This State Just Installed Colorblind-friendly Viewfinders at All 43 of Its Parks

The special lenses help those with red-green color vision deficiency experience parks in Virginia more vibrantly.

From Smith Mountain Lake in the Blue Ridge Mountains to High Bridge State Trail Park over the Appomattox River and the naturally carved 850-foot-long tunnel in Natural Tunnel State Park, Virginia State Parks boast some of the most stunning sights in the nation. But the subtleties of the colors that make up that natural beauty are lost on nearly 300 million people around the world who are colorblind. Now the park system is the first in the country to install specially adapted viewfinders at all 43 of its sites to ensure its guests can take in the range of hues.

“We’re proud to play a role in opening up a world of vibrant color for colorblind individuals to experience nature like never before,” Matt Wells, the director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages Virginia State Parks, said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure.

The viewfinders made by SeeCoast Manufacturing are equipped with colorblind lenses from EnChroma, which helps those with red-green color vision deficiency, who normally only see 10 percent of shades, making colors look dull or indistinguishable.

To commemorate the new initiative, six Virginians with red-green colorblindness — including a medical dispatcher, carpenter, personal trainer, and student — visited Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia, to test out the equipment and share their experiences. The EnChroma lenses work for about 80 percent of those with this form of color blindness.

The state installed its first EnChroma-adapted viewfinder in 2023, when Chief Ranger Ethan Howes, who is colorblind, led an initiative at Natural Tunnel State Park. The expansion to all of the sites came through donations from Virginia’s Round-Up for Parks program, which allows guests to contribute to the park system when making purchases in person or online.

Color blindness affects about one in 12 men and one in 200 women around the world. The park system said that of its eight million annual visitors, about 341,000 are colorblind.

While nearly 100 state and national parks in 25 states do have adapted viewfinders or glasses, Wells hopes that with Virginia State Parks offering them at every location, it will spark a new standard nationwide.

"Seeing the world in vibrant color is a gift many of us take for granted," Melissa Baker, Virginia State Parks' director, said in a release. She added that the viewfinders “create a one-of-a-kind experience for our red-green colorblind visitors and allow them to better enjoy the breathtaking beauty of our state parks.”

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