How would you describe color to a blind person?

Question

I'm very curious about how you would explain the concept of color, or even the light and dark, to someone who is blind.

Suggestions?
And for the record, using terms like "pigments", etc. don't help much.

Answer 1

Hey Riad,

I would use cool, hot, feelings, things that they could relate to both at a feelings level and intellectual. Try the wave length frequency approach and describe each color in terms of feeling and wavelength. Work out a chart so they can easily remember.
Go for the basics first, then start with combining colors.

Black absorbs all light. White reflects all light to your eyes. Prisms split light into wave lengths. Get it...

consider also comparisons of fruits, foods, etc.

Answer 2

Have you ever seen the Rocky Denis story called Mask? He meets a blind girl who has never had sight. When he tries to describe things, like fluffy white clouds in a blue sky, she doesn't understand so he sets up some things to help her "see". the fluffy white clouds was cotton. Blue was ice. Of course this is a movie and I have no clue whether it actually happened, but I could see (no pun intended) how touch and feel would be as close as you could get to describing colors and sights that a blind person has never seen.

Answer 3

I remember seeing a movie once (though I don't remember which) where someone was teaching colors to a blind person. The teacher used tastes and textures to explain them -- like blue would be something cool and icy, pink would be soft and fuzzy, etc.

Answer 4

Try using the emotions that those colours make you feel. In art & design each colour has a specific meaning, it's called Colour Theory, ie: red = danger. Think of a stop sign.

Answer 5

i'm supplying you with a large call because of the fact this could properly be a query that merits recognize. no longer a lot of human beings could think of of this. Blind human beings experience issues we can not. i could describe purple because of the fact the solar=warm orange=fruit, scent could be stable to them yellow=a lemon. yet another stable scent green=grass, experience and scent of shrink grass blue-the sea, the texture& sound of waves, scent the salt air lavender, pink= i could have them scent the lavender flower I advance lavender & it smells astounding white= sheets desire that facilitates

Answer 6

It's kind of like textures--a very dense texture would be black, a very light one would be white. For example, black might be like shag carpeting, while white would be the smooth feel of polished metal. The other colors would be everything in between.

Answer 7

Use words for both positive and negative emotion, smell and touch to correspond with each color. For example, red can symbolize both love or passion and hate or anger. It can smell lovely, like a rose, or sickening, like blood. It can be hot, like a burn, or sensual, like sex, or velvet...

This is a very challenging question!

Answer 8

You can use their other senses to help them get an idea of what colors mean to sighted people.

For example blue - cool --> give them a glass of ice water or an ice cube.

red - warm, hot --> a warm/hot drink tea or coffee.

light ---> stand in the sunlight
dark --> stand in the shadows

Answer 9

How would you describe blind to a seeing person?

Answer 10

If they were blind since birth there's no way to describe color...