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Imagine being color blind. Now imagine trying to work with color-coded wires. That was the struggle of Lincoln Trail College Broadband Telecom student Alexis Perry. That all changed thanks to the help of TRIO Student Support Services, the Palestine Lions Club, and Lincoln Trail College, who donated a pair of EnChroma glasses to her.
Perry received the glasses at a ceremony with Broadband Telecom instructors Travis Matthews and Dennis York, Palestine Lions Club Treasurer and LTC employee Carol Mehler, TRIO Student Support Services Director Wain Davis, and TRIO SSS Counselor Linda Ryan-Catt, who helped organize the donation. Perry looked at a colorful flower arrangement when she tried on the glasses for the first time.
“Well, I've always really loved flowers, but now they look a lot cooler. It's almost like they were glowing, like I didn't know they could do that. My husband, he compares my color blindness to like having a dull filter on everything.”
The EnChroma Safety Glasses Perry received are designed to help people with red-green color blindness overcome daily frustrations and obstacles at work related to correctly identifying and interpreting colors. Perry says that her husband has been helping her identify colored wires, but she knew that was going to have to come to an end soon.
Broadband Telecom Lead Instructor Travis Matthews has known Perry for years and says the new glasses will help her be successful. “This is a big deal because I've actually known her for six years and actually get to see all of this come to fruition and helping her to get and obtain her degree.”
Linda Ryan-Catt serves as the TRIO SSS Counselor at Lincoln Trail College. Perry is in the program and Catt says that she wanted to do something to help her. “I knew Lions Club International helps students with glasses, so I contacted Carol Mehler and asked if this might be a possibility. She contacted EnChroma and asked for their help. This is the culmination of a lot of effort. It’s what community colleges are about.”
Mehler says it was very emotional watching Perry put on the EnChroma safety glasses for the first time. “I’m just glad we could help her. That’s what we are here for, the community. We’re a community organization. We are a community college. So, if there’s anybody out there that needs our help, we sure hope that they reach out to us so we can help them as well.”
EnChroma says color blindness is extremely rare in women, with only about one in 200 affected. They released a survey over the summer that found that nine in ten people with color vision deficiency stated that identifying colors correctly plays a role in their job and three-quarters report that being color blind slows them down at work. Nearly two-thirds have trouble interpreting color-coded materials.
Perry says she was overwhelmed with the support of the people that came together to help her. “I know that I wouldn't be able to do this on our own. You know, we're not in the best situation financially. That's why we're in school. And so, the training would have been very difficult. I would have had to wait till a good while with the career before I could even afford these on my own. It means everything. It means that I'm very proud to come back to my community that's very small and close knit.”
