Photo of a kid with sunglasses playing at a playground

Jaron Casillas wears his new glasses outside for the first time.

Courtesy of Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District

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Changing Colors

Alexander Kaludov/Alamy Stock Photo

What Do You See? Many colorblind people can’t see the number 6 among the dots in this pattern.

Jaron Casillas sees the world differently than most people. He’s one of about 12 million Americans who were born colorblind. That doesn’t mean he sees everything in black and white. He just has trouble differentiating certain colors, like red from green and blue from purple. 

“Sometimes when I look at two colors that you would say are different, I would say they’re the exact same,” Jaron explains.

To the fifth-grader from Colleyville, Texas, a sunrise looks green and grass looks red.

An Act of Kindness

Jaron’s classmates at Glenhope Elementary School didn’t know he was colorblind until October. When asked to name his favorite color, Jaron said he didn’t know. 

His classmates were surprised that Jaron couldn’t see all the colors they can. They came up with a plan. They’d buy him special glasses for people who are colorblind. But the kids had to raise the money first. The glasses cost nearly $200.

“I was touched that they were inspired to do something,” says Christina Hayes, Jaron’s teacher.

The students used their allowance money and got their parents to contribute too. They raised enough money to buy two pairs of glasses—one for indoors and another for outdoors. 

They surprised Jaron with the glasses on October 19. He says it was the happiest day of his life. He was amazed at how different everything looked the moment he put on the glasses. And he was overwhelmed by the kindness of his classmates.  

“I couldn’t believe they had done that for me,” Jaron says.

Shutterstock.com 

To a person who’s colorblind, the bunch of balloons on the left might look similar to the ones on the right.

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