Teen makes brother take colorblindness test at birthday party to prove he's lying.

There's something particularly annoying about watching a sibling concoct a lie that ends up being spread as a family truth. But at the same time, there's rarely a chill way to catch them in the act. Even if you're able to definitively prove they're lying, there are times when you end up looking worse than them for it. It all depends on the context.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a teen asked if she was wrong for making her brother take a fake colorblindness test to prove that he's lying. She wrote:

"AITA for using a fake test to expose my 'colorblind' brother in front of friends and family?"

So, I (F17) have a brother (M15) who claims he’s colorblind. When he was younger, all his paintings and drawings seemed normal. The whole colorblind claim started after he turned 10, all because of a light pink t-shirt he perceived as white. My parents joked about him being colorblind since my uncle (my dad’s brother) is.

He continued this claim, constantly mentioning it to others, which has always annoyed me because I’m sure he’s lying. I’ve told my parents, but they brush me off, saying I’m just jealous of the attention he gets. Last week was my birthday. I had a gathering at home with about 25-30 people on the weekend.

The topic of his supposed colorblindness came up again, with everyone asking him to identify colors. I, feeling frustrated, asked him to take an Ishihara test on the TV. He agreed after some hesitation. I went up to my room to grab my computer to plug to the TV. But instead of a genuine test, I used a fake Ishihara test, one that anyone could pass.

He pretended not to see some numbers, and once the test concluded, I revealed to everyone that it was a fake test, aiming to show he was lying. The mood turned sour. My brother and parents were furious. My family tried to brush it off, making jokes, and my friends found it amusing.

Post-party, my parents were livid, they labeled me as an “attention seeker” and a jealous AH and grounded me for embarrassing my brother. I feel like had he been honest, he wouldn’t have been humiliated. So, AITA?

People didn't hold back on this one.

stalkerofthedead wrote:

NTA. One T-shirt color misidentification does not a color-blind person make. For example, I have a really hard time telling red and dark orange apart. However, I am not colorblind. Sounds like your bro found something that got him attention and rolled with it. Kids with actual color blindness make it very obvious they are colorblind in elementary school.

He’s likely at the point where it’s too late for him to back down now.

EDIT: Some commenters have indicated some people are diagnosed later in life. I went down a research rabbit hole and it really is a fascinating the different types of color blindness there are. However, as we have said your brother is faking.

Advanced-Awareness71 wrote:

NTA. Being colorblind myself, it’s annoying for someone to fake it. It’s a disability. It screws with reading resistors (so no Elec. Eng) and other qualifications (flying, no Naval Aviation). Creates challenges on coordinating clothing (roommates got used to the questions, it flummoxed their girlfriends). So annoying to explain. Don’t need the fakers.

Awful-Male wrote:

It was a super d#$k move, but you’re honestly doing him a favor. Some people might say it Munchausen’s syndrome but it’s probably more likely a symptom of a developing ego disorder. Pathological lying, narcissism. Generally the reason people develop these ego disorders is to obfuscate their own insecurity or an inferiority complex.

I would follow up with your brother and apologize for the manner in which you did this but explain why it’s important that he understands that lying has real life consequence. That most people, like everyone in the room with you that day, see right through his lies but humor him to avoid conflict.

Does he honestly want to be humored his whole life? Deluding himself that other people buy his lies? Cause they don’t. I’d also seriously talk to your parents about therapy for him and to specifically cover the lying.

emomp4 wrote:

ESH. It's super weird for your brother to do that. But also he's 15 this is how most 15-year-olds act they are weird and look for attention at any little thing. Being 15 sucks and most people look back at being 15 with embarrassment. But it's also really s#$%ty of you to do what you did.

There wasn't a reason to do it in front of people, especially on your birthday. This could have been something that you brought up not in front of a bunch of people. If anything you def need to apologize to your brother and maybe do some inner thinking about why you decided to do that.

And then have a sit-down convo with your parents and talk about the lying problem your brother has. But you need to defuse the situation first.

codeverity wrote:

NTA. For people who are handwaving this, he's been doing it for five years. He's old enough to know better and to know that lying is wrong. Your parents not looking into it and seemingly being dismissive is troubling.

People are clearly on OP's side, even if her method was embarrassing for him.