Experience Prescott Teams with EnChroma to Loan Color Blind Glasses to Visitors at Seven Popular Destinations

– City Boasts Second Most ‘Color Blind Accessible’ Cultural Venues in the World After Seattle –

Prescott, AZ & Berkeley, California – December 19, 2022 – Experience Prescott, the City of Prescott Tourism Office and EnChroma – makers of glasses for color blindness – today announced a partnership to make the city’s top popular tourist destinations accessible to millions of people who are color blind. The city has purchased 52 pairs of EnChroma glasses and distributed them to seven popular tourist locations throughout the city for color blind guests and the public to borrow. 

“We are excited to team with EnChroma to enable color blind visitors to Prescott to experience the wondrous colors of nature, special events like our annual colorful holiday lights and to experience our many museums and cultural attractions,” said Ann Steward, Tourism and Economic Initiatives Manager, Prescott, Arizona Office of Tourism. “We are proud that the city of Prescott now has the second most cultural institutions promoting accessibility and inclusion for those who are color blind. We are sure that the EnChroma glasses will help create indelible memories for color blind people and their loved ones.”

One in twelve men (8%) and one in 200 women (0.5%) are color blind – approximately 320,000 in Arizona alone, 13 million in the US and 350 million worldwide. The special EnChroma glasses enable the color blind to see an expanded range of colors clearly and vibrantly for the first time, such as the annual colorful holiday light display at Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza in Prescott.

While people with normal color vision see over one million shades of color, those with red-green Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) only see an estimated 10% of hues and shades. To them, colors appear dull and washed out, with some difficult to distinguish from each other. Common color confusions include green and yellow, gray and pink, purple and blue, and red can appear brown.

“The City of Prescott is to be commended for accommodating the needs of visitors and citizens who are color vision deficient,” said Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma. “The city is part of a growing number of state and international tourism organizations that are realizing that making their attractions more accessible to millions of color blind people is good for business and furthers their goals for inclusivity.”

Color blind guests and citizens of Prescott can borrow EnChroma glasses at the following locations: 

  • Sharlot Hall Museum
  • Phippen Museum
  • Museum of Indigenous People
  • Western Heritage Center
  • Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew Learning & Tribute Center
  • Prescott Public Library
  • The Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center

To kick off the initiative, several color blind people were recently invited to experience Prescott – known as ‘Arizona’s Christmas City’ – in vibrant, clear color for the first time with EnChroma glasses. Click here for photos that capture their colorful epiphanies and experiences, for images depicting the color blind view of various settings in Prescott and of daily life challenges.

    EnChroma Color Accessibility Program™

    EnChroma is the leading advocate for accessibility for those with color blindness via the EnChroma Color Accessibility Program™. The program helps institutions such as schools, universities, libraries, museums, tourism bureaus and others loan EnChroma glasses to color blind people. EnChroma donates a pair of glasses for each pair an organization purchases. 

    Nearly 200 organizations already participate in the program to help color blind visitors more fully experience colors in art, nature or to help students overcome obstacles to learning. This includes over 80 museums, nearly 30 libraries, 25 K-12 schools, numerous universities, 15 state and national parks, and tourism departments representing Tennessee, Seattle, Arizona and the Yukon in Canada.

    In addition, the EnChroma program provides materials for to educate teachers, students, parents the public about color blindness and its effects. EnChroma offers a similar program for employers. Public institutions interested in participating can send an email to accessibility@enchroma.com. 

    Special optical filters in EnChroma glasses help color blind people perceive a wider range of colors and to see colors more vividly, clearly and distinctly. A study by the University of California, Davis, and INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, confirmed the effectiveness of EnChroma glasses. A separate recent study in the scientific publication Eye-Nature also highlights the benefits of the glasses for people with color vision deficiencies.

    Story Assets for Media
    Visit our Media Kit to download user videos, photos of EnChroma glasses and b-roll. 

    City of Prescott, Arizona Christmas City Parade

    About EnChroma

    Based in Berkeley, Calif., EnChroma produces leading-edge eyewear for color blindness and low vision, and other solutions for color vision, sold online and through Authorized Retailers worldwide. Invented in 2010, EnChroma’s patented eyewear combines the latest in color perception, neuroscience and lens innovation to improve the lives of people with color vision deficiency around the world. EnChroma received an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It earned the 2016 Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in recognition of the firm’s innovative impact on the human experience through technology, and the 2020 Innovation Award in Life Sciences from the Bay Area’s East Bay Economic Development Alliance. Visit enchroma.com to learn more.

    Media Contacts:

    City of Prescott
    Communications and Public Affairs 
    Office: 928-777-1362
    communications@prescott-az.gov