The doctor looked over her horn-rimmed glasses and pursed her lips. "I'm so sorry Miss Robinson but the diagnosis is tetrachromacy. There is no cure and nobody is researching a cure either. You'll just have to live with it and realise that everybody will think you're a complete madwoman for your entire life". The doctor paused as Miss Robinson sank back into the chair to digest the news while noticing that the doctor's suit that was supposed to be a uniform pale pink was putrid yellow on one piece and very red on another. She sighed at people's poor taste as she realised that there was no cure for either people's bad taste nor her affliction. Slowly she stood up and left.
Tetrachromacy is a real problem that affects many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Due to a genetic abnormality their eyes have four sets of cones as opposed to the three of standard mortals.
Tetrachromats see more colors than ordinary people. Their vision has more color gradation than ordinary people and extends further into the infra-red and ultra-violet than normal. This can be quite confusing for both them and standard people when colors are discussed.
Generally women are more affected by tetrachromacy then men but both genders can be affected. Next time a woman spends time trying to match the colors on her outfit to the precise shade of vermillion, she could be picky or she could be a tetrachromat.
One of the family friends in the past clearly had tetrachromatic abilities. As an art teacher, her paintings exhibited the colors she saw which clearly extended beyond the range of standard vision. With such an ability it is a crying shame that tetrachromats are made to feel abnormal or stupid and have to suffer the lack of chromatic vision of the rest of the human race.
Next time you meet somebody with abnormal color vision, remember they have an ability that you just do not and that ytou are the defective member of the human race while they are the future.
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