How a Virginia park is providing a 'mindblowing' experience for the colorblind

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- All 43 Virginia State Parks now include a piece of equipment intended to help improve the visit of an estimated 341,000 of its guests each year - special viewfinders for people who are red-green colorblind.

The installation of the viewfinders began last summer and on Friday, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages state parks, marked the completion of the project at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County and invited six people who are colorblind to experience them.

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“That is strange. And everybody just sees that normally?” Zachary Esparro, from Hampton, said as he looked through the viewfinder to a group of kayakers and trees in the distance. “I don't know what else to say about it. It's just mind-blowing. That's really interesting.”

“That's incredible. That's really incredible,” said Robert Purinton, from Fredericksburg.

“Y'all see this every day, huh?” added Bryan Wagner, from New Kent County.

“This initiative underscores Virginia’s commitment to enhancing outdoor experiences for all visitors and sets a new standard for state parks nationwide,” said DCR Director Matt Wells, who added Virginia is the first park system to have them installed in all its locations. “We’re proud to play a role in opening up a world of vibrant color for colorblind individuals to experience nature like never before."

Before taking a look through the viewfinder, each participant shared what their life had been like living with colorblindness.

Jillian Sherman, from Henrico, said she only discovered it when she was testing to join the Navy.

“They actually had me do a second color test. And it was testing where I had to call out three different colors: red, green, and white. And I never saw the green. I called everything is red and white,” she said. “It would be wonderful to know which shades and colors I'm looking at. I realized as I was thinking about all this, I grew up never quite knowing if the colors I was wearing matched and got teased a lot for it.”

Tyler Hughes, from Richmond, is Sherman’s brother and said he found out he was colorblind when he was four or five years old, and said the color of the sky was purple.

“I’ve got an 11-year-old goddaughter who I tried to teach her colors when I was younger and that did not go over so well.”

The first viewfinder was installed at Natural Tunnel State Park as it was their chief ranger, Ethan Howes, who pushed for the program after seeing them installed in some state parks in Tennessee.

Howes is also colorblind and found out because he kept losing a classic road trip game.

“My sister and I would play punch buggy,” he explained. “You say the wrong color you get punched, right? So, I was always getting punched by my sister. And so, my dad was like, 'We're going to check this out.'”

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“I never dreamed in my wildest dreams would I have dreamt this happening,” he said of the viewfinders being placed in all parks.

Howes explained that human eyes have three cones that take in red, green, and blue colors. He said sometimes the first two cones bring in too much of their colors, leading to the issues.

He said the viewfinders, made by SeeCoast Manufacturing, are fitted with lenses made by a company called EnChroma that can help people with certain types of colorblindness by filtering out the extra color.

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“Everything's just a bit sharper. Colors are a bit brighter, hues are a little bit more intense. Which is amazing.”

The six participants were also given their own pair of EnChroma sunglasses so they could keep experiencing the enhanced colors after Friday.

Officials said the installation of the viewfinders was funded through their “Round-Up for Parks Program” which allowed visitors to round up purchases made at the parks or online.

They said they have raised nearly $300,000 since 2018.

If you would like to try the viewfinder at Pocahontas, it is located on a grassy overlook to the left of the water park.

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