pair has been checked out less than 40 times since 2017, she said.

Twice a year, Everling will hear from library officials elsewhere in the United States who want to get their hands on a pair. Along with libraries in Florida and Massachusetts, which now also offer the glasses to patrons, libraries in Tipton County and St. Paul, Minn. have also inquired about them, she said.

“It seems to be like every six months I hear from somebody from a library,” Everling said. “They contact me and I tell them how we packaged them (and) the experiences we’ve had.”

The St. Johns County Public Library built upon the ideas of its EnChroma predecessor in Johnson County. The library has glasses for indoor use and outdoor use, and has different sizes for adults and children, Ackerman said.

“I thought we’d be the first to do this, but I saw Johnson County did it,” Ackerman said. “We got a grant from the Barbara A. Kay Foundation. Through the main library at St. Augustine, we were able to purchase four different types of glasses for our locations and bookmobile.”

The library started checking out the glasses to patrons Dec. 11, and it has had an immediate impact, Ackerman said.

“We have had such great weather much of the year. It’s a great way for people to enjoy our outer beauty,” Ackerman said. “For some people, it’s fantastic seeing colors they haven’t seen before, but not everyone is seeing results because there are different types (of colorblindness). We wanted to make it available for everyone regardless of socioeconomic status so they can try them before they purchase (them).”

While many people may take seeing a full spectrum of colors for granted, providing that experience for people who don’t have that ability is a tremendous gift, Ackerman said.

“My friend had his own pair of glasses and was talking about all these things he was experiencing that I took for granted,” Ackerman said. “I never thought about what it was like living your entire life not seeing colors of certain flowers. Knowing we can give that to someone else is worth it.”