Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre joins EnChroma colour accessibility program in world-first venture

The lives of four South West residents have become even more vibrant as they had the special opportunity to experience the world in technicolour as a local performing arts venue joins a global colour accessibility program. The Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre has become the first performing arts venue in the world to join the EnChroma colour accessibility program. During the program’s official launch on Wednesday, four locals dealing with colour blindness had the special opportunity to experience the true vibrancy of the world for the first time as they tried on EnChroma glasses. Jace Doble, 32, John Frings, 70, David Byatt, 59, and Malcolm Elson, 71, experienced BREC’s main stage in all its colourful glory with a presentation of short videos and vibrant pictures, leaving them teary-eyed and in awe while their friends and family watched on. After going into the launch not knowing what to expect, the men marvelled at the new world of colour they could experience and relearning the many colours out there. Mr Byatt said a photo shown of him with his wife and children gave him a good reference for the depth and differences between colours and now he was itching to see the world in a new way. “I could see my kids were sunburnt, which I normally can’t tell so whenever I’m on watch, they always get sunburnt,” he said. “It was lovely to see things that I had never seen before and I’m itching to just walk outside and see colours that I see everyday in a new way.” Mr Doble said it was crazy to see colours properly for the first time, not realising so many different shades and hues existed. “I don’t know what colours are anymore,” he laughed. “My fiance and my stepdaughter tend to play a lot of colour-based games on road trips so they can win, so hopefully I’ll be able to bring some competition once I learn the colours.” Mr Elson said he was amazed at being able to have a deeper appreciation for the world around him after so many years of not being able to differentiate colours. “Because nothing was bright, nothing stands out so it all sort of blends in,” he said. “Now there’s all these different things you see. “Those scooters, they’re so bright. Apparently they’re purple. “Now I have to learn all these colours.” For Mr Frings, he described the experience as “absolutely brilliant” while his wife got emotional watching him see the world in colour for the first time after spending years describing the colours of various things like autumn foliage and fireworks. “She’s been looking forward to this for quite a few years now so it was one of her dreams for me to see colours and it’s come dream come true,” he said. “I was just amazed. “I had lived with this all my life and I didn’t know any better and now everything has changed.” The EnChroma colour accessibility program supports people experiencing colour blindness by providing glasses to allow users to see an expanded range of colours while attending a show, film or event at BREC. The program is already supported by more than 150 organisations around the world including museums, libraries, schools, universities and tourism organisations. BREC executive director Fiona De Garis said she was excited to see BREC become the first performing arts venue in the world to be able to offer EnChroma glasses for hire at their events after being inspired by one of their technical crew members. “For some colourblind members of the community who have never had the opportunity to see reds and greens — something most of us take for granted — this scheme will provide a powerful and potentially transformative experience,” she said. “Borrowing glasses to see a show at BREC will also be a great chance for people to try the glasses for themselves if they are thinking about buying some. “I am particularly pleased that we also have two pairs of child size glasses to loan patrons. “It’s surprising to me how often colour blindness is not recognised until late childhood or even adulthood. “We are very much looking forward to this partnership with EnChroma make a real difference for some of our patrons and are proud to be the first performing arts centre and cinema in Australia to offer this service.” EnChroma chief executive Erik Ritchie said the mission of EnChroma was to enable those with colour vision deficiencies to access more of life’s colourful experiences. “We are excited to collaborate with BREC to make its colourful shows, films or events accessible to those with colour blindness,” he said.