On June 26, EnChroma, a lead manufacturer of glasses for those who are colorblind, teamed up with Eataly Downtown for a fun and colorful event. At this event, five color-blind New Yorkers experienced viewing color for the first time. La Pizza & La Pasta A Colori, a restaurant created by the Color Factory and Eataly, provided colorful arrangements of food including wines and cheeses to add to this colorful experience. Some of A Colori’s proceeds will be donated to EnChroma’s Color Accessibility Program. This program donates EnChroma glasses to libraries in New York for color-blind guests.
Expectations of EnChroma Glasses
Many of the guests had mentioned that being color blind makes their classes school or their job more difficult. Steve Brandon, a college student, explained that classes like “Geology in college was definitely a bad experience. Distinguishing the colors of rocks for exams and assignments would always be extremely difficult and I never did too well in the class.”
Also, participants described having difficulty playing certain color based games, being creative, and picking out outfits. Dr. Samuel Fam, a family medicine physician, explained that he loved to draw as a child “but once color blending became a more advanced skill I shied away from being creative because I couldn’t match shades in natural ways.” The participants hoped that the glasses would make them feel more confident and able to relate to the beauty of color that the rest of the community so easily experiences.
Thoughts on EnChroma Glasses
The participants adored the EnChroma Glasses! Bob Brown, NYC firefighter and police officer, explained that “the colors [were] just dancing…[the world] is popping with color!” The participants agreed that the glasses do indeed make a huge difference. Peter Fong, a software engineer, exclaimed that this was “a life changing experience.” Delaney Scheidell, a high school student, explained that she’s “excited to go home and experience a new environment”. Eataly now has a permanent set of EnChroma glasses available at their restaurant for color blind customers.
