Last year, Natural Tunnel State Park in southwest Virginia installed a special viewfinder that helps most people who are colorblind see an expanded range of colors. It was a hit with visitors, and so the state recently installed EnChroma viewfinders in all 43 state parks.
A ranger at Natural Tunnel, who is colorblind himself, heard about EnChroma viewfinders at other parks in Tennessee. Ethan Howes installed one at Natural Tunnel, and has been able to see purples and other colors for the first time.
He recalled when a father and son who are colorblind came to the park to use the viewfinder. “They were just so giddy and excited about it,” Howes said.
Kaitlynn Mallette recently hiked with her baby strapped to her back at Natural Tunnel State Park. She said she knows what these viewfinders can mean for people who have trouble seeing some colors.
“Because my brother’s colorblind, I really think it would help him see the beautiful landscape that we get to experience,” said Mallette.
Melissa Baker, director of Virginia State Parks, met another group of visitors who are colorblind, as they looked through a viewfinder.
“One of the gentleman said, ‘ya’ll see this all the time?’ It was really meaningful to be part of that. Being part of them seeing that richness of color for the first time,” Baker said.
Baker said even people who aren’t colorblind can see more contrasts and vivid colors when they look through the viewfinders.
The viewfinders, which also magnify scenery, similar to looking through binoculars, were made by SeeCoast Manufacturing and equipped with lenses from EnChroma which estimates their lenses help eight out of 10 people with red-green color blindness see more colors.
Virginia is the first in the country to install them at every state park.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
