Military vet helps Rio Rancho students see color

For the third straight year, Rio Rancho resident Ron Neldon has given the gift of color to Rio Rancho students.

Nelson used his own tragedy to help change the lives of City of Vision students who are color vision deficient Monday at the Rio Rancho Public Schools training center.

Neldon donated 15 EnChroma glasses for color blind middle and high school students to overcome the obstacles color blindness poses to learning. The EnChroma glasses help the color-blind students better understand color-coded information on tests, projects or assignments for which correctly interpreting color plays a role.

“We deeply thank Ron for his service, for helping color-blind kids in his community and for elevating awareness of the prevalence and effects of color vision deficiency,” said Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma. “We hope that other schools will take note, implement color blindness testing of students, and accommodate CVD students through a deeper understanding of the condition, thoughtful use of color and patterns in educational materials, and providing assistive eyewear when appropriate.”

Neldon is motivated by both tragedy and a unique inspiration.

On June 25, 1996, terrorists backed by Iran detonated a truck bomb outside of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia, where Neldon was stationed with the U.S. Air Force. The blast killed 19 U.S. service members and injured hundreds. On behalf of the victims, the U.S. government successfully sued Iran for its role. With some of the money he received from the settlement, Neldon has sought ways to help others.

One of Neldon’s colleagues injured in the blast eventually had a son who was born deaf and received cochlear implants so he could hear. Neldon said that led him to watching videos of people hearing for the first time, which then led down a rabbit hole of videos of people seeing color for the first time with EnChroma glasses. This is the second year that Neldon has bought the glasses for color-blind students in Rio Rancho Public Schools.

“I’m not sharing what I went through to glorify anything because it’s not glorious,” Neldon said. “But I’m willing to do that so others can see that out of something tragic you can benefit other people’s lives. I should be dead, but this way I can make an impact on these kids’ lives.”

Neldon, as he always does, capped a countdown with “change your life” as the cue for the students to put on the glasses Monday, and their faces lit up as their world did the same.

“This is crazy,” Manuel Torres said. “This is amazing. This really will change my life.”