While the splendor of fall colors — reds, yellows, greens, and oranges — is something many look forward to every year, people who are affected by colorblindness may find it difficult to distinguish between colors among the trees.
With leaf-peeping season around the corner — or already in full swing — across the country, one state has made the beauty of autumn more accessible to its visitors.
Virginia State Parks has installed EnChroma-adapted viewfinders in each of its 43 parks, giving colorblind guests the chance to experience the stunning fall foliage in its full spectrum.
The viewfinders are made by SeeCoast Manufacturing and are equipped with special lenses from EnChroma that help those with red-green color vision deficiency experience an expanded range of colors.
Lenses are engineered with a special optical filter, and although they are not a cure for colorblindness, work for roughly 80% of red-green colorblind people, according to Virginia State Parks.
Natural Tunnel State Park was the first to introduce these viewfinders in June 2023, an initiative led by Chief Ranger Ethan Howes, who is colorblind.
“This viewer will allow park visitors with red-green colorblindness to more fully experience the splendors nature has to offer,” Howes said. “Being colorblind, I am looking forward to seeing the colorful fall foliage this year.”
The remaining 42 locations were rolled out this year, now all functional in time for Virginia’s dazzling fall vistas.
“Seeing the world in vibrant color is a gift many of us take for granted,” said Virginia State Parks director Dr. Melissa Baker, in a statement.
“The EnChroma viewfinders help us create a one-of-a-kind experience for our red-green colorblind visitors and allow them to better enjoy the breathtaking beauty of our state parks.”
According to a press release, an estimated 8% of men and 0.5% of women are colorblind. In the United States alone, 13 million people live with colorblindness, and with over 8 million people visiting Virginia State Parks every year, an estimated 341,000 of them are colorblind.
“I guess there’s a lot out there that I don’t see,” Zach E., of Hampton, Virginia said while using the viewfinder for the first time. “How strange. Now I am wondering what a lot of the different colors look like. It just looks so cool.”
Another guest, Jillian S., of Henrico, Virginia, said that what she saw in the viewfinder were the same colors she could “see relatively well normally,” but they were sharper.
“They’re more distinct,” she said. “I’m seeing more variation in the greens. That’s really kind of cool. It’s exciting.”
The cost of each viewfinder is not immediately clear. However, the expansion across Virginia’s sites came from donations to the park system through the Round-Up for Parks program, which people can contribute to when making purchases online or in stores.
Since 2018, people have donated nearly $300,000 to the program, which has been invested in improving offerings and activities across Virginia’s state park sites.
This small act of accessibility is not unique to Virginia, either. The state joins over 400 organizations worldwide that have installed the EnChroma viewfinders, including nearly 100 state and national parks across 25 states.
It also aligns with a myriad of efforts across the country, in which state and national parks have begun to roll out other accommodations for disabled visitors, including adaptive cycling and kayaking, a way-finding app that helps blind explorers navigate through parks, and more.
“This initiative underscores Virginia’s commitment to enhancing outdoor experiences for all visitors and sets a new standard for state parks nationwide,” said Matt Wells, director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“We’re proud to play a role in opening up a world of vibrant color for colorblind individuals to experience nature like never before.”
Header image courtesy of Virginia State Parks/EnChroma
