‘When people find out, there’s a fascination’: Max Futcher on his unusual condition

Popular TV news anchor Max Futcher opens up on his unusual condition, admitting when people find out, there’s always a fascination.

Recently, my mum found a small card among some old photos. It was old and yellowed and was a part of my primary school record from 1978, advising my parents that I was colour blind.

At least, I think the card was yellow. It might’ve been grey, or white. Hell, it could’ve been green for all I know.

And that’s how I’ve lived my life since Mum and Dad got this notice with my report card:

“Dear Sir or Madam,

Your son Maxwell Futcher of 1E was found to be Colour Blind (Colour Deficient). This means that he has difficulty in distinguishing certain reds and greens. This is a genetic condition which cannot be remedied, but by observing his errors you can help him to adjust to the limited range of colours to which he is sensitive. This may be important in choosing a career for him, as proficient Colour Vision is necessary to pass a medical examination for certain positions, such as Police, Navy, RAAF.”

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The school did several tests using discs of coloured dots known as the Ishihara test. I couldn’t see anything on most, but the numbers I did identify among the dots proved my condition.

What followed was a childhood and adolescence of mismatched clothes, and an inability to confidently identify colours.

I’m not alone.

More than half-a-million Australians are colour blind (8 per cent of men and 0.05 per cent of women). Many are undiagnosed.

I tried to hide the condition at school, where no one wants to stand out or be different. That was easy when we all wore the same uniform, but one day I was exposed when we had to colour in a picture of an elephant.

Everyone else in the class used their lead pencil to colour their pachyderm, and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t use the grey coloured pencil in their kit. We all held up our finished art works, and the class roared, laughing at my dark green elephant.

Even the teacher rolled her eyes and thought I was trying to be funny.

When people find out I’m colour blind, there’s a brief fascination with how I see the world.

Often there’s a pop quiz about what colours I’m seeing.

Channel 7's Max Futcher. Picture: Tara Croser.

Then they want to know how I know when the traffic lights change from red to green. (Pretty sure the red one’s always been at the top)

It’s all because the cone cells in my retina are faulty. It won’t get better or worse. It just is. The good news is, I don’t know any different. My view of colours might be different or duller to the vibrant shades seen with normal eyesight, but it’s all I’ve ever known, so I don’t care.

My red-green is the most common form of colour blindness. Blue-yellow is more severe, and reduces the ability to distinguish between blue and green.

This is less common, but not as rare as monochromasy. These people see no colour at all, like their life is a black-and-white movie.

By comparison, I’m lucky. The condition has never really impeded my life, although after leaving school I made a spontaneous effort to enter the Australian Defence Force Academy, or ADFA.

I thought it’d be great to become a helicopter pilot. I went to the big exam room in Edward St at the old recruiting centre and answered lots of academic questions and some psychological ones, asking if I’d ever been tempted to jump off a tall building. I was asked about my colour-blindness and the recruitment process ended a short time later.

I was never sure if I’d flunked due to my
colour blindness or lack of intelligence, but either way there’s no regret.

Had I gone to officer school, the timing could’ve seen me deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor … life would have been very different.

I was reading the other day that the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) considers colour blindness under the broad definition of disability.

Really? My biggest disability is a lack of fashion taste, and I’m not convinced that has anything to do with my colour choices.