There are 11 Million people who come to visit the Smoky Mountains every year. This is an unbelievable number of people many of whom come to see the leaves change in the fall. The hills turn into rolling waves of the Smoky Mountains filled with every color imaginable. The vivid green, yellow, orange, and red leaves bring visitors from all over the world to witness the change. Could you imagine not being able to see the colors of such a glorious natural transition? Of those 11 million people who visit the Smokies, about 8.5% of them have some form of color blindness. They would usually never be able to experience the beautiful colors of Fall.
Ober Gatlinburg boasts one of three Color Blindless Viewers in Tennessee that let people with color blindness experience all the colors in the Smoky Mountains. The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development installed one of these viewers at Ober last year so that guests with color blindness can take part in the beautiful fall change. The Viewer at the top of the Scenic Chairlift gives visitors an emotional experience. Those with Protanopia, Protanomaly, or any red-green color blindness disability can look at all the glorious colors that we take for granted.
Since the Viewer was installed, Ober has had visitors who lived in the Smoky Mountains their whole lives break down to the magnificent sight they didn’t even know they were missing. We at Ober are proud to share our Viewer with visitors. We hope that every person with color blindness can experience this beautiful natural phenomenon.
Watch the tear-jerking reactions of some of our earliest visitors at the link below.