With a grant from the Lake Placid Education Foundation, the museum now provides EnChroma glasses, which enhance colors for individuals with red-green color blindness, along with a number of other accessibility enhancements.

“The museum is a cultural and educational space that should be accessible to everyone, so we wanted to improve our offerings,” Museum Director Courtney Bastian said.

Individuals with red-green Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) only perceive about 10% of the colors that are visible to the human eye. One in 12 men and one in 200 women are color blind. This means that about 2,300 of the museum’s annual visitors can likely benefit from the EnChroma glasses, according to the state Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the museum.

The glasses already have at least one glowing testimonial. Museum Trustee Nancy Beattie visited the museum with her brother-in-law Rod MacIvor, who was diagnosed with color blindness nearly 60 years ago.

A side-by-side illustration shows what the 1980 Winter Olympic Games poster looks like with red-green color blindness. (Provided photo — Courtney Bastian)

“They really work well,” he said, quoted in a press release. “It’s not distracting; it adds flavor. It enhances but not too much. The museum is a good place to have these.”

The box office team has already reported to Bastian that when people find out about the glasses, they are eager to use them. On the first day that the glasses were officially available, they had already had one visitor use them.

Bastian said they came across EnChroma, a company based in Berkeley, California, while researching what other museums were doing to increase accessibility. Over 400 institutions around the world loan EnChroma glasses to guests, according to the company’s website. The glasses were invented in 2010 and use lenses with optical filters that help individuals with red-green CVD see a broader range of colors. The cost of the glasses ranges from $200 to $350 per pair on the EnChroma website.

The EnChroma glasses are available on loan at the LPOM Box Office in the Olympic Center’s Miracle Plaza. They have two pairs for adults, one pair for children and one pair that fits over prescription glasses. More information about accessibility options at the museum and Olympic Center can be found online at tinyurl.com/5yz27cxn, including a disability guide that covers each area of the facility.

In addition to making EnChroma glasses available, the museum is using the grant to provide other enhancements, including a new programming table with adjustable height, wheels and tactile sensory items for various programs, and benches with backs and armrests.

The goal for all of the museum’s accessibility efforts is to offer something to everyone, according to Bastian.

“One of our goals in the museum is to provide educational resources and programs that are tailored to diverse learning styles and needs,” she said, “to ensure that more visitors can engage in the content in a way that is meaningful to them.”