When I heard there were new glasses which could help me rid myself of my colour blindness I jumped at the chance. The chance to see what others see was too big an opportunity to turn down. 

It was obvious something was wrong early on when I would grab the purple pencil instead of the blue or the brown instead of the red in Kindergarten.

You learn to adapt to your surroundings by trying to teach your brain what you should be seeing, and asking others about colours was a way of double checking.

At some point I was told I am red-green color blind. It is also known as deutan, which means greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns may appear similar, blues may appear purple and pinks may appear grey.

My whole understanding of the world was different, and one of the most exciting things I had heard was the pinks of both sunrises and sunsets would appear in full colour for the first time.

The glasses, purchased from the United States, arrived and after putting them on while standing in a friend’s backyard in the afternoon sunshine, everything came to life.

A tear ran from my eye as a green window frame became mustard, red flowers became vibrant and I saw the brilliant shades of pink in the sky for the first time.

I had heard a lot about pink but had never seen it in full flight.

Slowly over the coming days I was falling in love with the many shades it was appearing in. That was until one confronting moment.

It was during a family trip to the Canberra Brick Expo, an exhibition of rare and unique Lego creations from across Australia.

After admiring the coloured bricks in full colour for the first time we eventually were forced to exit through the gift shop.

Here, surrounded by boxes upon boxes of the plastic bricks, packaged as best they could to market each one to the right demographic, I saw gender marketing for the first time.

It was world of pink on the left and blue on the right. Everything had appeared so pastel and dull before, and now I was falling in love with a colour never marketed to boys.

The divide was so obvious, and in a world where colour is so amazing I can’t even imagine why it is so ingrained in our culture and society.

- Alasdair McDonald