In the world, around 300 million people are colourblind.
Most colourblind people find out about their condition at a much later stage in their lives, making simple everyday encounters for children, such as picking fruit and crossing the street, difficult. This can be very confusing for children and debilitating for parents. It is even harder to diagnose this condition due to the child’s inability to speak or express themselves verbally when very young.
On Tuesday, September 06, 2022, also known as colourblind awareness day, babyshop launched the colourCheck initiative.
A double-sided coloured pencil set created to spot colour blindness in younger children.
One side of the pencil represents the rainbow spectrum as seen naturally, while the other side is the equivalent spectrum to how a colourblind child sees it.
If children are unable to see the two different colours on either side, parents and school teachers can quickly identify colourblind symptoms, instantly accommodating children and giving them a better quality of life.
Through this initiative in partnership with schools, babyshop wants to raise awareness and help detect children with colour vision deficiencies at the earliest.
Marisa, a pediatric psychologist, considers that “colourblindness can have psychological effects on a child”, explaining that he could feel excluded because of this condition.
Abeer, a teacher at the Safa British school, adds that early diagnosis can help kids adapt better in school: “ideally, it is great to know if the child is colourblind as soon as they turn 3 years old. This way, we can accommodate to the condition”.
Early detection, this is exactly what the colourCheck initiative is all about.
The British School of Dubai and the Global Indian International School of Dubai are already taking part in the initiative, and babyshop hopes to extend it to the whole country in the near future.