# My daughter can't be colorblind, correct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621 "2013-02-07T19:51:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/1 "2013-02-07T19:51:54Z")
My daughter (23 months) and I were sorting colored pompoms just now. She sorted out black, white, brown, blue, and yellow ones right away. She wouldn’t do anything with the red, green, and pink ones though. Which got me thinking about red-green color blindness. Both of my daughter’s grandfathers are red-green color blind. Neither my husband nor I are, though. That means that our daughter can’t possibly be color blind, correct? Because she must have inherited a normal X from her father, even if she got a color blind X from me? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/2 "2013-02-07T19:53:30Z")
Edited because I think I said something stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/3 "2013-02-07T19:54:57Z")
She still under warranty? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/4 "2013-02-07T19:56:07Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > She still under warranty? I’ve got one month to exchange her, that’s why I’m asking now. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/5 "2013-02-07T19:56:59Z")
Its possible (barely) that there was a spontaneous mutation in the other allele, so that she would be homozygous. More likely, she just likes the other colors better 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/6 "2013-02-07T20:33:04Z")
Your husband could have a mild colorblindness and not realize it. I have mild green blindness, deuteranomaly, also known as “green weakness.” Some forms of deuteranomaly are so mild that they approach normal color vision. In my case I wouldn’t even know I had it if my color vision had never been tested, I’d just think my wife was ridculously picky about imagined differences between brown and green shirts. If your husband has a mild color blindness and you’re a carrier, your daughter could be more color blind than your husband. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/7 "2013-02-07T21:10:54Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Because she must have inherited a normal X from her father, even if she got a color blind X from me? This is correct, as far as it goes. A few possible ways in which it could be more complicated than that have already been proposed. Another is that your husband could be XXY - Kleinfelter - and not know it, though this is quite unlikely. If he were, he could have gotten both a color-blind X and his Y from his (color-blind) father, and thus be a carrier. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/8 "2013-02-07T21:14:55Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Another is that your husband could be XXY - Kleinfelter - and not know it, though this is quite unlikely. If he were, he could have gotten both a color-blind X and his Y from his (color-blind) father, and thus be a carrier. Unlikely, since men with Kleinfelter’s are usually sterile. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/9 "2013-02-07T21:34:02Z")
Simple Linctus: Do you want to help out some stranger? Simple Linctus’s Relative (who is an optomotrist): Maybe Simple Linctus: Have a look at this {{Simple Linctus shows relative the OP}} Simple Linctus’s Relative: I don’t know. It can’t be simple red-green colour blindness, but there are lots of other types of colour blindness and I cannot remember the genetic aspects to them (paraphrased by Simple Linctus) Simple Linctus: Shouldn’t you KNOW this? Simple Linctus’s Relative: Probably. Simple Linctus: Is this one of the things that someone in your job should know the answer to but is less than a tenth of a per cent of it, yet something almost everyone asks about? Simple Linctus’s Relative:More or less. Simple Linctus: I have a similar problem.For example… {blah blah blah in which Simple Linctus discusses the stupid {and frankly, selfish} questions he was asked all the time until he became unemployed a month or two ago} {{Simple Linctus shows Simple Linctus’s relative what he proposes to post on the internet}} Simple Linctus’s Relative: You can post that so long as I can’t be identified Simple Linctus: I cannot guarantee that but I wouldn’t have thought so, unless maybe if that website is raided by the police tomorrow or something, and even then does it really matter? Is there anything that really shouldn’t be put on? Is there anything supremely relevant to bring up? Simple Linctus’s Relative: I don’t think so. Simple Linctus: So I can post it? Simple Linctus’s Relative: OK So in other words - asking a genuine optical professional, she can’t rule it out but at the same time she would need to look in “some books” to be sure. I can pass on any questions to her by the way. Edit: To be completely clear, the main point of my OP is that there are lots of other types of colour blindness. Your kid is presumably not gonna get the most common kind but she could easily have other kinds. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/10 "2013-02-07T21:40:19Z")
I also just sua sponte (is that the right term? if not I’m keeping it so I can pretend to be a judge) asked said relative whether you could check for these other kinds of colour blindness by taking your kid to an optomotrist, and apparently she is too young. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/11 "2013-02-07T21:55:58Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > Simple Linctus’s Relative: I don’t know. It can’t be simple red-green colour blindness, but there are lots of other types of colour blindness and I cannot remember the genetic aspects to them (paraphrased by Simple Linctus) Blue-yellow (tritanopia and tritanomaly) is from chromosome 7, i.e. not a sex chromosome. It is very rare, though. The normal way a girl can be color blind is if a) her father is colorblind, AND b) the mother is either also colorblind, or a carrier. So the OP’s question is likely correct, and the OP likely is a carrier. Babies also have crap vision, both acuity and color. But by 23 months it’s almost certainly close enough to normal. I chalk this one up to the difficulty of children, and possibly she isn’t interested in that task. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/12 "2013-02-07T22:21:46Z")
I knew a girl who was blue-yellow colorblind. In some cases it’s not genetic. Though people say it’s very rare, but tritanopia occurs in something like 0.01% of all people. That means hundreds of thousands of females alive now have it. I don’t think sorting pom-poms is a good test anyway. Colored objects aren’t invisible to color blind people, some different colors will just look the same to them. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/13 "2013-02-07T23:16:38Z")
When you say she wouldn’t do anything with the red/pink/green ones, what exactly do you mean? Did she sort all the red/pink/green ones into one group, like she thought they were the same color? Or did she just not touch them at all? ---
**Author:** ![dam0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@dam0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dam0)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/14 "2013-02-07T23:22:28Z")
I’m colour blind red-green. Neither of my parents are but my grandfather on my mothers side was. He was also an electricition by trade… Oddly. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/15 "2013-02-07T23:58:35Z")
> [@dam0](#): > > I’m colour blind red-green. Neither of my parents are but my grandfather on my mothers side was. > > He was also an electricition by trade… Oddly. Are you a man? If so the color blindness gene went from grandpa, to your mother where it was recessive, to you. By “she wouldn’t do anything” I meant that as soon as I put the pompoms in front of her (in a muffin tin), she sorted out the white, black, brown, blue, and yellow ones into strictly color-coded muffin hollows. Then she grabbed a handful of what was left (red green pink) and just looked at them. I asked her to sort those too and she wouldn’t. I gave her a red one and asked her to pick out one of the same color, she wouldn’t. I asked her what color each one was, and she said “blue” each time. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/16 "2013-02-08T00:09:17Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > By “she wouldn’t do anything” I meant that as soon as I put the pompoms in front of her (in a muffin tin), she sorted out the white, black, brown, blue, and yellow ones into strictly color-coded muffin hollows. Then she grabbed a handful of what was left (red green pink) and just looked at them. I asked her to sort those too and she wouldn’t. I gave her a red one and asked her to pick out one of the same color, she wouldn’t. I asked her what color each one was, and she said “blue” each time. Well it does sound like colorblindness. It’s hardly the worst thing on earth though. I don’t if she’s old enough for serious testing, but it’s probably worthwhile at some point. Or she may just be messing with you, hard to say if that’s better or worse than being colorblind. But if it’s a problem for you, I’ll trade you two full grown boys for her. One of them even has a job. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/17 "2013-02-08T00:14:34Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > Simple Linctus’s Relative: You can post that so long as I can’t be identified > > […] > > So in other words - asking a genuine optical professional, **she** can’t rule it out but at the same time she would need to look in “some books” to be sure. I can pass on any questions to **her** by the way. Hah! Half way there to identifying her… > [@Sattua](#): > > My daughter (23 months) and I were sorting colored pompoms just now. She sorted out black, white, brown, blue, and yellow ones right away. She wouldn’t do anything with the red, green, and pink ones though. Which got me thinking about red-green color blindness. If she were colorblind, wouldn’t she just think they were the same color? It’s not like they wouldn’t have a color, or would be invisible, or whatever. If she just couldn’t tell the colors apart, why is she treating them differently (apart from normal kids-just-do-stuff-sometimes)? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/18 "2013-02-08T00:55:00Z")
> [@dam0](#): > > I’m colour blind red-green. Neither of my parents are but my grandfather on my mothers side was. > > He was also an electricition by trade… Oddly. Good thing he wasn’t in a bomb disposal unit, then. > [@ZenBeam](#): > > If she were colorblind, wouldn’t she just think they were the same color? It’s not like they wouldn’t have a color, or would be invisible, or whatever. If she just couldn’t tell the colors apart, why is she treating them differently (apart from normal kids-just-do-stuff-sometimes)? It’s not that they all look identical to her, but that they are close enough in shade/brightness that they might as well be the same color. These ones just happen to be in the same category. Get her assessed at some point, maybe when she is older. But for now it’s no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/19 "2013-02-08T00:56:14Z")
Yeah I’m not getting that she’s colorblind from what you’re saying. If she really thought they were blue, she’d have sorted them into the same pile as the blue ones (which you said she had already sorted). Unless they’re a different shade of blue to her. Try this: repeat the test in a week or so, but maybe make it a game with Skittles or M&Ms (tropical Skittles are probably better, they come in more colors). Tell her she can eat them after she sorts them all into piles according to color. Take note of the ones incorrectly sorted, and let her eat them anyway after she’s done. =) Maybe try going one color at a time. “Okay, pick out all the red ones, then you can eat them. Now pick out the blue ones.” etc ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621/20 "2013-02-08T01:20:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Edited because I think I said something stupid. 😃 EBITISSS Should be part of the lexicon. **Simple Linctus** : Superb post. Shows the right attitude, and full transparency, as they say in politics these days. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-daughter-cant-be-colorblind-correct/649621.md?page=2)