How to describe colors to people with visual impairments

Use tactile sensations to describe colors. Let the person hold an object while you describe its color. Describing objects that consistently have a particular color will make it easier.

• Allow the person to hold different pieces of wood, feel tree bark, or touch the soil and explain that these items are brown.
  • You might say: "Brown feels like the earth or dead plant matter that grows out of the ground."
• Let them hold a few leaves or blades of grass and explain that they are green. Green represents the living parts of a plant, as the leaves remain green while the plant is alive. You can also let them touch dry leaves and explain the difference between green and brown.
  • You could say: "The smoothness and softness of the leaf feel like green; green represents life. However, when the leaf is brittle, like these dry leaves, it turns brown and is no longer alive."
• Allow them to place their hand in a bowl of cold water and explain that water is blue. Explain that a small amount of water appears light blue, almost transparent and colorless, while larger bodies like rivers or oceans appear deep blue.
  • You can say: "How do you feel when swimming in the water? The cold, refreshing sensation that relaxes you is the essence of blue."
• Describe the heat from fire, a candle, or a hot stove as red. Red is often associated with heat or burning sensations.
  • You could tell them: "If you have ever been sunburned, your skin turns red. Or, if you feel embarrassed and your face turns red, the warmth on your cheeks is associated with the color red."
• Explain that concrete, such as a wall or sidewalk, is gray. Metals are also gray—inform them that gray often feels hard and may be hot or cold depending on the weather.
  • You could say: "Gray feels firm and solid. It feels like the road under your feet or the wall you lean on, but it is not a living entity and does not grow or have emotions."

Using smells and tastes to describe colors. Smell and taste can be directly associated with certain colors.

• Explain that spicy food and hot peppers, often used in cooking, are usually red. Other foods like strawberries, raspberries, and cherries also share this red hue. Let them know that these fruits are sweet, which ties to the color red.
  • You could say: "Just as you feel the red from the warmth, you can taste and recognize red when eating something spicy and hot."
• Give them an orange and explain that oranges are orange in color. Ask them to note the smell and taste of the orange.
  • You might say: "Oranges are often described as fresh, sweet, and tropical; the sun is orange, and orange foods need a lot of sunlight to grow."
• Do the same with a lemon and a banana, explaining that lemons and bananas are yellow. Although they have different tastes, both are yellow, and yellow often has a sour, fresh, or sweet and nutritious flavor.
  • You could say: "Yellow foods need plenty of sunlight; they are bright and bring happiness."
• Give them some greens like lettuce and spinach, explaining that these are typically green. The color green often has a fresh, crisp taste like plants from the earth, sometimes with a slight bitterness. Green is rarely as sweet as fruit and often has a more bitter taste or another scent.
  • Let them smell some herbs like mint and say, "Green smells like this—fresh, pure, and invigorating."
• For non-food smells from nature, explain that leaves and grass are green, and water is ocean-blue. The scent of the beach is the blue of the water and the brown or white of the sand. Teach them that flowers come in many colors, and often a single flower has multiple colors, but never green, brown, gray, or black.

Using sound to describe colors. Some sounds can be linked to certain colors.

• Explain that the sound of an alarm siren makes them think of red, as red is often used to grab attention; fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars are also red.
  • You might say: "When we hear the alarm siren, we usually become alert and attentive because there may be danger. Red is like that—it’s urgent and grabs your attention immediately."
• The sound of flowing water, especially the gurgling of a stream or the crashing of waves, may make them think of ocean-blue.
  • You could say: "Ocean-blue creates a calm, soothing feeling just like the sound of flowing water makes you feel relaxed."
• Sounds associated with the color green might be the rustling of leaves or the singing of birds. Be sure to clarify that not all birds are green, but since birds live in trees, the sound of birds often connects to the color green.
  • You might say: "When you hear the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds, those sounds remind us of the color green."
• Describe the sound of a storm as being similar to the color gray. When there's thunder and rain, the sky often turns gray, making everything appear gray.
  • You could say: "Storms are gray. The sound of thunder and rain suggests the outside sky is gray, quite dark and gloomy because there’s no sunlight."

Describing the link between colors and emotions. We often associate certain colors with specific emotions or mental states, and many studies have been conducted to explore the connection between color and emotion. Here are some of the most common color-emotion links:

• Red - typically associated with anger, passion, physical strength, or aggression.
• Orange - comfort, having enough food, warmth, safety, and sometimes frustration.
• Yellow - friendliness, joy, optimism, confidence, and occasionally fear.
• Green - balance, freshness, harmony, environmental awareness, and peace.
• Blue - intelligence, coolness, tranquility, sincerity, and rationality.
• Purple - spiritual awareness, mystery, luxury, truth; often linked to dreams.
• Black - sophistication and allure (positive) or heaviness, threat, or oppression (negative).
• White - clarity, purity, simplicity, and innocence.
• Brown - rustic, reliable, supportive.
• Gray - neutrality; lack of confidence or energy; disappointment.
• Pink - nurturing, warmth, femininity, love.

Since numbers are infinite, so too are the number of colors. Imagine that the number one is red and the number two is yellow; you can find more numbers in between one and two: "1.2, 1.21, 1.22, 1.3, 1.4, 1.45...". Similarly with colors, there is an infinite range of hues between two colors, giving us a gradient of shades.

Identify the nature of their vision impairment. Most people with impaired vision can still perceive to some extent, even if it’s just the awareness of light. According to the American Foundation for the Blind, only 18% of those with vision impairment are classified as completely blind, while the majority can still distinguish between light and darkness.

• The ability to differentiate light and darkness can help you explain black and white by saying that black represents darkness, and white represents the presence of light.

Ask if the person has congenital blindness. Since most people who are blind (in the U.S.) experience vision loss due to eye diseases, many who have vision impairment still had good sight previously. This means you can help them recall things they have seen by describing them.

Check if the person has color blindness. Color blindness is a type of vision impairment where the person can still see everything around them but confuses colors or perceives them differently from those with normal vision. Most people with color blindness see red, orange, yellow, and green as similar tones, and they confuse blue and purple. When working with or communicating with someone who is colorblind, you can refer to colors by using everyday objects.

• Teachers of colorblind students should use white paper and white chalk to achieve the highest contrast. Labeling writing and drawing tools (crayons, markers, colored paper, etc.) is also very effective.