How do you describe color to a person who is blind from birth?

Question

Since you cannot make comparisions, how do you tell them just what color is, in more then just a technical way???

Answer 1

you cant.
but blind persons dream in color...

Answer 2

Here's how that question was answered before on Yahoo Answers:

"I would have so they associate the colors with things they can touch, taste, smell, hear... all the other senses they have. Example...
Blue... ice
White... cotton
Pink... sticky cotton candy
Red... rose... soft petals... pricking thorns
Green... freshly cut grass
Yellow... the warmth of the hot sun

A person just needs to use their imagination to come up with things to describe colors to those who cannot see them. What they can do is hear, smell, taste, and touch things in ways people who can see can never imagine."

"It may not be possible or even meaningful to describe colors to a blind person. However, even a person who has been blind since birth may be able to detect some degree of light - blindness is very much a matter or degree. You need to determine how much light the person can detect.

Consider thinking about what things are red, for example. People who are blind know "apples" and you could explain that some apples are red, ketchup is red, tomatoes are red, etc., and do the same with other colors. Some people have experimented a little with using taste to explain colors to blind people. Others have considered the relationship between music and color. In any case, you would have to use a sensation they know to relate to one they do not know.

You may find this link quite interesting. I hope this helps.
Source(s):
http://www.colormatters.com/bubdarc3-vis...

But this answer comes from a discussion board on the American Foundation for the Blind:

"My boyfriend has been blind since birth. He's 22 now and we have been told scientist are still working on a cure.
It's not easy describing things to him, and some things can't really be discribed. Like when people say to put their hands in worm water they would get a sense of what red is like, and cold for blue. That is terribly wrong. There is no way to describe colors to a person that has been blind sinse birth.
If you want to describe a sunset you have to think of something that feels like a sunset. Maybe like a hug. I told my boyfriend a sunset gives you a warm feeling. The same feeling we get when we hug each other firmly. It gives you a very warm and relaxed feeling."

Answer 3

Language is useless for expressing things that can only known through common experience. I can only describe taste, sight, and smell because other people are familiar with it.


If she is blind from birth but experiences some sensation of light and dark, you could say it is just like light, only brighter. I wish that I could do it better. Maybe you could say it in evocative terms, like music. Synergism was an artistic movement that tried to evoke color in the same way as a musical score- they are not so different.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Okay well have you ever seen Elephant man the movie?? it is quite beautiful, anyway he falls inlove with a blind from birth girl and noone has ever been able to explain colour to her untill he comes up with an idea.....he takes her into the kitchen and sits her down, he then tells her to put out her hands and he hands her a FREEZING ( or ice) rock he has kept in the freezer and explains that that is blue, then he hands her a BOILING rock and explains that is red, he then hands her a ball of cotton wool and explains that is white etc.....it is VERY beautiful and he puts it into perspective for her and well its very touching and amazing...words can not always express...use anything to give them the idea..they dont need to know the look and colur of it...but the tempreture,texture and sound can all contribute and make it understandable for them even though they will never see they can get and idea and feeling. I do recommend Elephant man...it is a beautiful movie about acceptance and understanding and respect. I hope this has helped. And just be patient with them and they will learn.And because there sight is not working all tere other senses open up more...so her feeling and understanding were open to it.


Well i dont think you can really say what they see is black because they cant see it...and well they dont know what they are seeing but yes....start with what the see...(nothing) is black and dark....maybe use a touching sense to show them like hand him/her an empty box or a solid one because black is solid and so would a cube/box be ....and moss for green to feel the texture and the coolness of it. sort of gives them a visual.


To show them colour by using one of thei other senses would be the most beautiful gift and way to communicate.

Answer 5

You cannot. Because to describe color, it implies what color something is. and since the blind person has never seen anything let alone any color, the argument is already futile. The blue-cold, red-hot, thing doesn't work like in hollywood movies, because cold can also be burning, like dry ice.

Answer 6

The concept of colors to a person blind from birth would always remain words.
Color is such a subjective entity that a blind person who had never seen it could never associate it more than with a word.

Answer 7

More than just technical? Screw that for a lark.


I'd tell them straight up that light is just a term for energy carried by photons... much like sound is kinetic energy of vibrating molecules....
Then I'd go on to say that colour is simply the span of different wavelengths that people with vision can detect... with red being the lowest and violet being the highest...

If they asked further questions I would then tell them that it was a load of nonsense and they were better off without it.

Answer 8

It is impossible, not my words the words of a man who had his sight restored, being blind from birth, he could not identify many objects, except by touch, he found the world frightening, and said there were times he regretted obtaining sight, he had no concept of colour, although friends had tried to describe them.

Answer 9

I had to describe colors of notebooks to a blind person. Red was hot to touch. Blue was cold. Yellow felt warm like the sun on your face. brown feels like the bark of a tree ect

Answer 10

A good question. I am not sure, but maybe colors like red, orange and yellow to warmth and green, blue and purple to cool? We do divide those colors up into warm and cool, and they are naturally associated with hot/warm or cold/cool objects, so that might work...

Answer 11

I wouldnt unless they ask as I cant think of any thing worse than being blind and someone describing some thing to me that I will never be able to see. The frustration.