EYES on Radio 2

Well, what a day it was. We were delighted to be asked to appear on the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 – and then realised it was Vanessa Feltz standing in for him! We were asked to come and talk about colour vision deficiency – or colour blindness as it’s commonly called and to give their reseacher, Alastair, the chance to try EnChroma ® glasses for the first time, live on air.

Jez was joined at Wogan House (home of Radio 2) by Michael Hailey – who wrote us this article about his experience with EnChroma ® and his mum, Jo – who created the 3D tour of the shop.

Alastair had done the EnChroma ® test on our app (search EYES on St Albans in tbe Google/Apple stores) but had never tried the glasses. Although 80% of people who try the EnChroma ® glasses see a difference, we had no idea whether he would or wouldn’t – which makes for interesting live radio. Especially in a radio studio lit entirely by artificial light.

As we say to everyone, these glasses do not cure colour blindness – it isn’t possible to change the genetic makeup of someone. However, they do, in many (but definitely not all cases), make a significant difference to many people with colour vision deficiency who try them.

The Radio 2 result

You can listen to the whole interview here starting at about 1:09 (or a bit earlier if you want to rock out to Starship’s “We Built This City” first) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007bfc

As you’ll hear (spoiler alert), Alastair didn’t experience the ‘magical’ transformation that we suspect the Radio 2 team were hoping for. Having seen many people try the glasses on, we recognised the stage where his brain was having to process everything and he said himself it was quite overwhelming. We find most people in the shop find the experience quite intense – let alone having to then be talking about it on live national radio.

However, after the show, we went outside with him to let him try the glasses in natural light and without the pressure of being asked what he could see live on air.

You’ll notice how he says one thing and then as his brain becomes more accustomed to the glasses he realises, very quickly, that the colours he’s seeing are more intense/vibrant (the blue lorry…)

As we said at the beginning, these glasses don’t work for everyone and they do take a bit of getting used to (like all glasses, especially when you have a prescription change). However, they can make a difference – and as Michael said on air, it can be transformational

Want to know more?

If you’re colourblind or think you might be, take the the test on the app and then either ring or pop into the shop with the result. Jez will be able to advise what’s the best course of action and be able to book you in for an appointment

EnChroma® lenses can be fitted into nearly all the frames we have in store and can be made with single vision or multi-focal prescription lenses in them.

Thank you!

Finally, a huge thank you to the team that made our day at Radio 2 run so well. Jo Hailey from Striking Places for the videos and photos whilst we were out, her son Michael for talking about his experiences on air, Jenny from DigitalJen for managing the social media, website & app content whilst we were at Radio 2 and Pauline (Jez’s wife) for running the shop. From this with Michael to national radio – what.a.day.