Ackland Art Museum improving the experience for visitors with color blindness

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- It was an experience like no other for Delia Hudson, who enjoyed the full spectrum of color on Wednesday with her 15-year-old son, who shares her color blindness, at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill.

"I don't know how to give a word to it, except that it's making me feel very emotional," Hudson said.

Hudson and her son, Ryan Hudson, were among six North Carolinians who got the unique experience at the art museum that's the first in the state to make EnChroma glasses for colorblindness available year-round for visitors to borrow while at the museum.

"I think it's really cool," Ryan Hudson said. "It's like more vibrant and like easier to tell what colors are."

Hudson said he couldn't see the orange and yellow jerseys very well when he played soccer at his high school in Durham, but as soon as he put the glasses on, he said he saw the colors immediately.

"I always knew that there was a limit to what we were seeing," his mom said. "So I'm excited now to do more. And I think more museums should do exactly what Ackland Art Museum is doing and just make things more accessible for people."

Sherill Roland looked at his art in a new way, discovering the hues and shades of what looked like giant sudoku puzzles at the museum.

"There is a shift to everything," Roland said. "The blue background next to the white wall ... the colors are a bit more vivid in their contrasts."

Roland said he hopes to share what he learned with his daughter, whom he lovingly called a "color guru."

"I'm very ROYGBIV, and she's all in between," Roland said. "She knows periwinkle ... so it's going to be really interesting to now try to advance and catch up a little bit with her and learn to enjoy the way she does," Roland said.

ROYBGIV is an acronym for the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Visitors with color blindness can reserve up to four pairs of EnChroma glasses online. They also have a "fit over frame" available for those who have existing prescription lenses.

"We hope more people will be aware of this resource," learning resources coordinator Lillian Rodriguez said.