Mulvane Art Museum First in Kansas to Offer Enchroma Glasses for Color-Blind Visitors

The Mulvane Art Museum is the first museum in Kansas to offer eyewear by EnChroma, Inc., to visitors with color vision deficiencies, or “color blindness.” Thanks to EnChroma’s Color Accessibility Program, the Mulvane Art Museum’s permanent collection of more than 6,000 works of art will now be more accessible to color-blind visitors when on view. Starting Saturday, September 17, visitors to the Mulvane may check out the glasses free of charge at the first-floor gallery desk.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of our partnership with the Enchroma Color Accessibility Program,” said the museum’s director, Connie Gibbons. “This technology will further enrich the Mulvane Art Museum’s ongoing efforts to create programs and exhibitions that are accessible to all audiences.”

According to EnChroma, one in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (0.5%) are color vision deficient; an estimated 13 million in the United States and 350 million worldwide. Those with red-green color vision deficiency are estimated to see only about 10% of all hues and shades. As a result, many colors appear dull and indistinguishable. EnChroma’s patented lens technology is engineered with special optical filters that increase the separation between color channels to help people with color blindness see colors more vibrantly, clearly and distinctly

“The mission of EnChroma is to enable those with color vision deficiencies to access more of life’s colorful experiences through our specially engineered eyewear,” said Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma. “We are excited to collaborate with the Mulvane Art Museum to make its colorful works accessible to those with color blindness."

Here are a few sample images from the Mulvane’s collection as they might appear to color-blind viewers.

EnChroma glasses help the color blind see an expanded range of colors more vibrantly, clearly and distinctly. Recent studies published by world-renowned vision scientists at the University of California, Davis and France’s INSERM Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, and the University of the Incarnate Word, have demonstrated the effectiveness of EnChroma glasses.