Joe Whetstine donning EnChroma glasses, looks at potted flowers on July 3, 2017, outside the Trafalgar branch of the Johnson County Public Library.
Daily Journal Archives
News from around Johnson County as reported on July 18 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 112 years.
On this day in 2017, one of the stories on the front page of the Daily Journal was about how the Johnson County Public Library added glasses to help colorblind people.
Four pairs of EnChroma glasses, specially made to help sharpen light and colors for people who were colorblind, could be checked out. They had been in constant use since becoming available, and colorblind patrons had formed a waiting list for them.
“This is a brand-new experience for a lot of them, and that’s kind of what the library is about: connecting them with experiences they’ve never had before,” said Elyssa Everling, adult reference librarian for the Johnson County Public Library’s Trafalgar branch.
An estimated 300 million people throughout the world are color blind. The condition is more prevalent in men, though in rare cases women are afflicted as well. People who are color blind are not actually blind to color but have a deficiency in seeing certain shades.
The EnChroma glasses were inspired by existing technology used by doctors to protect their eyes from lasers during surgery. The lenses in the glasses remove small slices of light where red and green receptors overlap the most, allowing people to see enhanced color, differentiate between hues and enjoy sharper detail.
Franklin resident Joe Whetstine, 47, suffered from a colorblindness that made all colors difficult to separate. He had heard about the glasses from a friend and asked his optometrist about them, but his doctor had never heard of them before.
When JCPL officials contacted area optometrists about finding colorblind patients to try the glasses, they were connected with Whetstine.
“My first through after not seeing the right color for 47 years was, ‘I’d love that,’” he said.
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
2014
A Trafalgar man killed himself after a police chase and after firing shots at a home, officers said.
2004
Twenty percent of Johnson County’s population was expected to be older than 65 in 40 years.
1984
Morgantown was expected to get a new post office by the end of the year.
